As online shopping becomes ubiquitous, so do the boxes delivered to homes across the country. For apartment dwellers — and the managers of the buildings they live in — it’s tough to manage the boxes that pile up, sometimes clogging precious space for days. The problem’s only getting worse, says Rick Haughey, vice president of the nonprofit National Multifamily Housing Council.
The last-mile problem has largely been solved for consumers. Within a day, UPS or Amazon can put a package on anyone’s doorstep. But sometimes instead of the doorstep, that package ends up in the bushes, or lost among a sea of boxes in a building’s leasing office. The last mile is no longer the issue. The problem now is the last 50 feet.