Consumer behavior and preferences have undergone drastic changes in the recent past. The pandemic largely influenced these. It has spurred e-commerce delivery volumes as more and more people adopt online shopping. In this piece, we assess and analyze the progress and challenges made during this significant transition from in-store shopping to e-commerce. This includes package theft or porch piracy which has been a significant concern for multifamily package management and delivery managers.
Inefficiencies in Package Management and Delivery
Presently, the package delivery management protocol is nowhere near where it ought to be. There’s an ever skyrocketing e-commerce trend. Hence, a need for a better delivery system that focuses on solving logistics and security challenges. This is due to the high porch piracy cases reported in the recent past as package theft skyrocketed owing to a lack of efficiency in the package management processes with soaring package volumes.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced consumers to rely on e-commerce and package deliveries to ensure efficiency and safety. This trend is expected to change as pandemic subsides, yet consumer behavior has undergone an irreversible shift. For multifamily package delivery managers, this means providing better amenities to ensure safe package management and delivery solutions.
Multifamily buildings, property owners, and managers need to create new logistics and delivery solutions that meet the tenants’ ever-changing behavior and preferences. This means that the traditional package room and locker or similar delivery management approaches will not provide the much-needed efficiency in this regard.
A practical package management approach that addresses logistics challenges in the face of high delivery volumes and works to improve tenant experience is the ultimate solution in the future. As more people continue to work from home amidst an ever-increasing e-commerce trend, multifamily building managers need to restrategize logistics.
Before the pandemic, most people had packages delivered to their workplaces instead of their homes to ensure security. There has been a need to redirect business-related deliveries to people’s homes, and confidential documents now get lumped together with other BarkBox subscriptions.
These significant inefficiencies in package delivery management have led to increased package theft. Statistics proved that this trend can only grow worse without the implementation of better protocols.
Package Theft Statistics
According to recent statistics, package theft hit an all-time high by the end of January 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fast forward to the end of the first half of the same year. E-commerce became the ultimate goldmine for porch pirates. An estimated 20% of Americans reported having lost their packages between March and May 2020. In those three months, two in five people became victims of porch piracy.
This is evident going by the high number of missing package inquiries made to Amazon, Walmart, UPS, USPS, and FedEx. UPS recorded the highest cases around June the same year. Other couriers reached their peak around May as complaints from frustrated customers dominated their review sites.
Statistics in 2019 and 2020
In 2019, an estimated 90,000 packages were reported missing every day without a trace in New York. That resulted in a 128% increase in missing package inquiries translating into over 205,000 packages lost daily in New York in 2020.
By November 2020, an estimated 43% of missing packages were reported in the country, according to research by C+R Research. This was a 7% increase from the previous year. Overall, the number of packages lost to the United States in 2020 alone amounted to 6 billion dollars.
This is equivalent to about 35.5 million victims whose packages were stolen, and each package has an average value of $156.82. According to overall findings, Americans lost around $5.4 billion to porch piracy in the past year.
Porch pirates are thieves that steal packages on porches before the recipients pick them up. They primarily target larger packages for which they equate greater value. The overall package volumes can slow down as the pandemic subsides. However, consumers are likely to maintain the online shopping trend, and property managers need to create better strategies to safeguard the interests of their tenants and maintain a competitive edge in the rental and last-mile delivery market.
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Average Number of Deliveries a Family Receives Per Year
According to a recent survey, the average American household receives 21 parcels translating into 84 packages per year. That’s on the lower side compared to China reporting an estimated 70 parcels per household. This equals to 280 packages per year. The US estimate is also less compared to Germany and the UK, which reports an average of 22-24 packages per household, respectively. Additionally, Ireland reported an average of 15 parcels per household, followed by 12 in Sweden and Italy.
Increase in Grocery and Food Deliveries Since COVID
Besides the retail market, grocery and food stores across the United States also reported an increase in sales in 2020 owing to the pandemic outbreak. Sales skyrocketed from $1.2 billion in 2019 to $4 billion in March 2020, an increase estimated to be 233 percent. This trend continues from March to June with another 80% increase before slumping to $5.7 in August. Both in-store and online grocery shopping was reported to be $5.3 billion as of May 2021.
Last-Mile Tracking Trends
The major players in the US logistics and package delivery industry are undoubtedly
UPS and FedEx, especially within the last-mile delivery segment. FedEx, in particular, affirms that together with UPS and USPS, they deliver over 95% of all e-commerce packages in the United States.
However, e-commerce sales continue to rise alongside customer expectations which led to an unprecedented upsurge in package volumes. Yet, these established couriers still lack the capacity and technology to conduct timely last-mile deliveries from their warehouses. This level of inefficiency has created gaps in the package delivery landscape, presenting significant opportunities for last-mile delivery startups to thrive.
Using crowdsourcing and drones, established couriers and last-mile delivery startups can do more to bring a lasting solution to the last-mile delivery challenge and help curb porch piracy. Here are the top package delivery services providers in the United States.
- FedEx
- UPS
- XPO
- USPS
- Amazon
- Walmart
- Postmates
- Deliv
- Hitch
- Darkstore
- ShipHawk
- Narvar
- Piggybee
- Entrusters
Track Your Package With Notifii Track
For most multifamily property managers, last-mile delivery need not be cumbersome even with the increasing package volumes. There are practical, hassle-free approaches you can implement to ensure efficiency, punctuality, consistency, and secure delivery of packages.
Thousands of property managers have implemented a last-mile package management software that allows you to manage, organize, track and deliver packages to residents and office employees quickly and efficiently without dealing with backlogs or missing packages. Notifii Track is one such software that enables you to:
- Spend less time logging packages. You can simply snap a photo of the parcel from your phone and log in to the recipient details.
- Send the package information to the recipient via text message or email.
- Retain package data records for up to five years.
- Send notifications to recipients to collect their packages hence avoiding backlogs.
- Keep track of all packages, including those already picked and those set for delivery, and so much more.
If you’re looking to establish an efficient last-mile package delivery process, our effective package management software can help. Contact us today to learn more or schedule a demo.
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