In our last blog we talked about the one the bonuses of condo life was having close neighbors who help with your mail or parcels. Living in a community where owners look out for each other out by grabbing your mail or parcels for you when you are away or delayed is one of the best reasons to live in a condo community! This is why you buy a condo! However its not always practical and most owners don't want to have to bother their neighbors for every amazon purchase that is delivered. If you are losing your amazon packages or mail way to often one of the issues your board and property manager need to address is why and who and try and solve the problem. Sometimes its not possible to figure out who the culprits are in really large condo buildings. For many buildings its almost impossible to police and deal with all of the packages and people entering the building and because of these situations there are great solutions namely parcel lockers. Canada Post created a parcel locker which is great and works really well but it can only be used for mail sent through Canada Post and if you're like me I primarily use Amazon so my parcels are not safely locked away but rather left at my door or in the lobby free for the taking! If you use Amazon or any other delivery service other than Canada Post then your packages are left all over the building sitting there tempting and taunting those people who feel the need to check other people's purchases first. But your packages don't have to be left vulnerable there are solutions to help owners deal with misplaced parcels and packages and your board or property manager can very easily and very simply deal with those lost and misplaced packages by bringing in a parcel locker. A parcel locker works with all the major delivery companies so your packages can be delivered ..stored in the locker and protected. There is a Canadian company called Snaile that builds these lockers and can build them to add to any lobby they come in all shapes and sizes. There really is no reason that any building and any owner should have to deal with stolen or lost parcels or mail with these types of innovations.
The world is full of smart technological advances that can assist in improving your condo living and your board should be looking for new and innovative ways to not only maintain your property values but increase them. Theft of mail is a common problem for many buildings and difficult to deal with because unless you are able to catch someone in the act its hard to prove and unfortunately very low on the priority list for many buildings. It takes time and effort to sit and watch hours of footage to find the culprit responsible for theft in a building. It's much easier and more efficient to find easier solutions to the problem. I know of a board of directors in a condo building that had a member who was dubbed "just say No" because he, yes the board member was a man said no to everything. Any new suggestion any new improvement or possibility he automatically turned it down and was negative. So of course Just say No, generated problem after problem because he was left unchallenged, year after year there were no improvements made to the building and of course they had a parcel theft problem. In a community when there are no consequences and the people living or visiting the building learn that the board is weak and is not governing or managing the building then the building turns into the wild west and of course packages are stolen because the culprits know that no one cares enough to do anything so the thieves keep thieving and the owners continue to be frustrated. In this particular building with the board member Just Say No, the topic of parcel theft came up at a board meeting and the parcel locker solution presented and guess what happened? Just say No, said No! He tried to further his No decision with "we have a condo in Arizona and Florida and everyone just gets their packages sent to the drop off and they pick them up there so they don't get stolen". Well, isn't that nice for retired residents living in condos in Arizona and Florida - they apparently have the time to pick up parcels and the weather is so nice for them they may even be able to walk everyday to the drop off site. I'm sure it's a really lovely outing for those retired persons! BUT, what about people who don't have time everyday to pick up their parcels and need the items right away which is why they had them delivered in the first place!! We have parcels delivered to our homes for the convenience! If we had the time or inclination to pick them up at the drop off we could just go to the store and buy the items! That's why delivery was invented! Why even have the items delivered if you had the time to just go to the store? Not to mention everyday in many places the weather is not nice. It could be -45 outside or -30 because everywhere is not Florida or Arizona! The lack of concern for others in the building is frustrating and makes me crazy just thinking about how unbelievable it is that a board member would deny the owners in the building the convenience of having their parcels safely delivered and stored in a protected locker for a minimal price. Theft of packages in a building signals other internal issues and could potentially lower property values as well so there are many reasons to address parcel theft in a building. Who wants to live in a building with thieves? Would you buy a unit in a building where the board was unconcerned about parcel theft and wasn't actively trying to deal with it? One of the reasons people purchase condos is because it suits their lifestyle and for many that lifestyle is a busy one where they don't have time to shop in stores or work out of town and want their packages delivered and waiting for them when they return home. These are some of the issues board members needs to keep in mind when they are serving on the board. They need to consider other condo owners and their needs and requirements in the building. If there are options to protect owners then review them, look at all potential situations and if the board can't decide if the solutions are beneficial then take it to the owners and ask them directly if they would like a locker to protect their purchases. There are many resources available out there to help boards and owners create a great condo community so boards of directors start now and serve your owners and protect their parcels.
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