Delivering Value for Residents
The pandemic put package deliveries front and center for multifamily owners and property managers.
“There are lots of challenges with packages,” says Julie Tatom, senior vice president of operations for San Antonio-based Kairoi Residential, which owns and manages 20,000 units across three states. Thanks to the boom in online shopping during the social-distancing days, “there are hundreds of packages being delivered each week, and space is always a challenge.” Even with the virus fading, “we haven’t really seen any decline,” she adds.
“Post-COVID, we saw package deliveries increase by around 30%,” says Paul MacKnight Jr., vice president of Northeast region operations for Charlotte, North Carolina-headquartered Quarterra, which has 21,000 units owned and managed nationwide. “Everything is delivered now, from mattresses to tires and full-sized furniture.” He adds that “at a typical 350-home Quarterra community, we track and manage 5,500 packages a week on average.”
For MacKnight and Quarterra, “the primary challenge is getting residents their packages and maintaining customer experience levels without burdening teams with the delivery process.” That’s a sentiment that many multifamily property managers would second. They’re addressing the challenges of package proliferation through various combinations of space, staff, and technology.