With more and more consumers preferring online shopping over physical retail outlets, the number of parcel deliveries across the US has increased. But so have the figures for package theft incidents. Consequently, parcel lockers are seen as a remedy to prevent this problem.
The fact that an ever-increasing number of property owners in the US are adopting parcel lockers in 2021, can be attributed to two major reasons. Coincidently, both these reasons can be related to Covid-19.
First, the number of online retail outlets and online shopping trends rose drastically during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though the online shopping trend isn’t anything new in the US, the new concept of stay-at-home became a major promoter of the shop-from-home or online shopping trend. This increased package deliveries as well.
Second, the Covid-19 also resulted in economic turmoil and many people lost their jobs because of it. As a result, crime rates increased including package theft incidents. Again, package theft isn’t anything new for US homeowners. But with the number of such incidents reported annually only increasing year after year, the Covid-19 only made it worse.
Both above factors together are the reason why many homeowners in the US have resorted to either installing parcel lockers at their property or prefer using services like Amazon parcel lockers.
So, if you are planning to adopt a parcel locker in 2021, this article has everything you need to know about.
What are electronic parcel lockers?
A simple parcel locker is a compartment unit within a large cluster box unit, or an individual compartment installed at a private property either alone or within a group of parcel lockers for each member of a neighborhood or apartment in a building.
An electronic parcel locker is a modified version of the normal parcel locker. Instead of using a key, it uses digital codes to lock and unlock and can also send notifications to inform the recipient that a parcel is awaiting collection.
Overall, parcel lockers offer safety, security, convenience, and more space to hold bigger parcels and packages until retrieved by the authorized recipient by way of a code or a key.
They can accept delivery of parcels from any courier company sent by anyone to you.
Because any delivered parcel remaining unattended outside property is on the verge of being stolen, has also raised the need for having parcel lockers.
How big is a parcel locker?
Traditionally, mail lockers are used to receive and hold all the mail posts (letters, documents, etc.) in a locker until safely retrieved by the intended recipient. However, as the size and scope of things shipped via courier services have grown, these mail lockers aren’t enough to accommodate bigger parcels and packages.
As a result, parcel lockers are used for packages that are too big to fit in the mailbox or the individual compartment in a Cluster Box at a USPS facility.
For this reason, parcel lockers come in various sizes to easily accommodate any large size parcels, and all companies offering parcel locker services offer multiple sizes.
Generally, most parcel lockers are square-shaped compartments of varying sizes.
For example, USPS parcel lockers are available in standard size which is 15-inch high, 12-inch wide, and 15-inch deep. A USPS parcel locker in large size is 18-inch high with the same width and depth as the standard size.
How long can a package stay in a parcel locker?
If your parcel has arrived at a USPS parcel locker facility, you have a maximum period of 15 days to collect it. Failure to do so will result in the parcel being returned to the sender.
However, the sender can request additional time in which case the package can stay in the USPS parcel locker for up to 30 days maximum.
What are the benefits of implementing parcel lockers onto my property?
Installing a parcel locker onto your property serves quite a few benefits. These include –
- The first one is of course freedom from the fear of package theft. Having a parcel locker means that you do not need to worry about being available to personally receive your packages. No matter where you are and when you will return has nothing to do with when your parcel gets delivered and how long it remains unattended.
- Parcel lockers come in various sizes to accommodate bigger size packages.
- Electronic parcel lockers also eliminate the fear of losing your locker keys.
- Electronic parcel lockers can also generate notifications for you to know if you have a package pending collection in a parcel locker. This means no need to track or call the courier company or sender for the status of your parcel.
Conclusion
The use of parcel lockers on properties has become sort of a necessity rather than an optional feature. This is because besides helping in protecting parcels from being stolen, parcel lockers are also helping in promoting online retailing culture as well as reducing the chances of package returns due to incorrect address or unavailability of the recipient, etc. For this, we highly recommend you to choose American Locker, the top locker manufacturer in the USA, for all your gun locking and firearms storage needs.