Is your campus mail center prepared for the looming package avalanche?

Pitney Bowes offers solutions that save time and money, and improve convenience and safety.

Deloitte’s annual Back-to-College (BTC) survey is intended to give retailers a sense of how and where parents and students anticipate spending money as they prepare for the next academic year. But the 2020 installment contained some findings that institutions in higher education should pay attention to as well.

“Parents are adapting to the new realities of the pandemic and altering shopping behavior,” Deloitte advised. “Price sensitivity is no longer the sole consideration for BTC shoppers while picking retail destinations. Convenience and safety are emerging as key determinants of retail selection.”

The pandemic spurred a sudden 6-point year-over-year jump in expected proportion of spending on online shopping for BTC, from 28 percent to 34 percent. Nearly six in 10 survey respondents said they planned to check out online-only retailers, and 16 percent said they would spend the most there. Both of those figures are also higher than in 2019. And while the 2021 survey results won’t be available until summer, all signs point toward steady increases in online shopping throughout the year.

How does this concern colleges and universities? Many of those packages will be delivered to campuses that are ill-equipped to keep pace. And students and parents will have little patience for intake and processing systems that can’t make packages available quickly after the retailer’s app reports that it’s been delivered, or at hours when students can retrieve them. Institutions that have put off moving beyond labor-intensive systems now risk falling behind in an increasingly important category of on-campus service that students and parents expect.

Fortunately, there are many other benefits to investment in parcel management technology as well.

  • On-campus tracking and delivery: Automated inbound parcel-tracking systems provide accurate status information from the time a parcel arrives on campus; faster processing; and instant, automated messages about pickup and delivery.
  • Self-service parcel pick-up: Smart parcel lockers offer convenience for students (24/7 accessibility) and reduced liability for institutions (complete chain of custody data).
  • Multi-carrier outbound shipping: Single-carrier contracts no longer offer as much savings as using regional carriers and USPS services when possible.
  • Centralized management within and across campus: Automating processes makes it possible to identify opportunities to reduce costs; set business rules and enforce compliance; and allocate billing to the appropriate cost centers. (It also can be used to keep track of institution property, such as scientific and audio-visual equipment, laptops, printers, books, etc.)

“From four days to two hours in our processing time”

Haverford College in Pennsylvania adopted Pitney Bowes’ SendSuite® Tracking software to replace an overburdened system that might sound familiar to others in higher ed.

“The biggest issue was receiving the packages, logging them and getting the notifications out to our students,” explains Geoff Labe, Director of Conferences, Events and Campus Center Services. “We recorded every package in our system by typing in the recipient’s name. At the end of each day, the system would print between 200 to 400 student pick-up notification pages. On each of those pages were four package slips that needed to be cut and inserted into student mailboxes. It was an extremely time-consuming and inefficient process.”

SendSuite Tracking software, combined with barcode readers and electronic signature capture, helped Haverford staff dramatically improve efficiency, reliability and student satisfaction.

“We’ve gone from four days to two hours in our processing time,” Labe says. “This is a real benefit. Staff spends more time getting packages out to the students and the departments rather than putting slips of paper into mailboxes. If they have a package, they know in less than an hour after it arrives on campus. Obviously, our students and staff are much happier.”

For its own shipping, Haverford uses SendPro® Enterprise, which offers accurate internal accounting, rate comparisons and consolidated invoicing. “Pitney Bowes pays the carriers electronically and then provides us with a monthly invoice for our package and carrier spending,” Labe explains. “We’ve taken what amounted to roughly 10 to 12 invoices per month down to one.”

Safer and more efficient distribution

Software is great for tracking parcels, but can’t get them into students’ hands. For that stage, smart parcel lockers from Pitney Bowes offer an efficient, safe and convenient alternative to the traditional mail center.

“Intelligent Lockers give an institution the ability to manage rising package volume in a much more organized way, and with a superior client experience,” says Sean Kane, Director, Channel Strategy for Parcel and Locker Innovations.

Here’s how it works: A student is notified by email that a package has arrived. The email includes the location of the smart locker bank, and a QR code. The bank includes a screen that scans the QR code, which unlocks the appropriate locker door. The student retrieves the package at their convenience and goes on their way.

“And while that’s happening,” Kane adds, “the system in the background is recording all of those events. The system sees that you’ve scanned the email, the door opened, that you’ve taken possession of the package, and we close the loop. It’s end-to-end chain of custody and visibility.”

Efficiency isn’t the only advantage.

“The mailroom employees don’t have to interact with the public, and recipients don’t have to stand in line,” Kane explains. “It’s contactless delivery. And you can schedule the emails so that you don’t have too many people showing up the lockers at once.”

The lockers, which are built with 12-gauge, American-made steel, come in a range of sizes, from flat-rate box to large enough for a set of golf clubs. Banks of lockers can be placed anywhere; large institutions are installing them at multiple locations. Some institutions are also using them for BOPIS (“buy online, pick up in store”) shopping at the campus bookstore.

“Smart parcel lockers are the next evolution in service delivery,” says Kane. “It’s another tool for offering a better experience for your students and faculty. And it gives you the ability to provide a 24/7 service without 24/7 staffing.”

To learn more about Pitney Bowes smart lockers and how they can help your campus escape the package avalanche, visit Pitney Bowes and download The New Parcel Management eBook: Higher Ed Edition.

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