Electronic Smart Lockers
We are officially in the thick of the holiday season. Lights are twinkling. Malls are teeming with shoppers. Coupons and catalogues arrive by the dozens each day. There are lots of words I can think of to describe the holidays. Cheerful. Festive. Exciting. Exhausting…
As I shopped frantically to capture as many cyber week deals as I could, I found myself thinking three things. One, online shopping can be very tiring. Two, I am a sucker for a good deal and three, where am I going to ship all of these gifts? After all that hard work, I want to be sure nothing goes missing!
A few years ago I lived in a high-rise residential building where the parcels were just dropped in the front lobby. I’d cross my fingers and hope the packages were still there when I got home from work. Eventually they hired an attendant who kept the packages locked in a secure room. This was great in theory, but on those days when I was late getting home (pretty much every day) I’d miss the 6:00 cutoff for package retrieval. Isn’t it the worst when you know you have a box that is just dying to be ripped open, and instead it is stuck behind a locked door?! If only my building had smart lockers. I could have shopped online to my heart’s content and skipped the stress of trying to get home early.
Parcel Lockers
Smart lockers, or Packaged Asset Delivery systems, provide a secure way for your packages to be delivered. The courier arrives at the dorm or multi-family building and, using the touch screen, selects the recipient’s name from the database. A cubby pops open where the package can be placed and the recipient receives an email or SMS notifying them that a package has been delivered. Then the best part, the recipient gets to return home at their leisure to retrieve the package at any hour of the day. After entering a unique, secure authentication code or swiping their resident RFID card, the cubby reopens and the recipient takes the fruits of their labor happily home!
Of course there are many things about the holidays to enjoy and be thankful for. It’s a time for gathering with friends and family, giving to others, and reflecting on all the blessings in our lives. But with the cheerful times come some stressful moments too. Not having to worry about how your gifts are being handled can take a little weight off your shoulders. Just think, that limited edition Frozen game that you ordered off eBay for three times the original price could be safely delivered without even a hint of worry!
