The festive period might be earmarked as the season where delivery companies go into overdrive across the country. But anyone working in purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) will attest to the chaos during a new student year. And chaos is the only word that can describe student residential properties up and down the UK in September, with just about every parcel imaginable being delivered – and then some.
If you work in PBSA, then you’ll know all too well about the challenges faced with mass move-ins and the deliveries that come with them. But what’s the answer? Keep calm and carry on, or use a solution to bring some calm to the disorder?
Here, we look at why having a dedicated parcel room in your setup can bring delivery bliss when new students move in at the start of the university year.
When does the madness start?
Most term dates for the new student year begin in September, but there’s every chance your on-site team will take mass deliveries up to six weeks around university starts. After new students have secured their accommodation, they’ll get plenty of items sent to the property.
Imagine your concierge space going from a place to meet and greet to a homage to Ikea’s accessory department with deliveries for duvets, pots, pans and maybe a book or two. Or what about taking deliveries for monitors and ironing boards as well as the hundreds of Amazon parcels coming your way?
Suddenly, the entrance to the building becomes a dedicated storage site, and it loses much of its appeal aesthetically. Beyond that, health and safety measures can also be impacted.
What is it about student move-ins?
Purpose-built student accommodation is unique because there’s no other type of building where many people are likely to move in simultaneously. If you take a regular building or build-to-rent property, management can probably account for 2% of the building’s occupancy moving in or out at any given time.
PBSA, however, might be quiet for nine months of the year. But the remaining months are jam-packed with new students moving in and ordering everything they need to make their stay comfortable. During this time, the number of parcels arriving can be hard to manage for on-site staff. If you think Black Friday and Christmas are busy, try working in student accommodation.
What does it mean for your team?
How long does your team spend receiving, storing and distributing parcels? If you don’t know, then it might be time to check because we’re sure the team’s primary remit isn’t to act as a glorified postie.
When you have a team in place, their main actions centre around maintaining the building and ensuring resident satisfaction. Some PBSA goes all out, with concierge offering tips on the best places to experience in the neighbourhood, as well as taking resident requests and managing social spaces.
Yet, if they’re spending most of their time interacting with DPD, DHL, UPS, Amazon, Evri and just about every other delivery company, their time is taken away from more pressing matters, like enhancing the overall customer experience.
What’s the answer?
We’re glad you asked because no one wants to walk into PBSA and find the concierge area littered with packages and staff preoccupied with managing them. At Parcel SafePlace, we’re all about bringing order to the chaos of residential parcel delivery.
Whether you need us to track parcels and see how much time staff spend dealing with deliveries or install a dedicated parcel room that’ll change the dynamic of your building, we can help. Our reliable bespoke parcel rooms occupy unused space in your building and offer convenient parcel storage and collection options.
Deliveries and collections with Parcel SafePlace
Put parcels in the hands of residents and remove the stress of delivery and collection. When parcels are delivered, the courier takes them to a secure room in the building. From here, residents receive a notification informing them of their delivery and how they can collect it. They just enter a unique code in the room to pick up the parcel. Even better, there’s total flexibility, and they can collect their items at a time that suits them.
Parcel rooms are secure and monitored with CCTV, and we offer in-depth reports at building or portfolio level, including delivery time, a resident picture and signature. Learn more about how Parcel Safeplace works.
Removing the stress of parcels
Having a dedicated parcel room is ideal at PBSA. It allows you to better manage parcels throughout the year, including the busy periods during new terms. Plus, your staff get their time back and can spend it performing more important actions around the property. Suddenly, the start of term, special events and the festive season become more manageable for everyone involved.
See what type of room size your property needs to accommodate a dedicated parcel room.
