Brickell on the River
Luxury condominium community, Brickell on the River, eases delivery process with large-scale Parcel Pending by Quadient locker solution
Brickell on the River is a community of residential towers located in the upscale community of Brickell in the heart of Miami, Florida. The community consists of a 42-story North Tower with 404 units, a 44-story South tower with 334 units, and a central plaza between both towers that contains a restaurant, riverfront promenade, and other community amenities.
| Challenge | Solution | Results |
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| Brickell on the River saw parcel deliveries increasing to as high as 500 packages per day over the years, resulting in a “hectic” parcel management process. Manually documenting and distributing packages was time-consuming and often took staff away from their main functions. Working conditions in the parcel storage room were also not ideal, prompting a search for alternative parcel management solutions. | A member of the community’s Board of Directors recommended Parcel Pending by Quadient. Through a rigorous research and bidding process, Quadient was selected out of three other vendors for their smart parcel lockers. From a thorough analysis of the property’s delivery data, it was determined that 32 locker towers with 486 compartments comprised of a mix of extra small, small, medium, and large doors would fit Brickell’s needs. | Residents are happy with the system as they can collect packages at their convenience rather than stopping by the front desk. Reception staff can focus on their core functions instead of stepping away from their desks multiple times a day to retrieve packages from the storage room, and the property was also able to shrink their receiving staff by one headcount. |
Exponential growth of parcel deliveries brings on “hectic” package management process
Over the years, Brickell on the River saw parcel deliveries increase to 500 packages per day during peak seasons. Maritza Gonzalez, General Manager of the North Tower and Master Association (the Master Association manages the two towers’ common areas and amenities), described their previous parcel management process as “hectic”.
The property’s receiving team would manually log the deliveries, sort the packages between the two towers, and re-distribute them accordingly to each tower. Once a package was logged in the system, residents would receive an email notifying them of their deliveries, at which point they could claim them from their tower’s reception desk. However, residents would also receive a delivery notice from the retailer or courier as soon as their packages were discharged to the property, and they would often try to pick them up immediately—when the packages had yet to be processed by the receiving team. “This was a daily issue, residents demanding their packages when we hadn’t even had a chance to properly process them,” said Gonzalez. During the holidays, additional support was needed to help manage the higher number of packages received.
There were also occasional issues with damaged and lost packages, but the main trigger for a change in the system was the working conditions in the package receiving area. “Our receiving area did not have air conditioning, so it was hot and stuffy, especially in the summer—it was not the best working conditions for staff,” explained Gonzalez.
Meticulous planning makes for a successful launch
Initially, the community’s Architecture Control Committee proposed building an air-conditioned room with shelving as the community’s new receiving space; however, the Board of Directors felt that the costs required for plumbing and electrical were too high and sought to find alternative solutions. One of the board members had prior experience with Parcel Pending by Quadient at another property in Houston, Texas, and recommended them. After a rigorous research and bidding process, Quadient was selected out of three other vendors to supply smart parcel lockers for Brickell on the River. “As General Manager, I always have a detailed evaluation of the bidding parties to present to the board. The representative from Parcel Pending by Quadient made a great impact on the board as she was by far the most responsive and helpful with all the information that we requested of her. She made us feel like she was interested in our success and not merely selling the product,” said Gonzalez.
From a thorough analysis of the property’s delivery data, Parcel Pending by Quadient determined and customized the number of lockers and their configuration to meet Brickell’s needs. They installed 32 locker towers with 486 compartments comprised of a mix of extra small, small, medium, and large doors. Parcel Pending by Quadient is the only vendor that offers the extra small lockers, which take up less space than a regular full tower and perfect for accommodating Brickell’s large volume of vinyl package mailers. Quadient also identified the perfect location for the lockers—right off the loading dock inside the parking garage—from a walk-through of the property’s available space. The detailed planning of the installation considered the layout for the large number of lockers, which allows two couriers to deliver simultaneously and maneuver easily.
Months before the roll-out of the parcel lockers, Gonzalez took the initiative to prepare and onboard their 1000+ residents and commercial tenants, sending regular and detailed communications to educate them. Various Parcel Pending by Quadient customer support teams assisted by supplying the educational and marketing materials for the residents, as well as manually uploading the address book and making sure resident data was accurate.
| “As soon as we were ready to go with the lockers, everybody was registered and ready to use them. Most of the residents are very happy with the system as they can come and collect packages at their convenience rather than stopping by the front desk. And there are no fees to use the lockers.” |
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| Maritza Gonzalez, General Manager of the North Tower and Master Association, Brickell on the River |
Benefits abound for both staff and residents
The lockers have been a boon to the property, especially for the reception and receiving teams. Previously, when residents picked up packages from reception, staff there would have to step away for a minimum of 3-4 minutes each time to retrieve the packages from the storage room. “Thus far, we have processed 6,000+ packages per month through the lockers. Can you imagine how many times throughout the day that the staff must step away from their desks to facilitate this number of packages? So, the lockers have been amazing for the front desk,” said Gonzalez. While the receiving team has had to be more vigilant with the couriers to make sure that they put the packages in the lockers rather than leaving them out, Brickell on the River has been able to reduce one headcount from that function.
The Quadient customer support team is also readily available to assist the residents and staff. When residents have technical or usage questions about the lockers, they are encouraged to contact Parcel Pending by Quadient’s customer support. Similarly, staff found the customer success team to be extremely helpful when they were asked to retrieve footage from the four surveillance cameras on the lockers. With the footage captured from the cameras, Brickell on the River’s staff were able to resolve inquiries about packages that couriers claimed were delivered but were not.
| “Our experience of working with Parcel Pending by Quadient has been very good – excellent, in fact. From the beginning, when we were doing everything together with various Parcel Pending by Quadient teams – customizing the perfect locker configurations for us, closing the deal, planning the installation – through finalizing the project, it was a great experience. I would definitely recommend Parcel Pending by Quadient, 100%. I am so happy with the lockers! When I do my rounds, I go to the lockers every day and I see my residents retrieving packages from the lockers – it’s so easy!” |
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| Maritza Gonzalez, General Manager of the North Tower and Master Association, Brickell on the River |
Quadient, the leading provider of innovative package management solutions for multifamily communities, was founded with a simple goal in mind: to make package delivery easy and intuitive for everyone. With over 70 million packages delivered annually, Parcel Pending by Quadient offers a wide range of solutions that ensure safe, secure, and on-demand resident package retrieval.
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