Blindspots in Last Yard Packages Delivery and Pick up

Today, multiple packages from various retailers were delivered at my building in midtown Manhattan ordered over the weekend (and I had lost the count since some deliveries come in multiple shipments). I received cryptic messages about the arrival of the packages from the building front desk and numerous emails from the five carriers on my delivery status that is impossible to track between hundreds of emails I receive each day.

I showed up at the front desk at 5 pm, and the manager looked in the desktop screen to count the number of packages that were due for pick up - the count was eight (8). He went in and started to find them by looking at the package labels manually. The packages are brought out one by one and put on the moving cart.

At the count of six (6), the manager had a hard time finding my packages number 7 and 8. He counted the packages on the cart twice to make sure the number of packages that are already out on the cart.

He made two trips to the packages room but could not locate my last two packages that were entered into the building system. Eventually, he picked up each package from the cart one by one and to match the tracking number on the package to the system screen that shows the summary of my received and logged packages.

During this time, two other residents were waiting to collect their packages - they kept staring at me and the front desk. The front desk manager was able to manually ID the sending retailer of the last two missing packages and made a third trip to the mailroom. He finally got hold of one more. I was told that he could figure out the retailer for package number 8 but could not locate it. The last package carried goods worth $793.90, to be exact. I am hoping for them to find that package and inform me shortly! My total stay at the front desk was about 10-12 minutes, and I am one of the 1,000+ residents at this building with one person managing front desk operations and deliveries.

Packages delivery at any building or facility is a nightmare already with 80 billion packages handled around the globe annually when eCommerce is just 16% of the total retail spend.

The Building and Facility Owners, as well as the Management Companies who run their operations, continue to rely on old fashioned barcode scanners, manual data entries, text-based interfaces, and poorly designed notification emails.

This is exactly what we have solved for the front desk managers, concierge, and building residents of any facility through our Last-yard AI-powered Packages Management Solution 'PackageX' - a VisionX product that leverages machine vision to automate the delivery and pick up process for the building staff and transforms experience of the end-user.

Front Desk Managers: We make it easy and visual for them to point the camera on the package label, and our machine vision reads anything text, barcode, or QR code on the label, and our AI matches it to the right resident or recipient. The visual of the package is stored for clues during package sorting, storing, and the resident pick-up. The solution also provides a visual analytics dashboard to search for any package with all possible attributes available on the label.

Building Residents: Our email and text notifications are visual. It allows residents to see what is actually delivered by seeing the package image along with the sender and receiver details. Providing a visual of the package on the email or text also makes it easy for the residents to show the image of the package to the front desk staff for its quick retrieval (the issue I had faced today!). Residents can also set up their designated pick-up persons, and the PackageX notifies all the parties, including the collection of signatures or a snap of their ID.

PackageX last-yard solution provides 'visibility' and 'accountability' on the custody of the package. This problem is causing all actors of the logistics and supply chain hundreds of millions for re-shipping lost or misplaced packages and the additional liability for the delivery carriers. Last-yard accountability is a complete 'blindspot.'

The forward-looking buildings, facilities, and businesses get it and are working with PackageX to integrate our solution for packages delivery, pick up, and returns. It includes Universities, Schools, Corporate Headquarters, Co-working Spaces, Residential Complexes, Hospitals, Hotels, and some exciting niche verticals. With WeWork alone, our product is live in 35+ countries, 150+ cities supporting multiple languages. VisionX's machine vision platform that powers PackageX and our other vision products continue to process thousands of labels, receipts, images, and videos every day!

An interesting tweet by an ex-WeWork member who still trusts management of packages at WeWork rather than their apartment building! Food for thought.

We are working to make the Property Management of my building understand, realize, and recognize the sub-par resident experience and pain of the front desk staff the feeds into the broader issue that costs carriers, retailers, and senders millions of dollars every year and becoming a significant contributor to sustainability and environmental impact.

Here are a few images of PackageX experience - one of the eight packages scanned by me:

Front Desk Managers: Snap and notify.

Building Residents: An email with the sender/receiver details and package image.

Pick up Experience: Digital capture with zero hardware.

Learn more about PackageX here or reach out to:

? [email protected], [email protected]