Remember that familiar slogan, “You’ve come a long way baby”? Well, the same could be said of lockers. Day use lockers today can do so much more — safely and securely — than you might have thought in the past. This article addresses the many advantages of the modern evolution of day use lockers.
Let’s start with who might be using day use lockers. Really, that could be anyone. That’s part of the beauty of these lockers now. Day use lockers are seen in all sorts of applications today:
- Assigned lockers add value for employees in open plan offices, those who are hot-desking or people doing a stint in a different office location
- A bank of day-use lockers can be set aside in a business or residential environment for package delivery/grocery or meal delivery
- Assigned or unassigned lockers add convenience for students, staff or faculty on educational campuses
- Offering day-use lockers to visitors to healthcare institutions, courthouses, local government agencies, libraries or museums can boost guest satisfaction
- Gyms can help people secure their stuff during workouts, without having to tote along locks
- Warehouses and industrial buildings can give workers a safe place to stow their belongings during shifts
- Day-use lockers can also be useful in asset tracking for IT services, libraries, manufacturing sites or labs
Yet how are these day-use lockers different today? Let’s discuss that in more detail.
Day Use Lockers of Today
Technological advances have changed the capabilities to day-use lockers. For one thing, there’s no longer the need to bring your own lock or put in a special coin or token. You don’t even have to remember a pin code to punch into a numbered panel on the locker’s front.
Day-use lockers today can be touch-less using:
- Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) scanning
- HID scanning
- Mobile apps
- Smart watches and other connected personal devices
This tech, which can integrate easily with an organization’s existing property and security technology, makes locker storage that much simpler for the end user.
At the same time there are many benefits for the building owners too.
Benefits in Day-Use Locker Management
Heading into 2021, and going forward, minimizing contact with lockers others may have touched in public spaces is a priority. From a social distancing and contact tracing perspective, day use lockers are particularly valuable. Touch-less technology minimizes user exposure to surfaces that could expose them to health risks.
Using a central dashboard connected to the locker banks, it’s possible to restrict available lockers to ensure that users aren’t bunching together. A museum or gallery, for example, might make only every sixth locker available to the public. Plus, when a locker has been used, that particular locker can be kept off limits for re-use until it has been thoroughly cleaned.
The tracking technology in a business, healthcare, residential or educational setting can also prove useful in contact tracing. Say an employee falls sick. Now, building management can know what locker that individual used and who might have been in close proximity when stashing their belongings. Knowing a locker user has fallen ill, you can quickly identify a bank of lockers to render unavailable until a deep clean is done.
The advances in day-use lockers extends beyond the technology too. The materials being used for locker surfaces are evolving too. Manufacturers have already been moving in the direction of materials with antimicrobial properties and those that stand up to frequent cleaning and harsh disinfectants.
Taking away the actual lock, key or touchpad on the locker surface helps cleaning practices too. The surface of the touch-less locker is smoother, which means fewer nooks and crannies to keep clean and germ-free.
Set to Your Specifications
Day use lockers today offer greater control. The technology takes us away from one-size-fits-all solutions in favor of 100% customizations for your needs.
Building administrators can even set up tiered administrative access to give maintenance crews access to open all lockers or just ones that need to be cleaned. This can streamline cleaning by saving crews the time spent locking and unlocking individual units.
A smart day-use locker system can be easily integrated with the current access control system to become another seamless part of the overall security strategy. This makes life easier for building administrators, maintenance and cleaning crews, IT services and security personnel.
Ultimately, though, the people that are going to be happiest are your end-users. With touch-less day use lockers they benefit from the ease and flexibility the technology offers. At the same time, they gain peace of mind that their belongings are secure while their own health and wellbeing is a priority too.
Patterson Pope has the day-use lockers for applications everywhere. We can help you maximize and enhance your working, learning or living spaces. Contact us today!
