Page 9 - New England Condominiium December 2021

NEWENGLANDCONDO.COM NEW ENGLAND CONDOMINIUM -DECEMBER 2021 9 ■ Depth of Knowledge & Experience ■ Expert Advice ■ Creative Approaches & Solutions ■ Flexible Billing Arrangements (781) 817-4900 O NE A DAMS P LACE , 859 W ILLARD S TREET , S UITE 440 Q UINCY , MA 02169 www.lawmtm.com MTM is a full-service Condominium & Real Estate Law Firm Experience, Integrity, & Drive Set Us Apart Uncommon Expertise for your Community of Common Interests Thomas Bhisitkul (617) 934-4603 tbhisitkul@lawmtm.com Kimberly A. Bielan (781) 817-4607 kbielan@lawmtm.com Christopher S. Malloy (617) 934-4604 cmalloy@lawmtm.com Douglas A. Troyer (781) 817-4605 dtroyer@lawmtm.com Thomas O. Moriarty (781) 817-4603 tmoriarty@lawmtm.com (617) 934-4550 265 F RANKLIN S TREET , S UITE 1801 B OSTON , MA 02110 (508) 459-8516 39 T OWN H ALL S QUARE F ALMOUTH , MA 02540 have even discontinued package services al- together when the delivery volume exceeded cal for all the types of things we order off the for a resident to do themselves, he explains, personnel and management. Amazon itself manageable levels. Staffing and space limita- tions can simply make it impossible for on-site animals? Good luck getting your deli guy to how old—and an upgraded hardware replace- teams to receive, store, and distribute packages accept and keep those deliveries. on behalf of residents while still staying on top of their other responsibilities. Some attorneys say the safety and liability issues alone are reason enough to disallow delivery personnel from entering residential buildings. The onset of COVID made this all the more plain. “We recommend that no delivery person- nel be permitted past the entrance of the build- ing,” said Dale Degenshein, an attorney with Manhattan-based law firm Armstrong Teas- dale, in the early days of the pandemic, “and that in most cases, residents pick up their pack- ages or food deliveries in the lobby or outside of the building.” Of course, such arrangements only work when residents expect to be home during delivery hours. As the pandemic ebbs, or we just learn to live with it, other approaches will have to be considered to keep both staff and residents—and their deliveries—safe. Even before COVID, and before the pack- age pandemonium instigated by Amazon and other global e-tailers, it was common practice in many communities to arrange for a nearby business—a corner store, deli, or bodega, for example—to accept deliveries on residents’ be- half. Now UPS has a service called My Choice, says Peterselli, that allows registered users to have their packages delivered to another lo- cation—be it the local convenience store, the office, or a designated neighbor. While it can definitely help, this option might not be practi- internet. Furniture? Perishable goods? Live using their unit’s existing wiring—no matter offers such a product, called Amazon Hub. Tech-Based Solutions for a Tech-Induced Problem While delivery to another address or unit might solve the problem of an undeliverable or unsecured package, it removes the conve- nience of door-to-door delivery that residents have come to expect and rely upon. Package management has shifted from a courtesy to a competitive necessity, reports the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), so buildings of all types need options for package delivery that are as secure as they are conve- nient, without breaking the bottom line. There are a lot of newcomers to the build- ing security tech, or ‘proptech’ arena, many aiming to help underserved or overlooked types of buildings. One example is a product called Buzr, which is about to launch from its startup lab on Roosevelt Island in New York City. CEO Tony Liebel says that the company is “focused on getting to residents who are left behind in the proptech renaissance.” The Buzr system is geared toward older, smaller build- ings without lobby attendants or high-tech security systems, and is installed as a relatively inexpensive modification to an existing inter- com access panel. “I like to think of it as Nest or Ring \[popular app-based systems for re- mote home monitoring\], but for access,” says Liebel. Installation is designed to be easy enough customer support—off the plates of building ment for the intercom station. (Residents not Pending, and Luxor One also store all types of comfortable tinkering with wires can opt for packages in electronically-accessed locker sys- the company’s installation helper for an ad- ditional fee.) The interface remains the same, PIN to the recipient when the courier places it just becomes “smart”—meaning that access their package in a locker. But the installation of data is stored in the cloud, allowing a building these units averages around $15,000, and using to maintain a record of when the lobby door the system might be intimidating for less tech- is buzzed, and which unit is providing access. It also allows for ‘virtual keys’—an un- duplicable code that can be sent in a link or days, or an even more package-intense future. programmable in an app or text message. Vir- tual keys can allow a food delivery person, for ident delivery services offer yet another pos- example, to have limited, recorded access to a sible solution to the package problem, but their building for the purpose of a dropoff, eliminat- ing the need for a staff member to handle the Some, like Doorman, have already come and receipt and enhancing security by logging the gone. Fetch is a newcomer offering a similar access. In places like New York City, it also re- duces the waste and inconvenience produced about a dozen states, including Illinois and by the 30% of packages the Wall Street Jour- nal found go undelivered on the first attempt. Theft is reduced as well, according to Liebel, we scale back our online shopping and curb who says that 90,000 packages are stolen in the our collective addiction to ultra-convenience Big Apple every year. “What we do is at least (and we’re not holding our breath on that one), make sure packages get in the front door,” he the solution to package security in multifamily says. Communities with the space and financial space, storage, staff, and tech that each com- resources to create onsite locker storage fa- cilities can also partner with one of the many third-party vendors that have come on the scene in recent years to take receipt, storage, and notification—not to mention liability and Newcomers like Package Concierge, Parcel tems that provide a text message and unique savvy residents. The storage space may also not be sufficient for heavy volume times like holi- Offsite storage facilities with direct-to-res- longevity in the space has not been proven. business model, but is as yet only available in Florida. The upshot may be that unless and until buildings will likely be some combination of munity must ongoingly assess. n Darcey Gerstein is Associate Editor and a Staff Writer for New England Condominium.