These days the mailroom is unlikely to receive the high volume of business letters that would have been expected in the years prior to the internet.  Just imagine if all those emails and WhatsApp messages were in paper form, dropping through the letter box every day instead of being delivered seamlessly to your inbox or phone?  We would be drowning in a sea of paperwork!

Despite the reduction in letter traffic, the mailroom today is still busy and remains crucially important to employees and to businesses alike although the type of mail has changed.  We no longer receive many letters through the post but the amount of parcel traffic has  certainly gone through the roof, with delivery vans now dropping off parcels to customers on a daily basis.  This means that adopting new mailroom management systems in the workplace is essential in order to cope with the heightened volume of online shopping.

Your reception area and mailroom are important. These are the areas of contact to the outer world and the places where anything sent to the business arrives before being forwarded to the correct recipient. However owing to the huge increase in online shopping by staff members, today many non work related parcels and packages are also delivered to the workplace. This means that the mailroom and reception can become overloaded with non business work, causing time wasting, clutter and anxiety to employees.

If this sounds familiar to your own business, Mailroom Management Software can help streamline this process and has numerous advantages for employees and business owners alike.

So what is mailroom management software?

When you think of parcel tracking, you probably visualise those email notifications that you receive about parcel delivery and tracking whenever you buy online. These give you the status of your order and the estimated time of delivery and they reassure you that your order is on its way. mailroom tracking software is similar except it is designed for use in the workplace mailroom, once a parcel has arrived at the building.

This may seem like a niche requirement but is something that most companies need owing to changes in working patterns and the work life balance of employees.

Why does mailroom tracking software improve staff experience?

We are all spending an increased time at work as well as increasingly buying online. This means that parcel delivery is a real problem for many people. Leaving unattended parcels all day outside your front door is not secure and crime statistics report an increase in theft from door steps.  

So unless you have someone at home to receive your package for you, it can be impossible to arrange a delivery time. As a result, most online customers opt to have their parcels delivered to their workplace as the safest and most convenient option. For many employees it is the only option.

According to a workplace survey carried out by Market Research Company Wakefield on 1000 people working for a major US company, over 69 % of employees reported having at least one parcel delivered to the workplace. And with the move to buying online growing ever stronger, this is a trend that is only going to increase in the future.

Once a package is delivered to your workplace it can cause numerous problems for the mailroom and reception staff. Often the package will arrive in the reception area and stay there for long periods of time, cluttering up the space and looking unsightly. There can be a lack of communication between the reception desk, mailroom and the owner of the parcel and receiving and signing for a parcel takes up valuable work time.

How does mailroom tracking software work?

With mailroom tracking software, once the package is delivered to the workplace, it can be automatically scanned and photographed in a process that takes around 30 seconds.

This process can be carried out quickly by mailroom or reception staff using the mailroom software app. Once the parcel has been registered with the software, employees receive an instant notification that the parcel has arrived. The package is held at the reception desk or the mailroom until the recipient collects it. The recipient signs for the parcel digitally on the app so there are no risks to security as only the correct person can collect the parcel.

This means that instead of your reception staff wasting time signing for the parcel and in notifying the staff member by phone or email, this is all carried out automatically. If your staff member fails to collect his or her package promptly, the mail tracking software will continue to send out notifications until they do so. If your employee is on leave or home for a few days, the parcel can be easily picked up and redirected.

Mailroom Software will keep your reception area streamlined!

These days many companies do not have a designated mailroom. Instead all deliveries and collections are handled from the front reception desk. This area is an advertisement for your company so if it is cluttered with private parcels, it creates the impression that your company is inefficient and chaotic. It is no use in creating a cool smart space with expensive décor if your reception area is messy; it destroys the streamlined appearance and brings into question your company’s whole integrity and efficiency.

In addition, reception staff are already busy with work based enquiries. This means that after the package has been signed for, it can often stay there forgotten for days, especially during busy periods. And at busy times such as Christmas , Black Friday or Amazon Prime Day,   when your staff are likely to be shopping online in increasing amounts, your reception area can soon begin to resemble the Amazon warehouse rather than a professional place of work.

Changing your mailroom management systems to accommodate the needs of your staff will have a positive effect upon individual staff members’ morale and improve workplace productivity.

Adding mailroom software as a company perk improves morale!

All workplaces are placing increased importance upon the happiness and wellbeing of their staff members. Most companies provide extras such as free coffee, breakfasts, lunches, gym memberships and more because most forward thinking companies know that staff morale is key to business success. We are all spending more time at the workplace too and following long periods of working from home, many people wish to attain a more sustainable work life balance.

Mail room software that enables employees to receive parcels at work is a valuable perk. It takes away anxiety from online shopping and helps staff focus on work, rather than worrying about parcel management. Once the staff member is notified that their parcel has arrived, it creates a little lift that brightens the day. Now he or she can focus on work, rather than worrying about a parcel delivery. It's time to digitalise your mailroom.

Improve your mailroom management service!

Mailroom management software automates your mailroom and ensures your internal parcel tracking works well. It enables reception staff and mailroom staff to carry out their duties effectively without wasting time on signing for parcels or contacting the recipients. In a large busy company where personal parcel deliveries are a regular occurrence each day, it makes sense to automate the process and to put it on an official setting, rather than as a personal “favour” from the reception or mailroom staff.

In addition, mailroom management systems are ideal for company use. So when those urgent samples arrive or you need to buy in materials for your business, you can be confident that your mailroom will notify the correct person immediately that the important package is available for collection. This is critical in fast fashion when things move at an ultra fast speed or in other time sensitive scenarios such as research labs where items can be perishable and require instant refrigeration.

Mailroom tracking software can help you scale your business

A successful company or start up can grow very quickly and in the early days, he lack of mailroom management systems can be a problem. Mailroom tracking software will help ensure that your business can cope with the increased volume of traffic. You can use it for any deliveries to your company, thus taking the pressure off the mailroom or reception staff by working with this streamlined automated system.

How can mailroom management systems help you save money managing parcels

If you run a company or business, you cannot afford to waste money. Improving the efficiency of your mailroom will drastically reduce the time wasted on signing for packages and contacting the recipients that they have arrived. Mailroom software is ideal for processing all parcel deliveries and will help your mailroom staff or receptionists focus on their jobs rather than wasting lengthy man hours as part of an unpaid delivery service for your employees.

In addition mailroom software can streamline your own deliveries too making it more convenient for when you need to buy in office supplies for your company. Mailroom management software can also be used for pick ups and returns too so provides many possibilities for business use.

The trend in online shopping is not going away. It rose exponentially throughout lockdown and changed shopping habits forever.  And with many major retailers now focused solely on online sales, your employees will not stop using your company as their delivery address. Your company will also need to receive parcels and packaging for office supplies. So by using mailroom management software, all deliveries into your business premises can be integrated into one simple system with no inconvenience to reception staff or the mailroom.

Updating your mailroom management systems saves you time and it saves your company money so is something that all forward thinking business cannot afford to do without.

‍

With Parcel Tracker you can also carbon offset deliveries automatically!

‍

Article by Jane