Office mailrooms used to handle business mail. Now a large share of what arrives is employees’ personal parcels, and with hybrid schedules the recipient may not be in until Thursday. Parcels pile up behind the counter and mailroom staff spend the week emailing people. This page is for facility and workplace managers deciding whether package lockers fix that.
Quick answer
- Couriers drop off at the touchscreen; employees collect with a code on their next office day.
- Size for a hybrid week, because parcels wait longer than in housing.
- One bank, several uses: personal parcels, internal mail, IT hand-outs and returns.
- Directory sync from HR or your identity system keeps joiners and leavers current.
- Decide the personal-parcel policy before launch.
- Price: see the rough price guide.
The hybrid-work problem
| Pattern | Effect on parcels | What to set |
|---|---|---|
| Employees in 2–3 days a week | Parcels wait several days | Size cells for parcels waiting across a week |
| Team days cluster attendance | Collection peaks on those days | Enough cells near the busiest floors |
| Long weekends and holidays | Parcels sit longer | Longer window before clearing, or a reminder schedule |
| Leavers | Parcels arrive after they go | Remove leavers from the directory; return or forward |
A personal-parcel policy
Write one before the lockers arrive. Typical points:
- Allowed or not, and for whom (employees, contractors).
- Size limits: anything that does not fit a cell goes to the desk or is refused.
- No perishables unless you install refrigerated cells.
- Collection window: for example, five office days, then returned to sender or held at the desk.
- Liability: the company’s position on lost or damaged personal items.
One bank, four jobs
| Job | Who loads | Who collects |
|---|---|---|
| Personal parcels | Courier, at the touchscreen | The employee, with a code |
| Internal mail and documents | Mailroom staff | The named employee |
| IT equipment issue and repair returns | IT staff or the employee | The employee or IT |
| Returns to retailers | The employee | The courier, by arrangement |
Using one bank for all four keeps a single record. For dedicated device or phone storage, see employee lockers.
The employee directory
Employees receive codes by email or text. Keep the directory current:
- Import a spreadsheet from HR at launch.
- Sync joiners and leavers over the API from your HR or identity system, if it can send updates.
- Remove leavers promptly, so their codes stop.
Placement in an office building
- Near the mailroom or delivery entrance, so couriers don’t walk the office floor.
- On the route employees take from the lifts, so collection is not a detour.
- Inside access control, with couriers admitted by reception or a delivery entrance.
- Multi-tenant buildings: see coworking package lockers for several companies sharing a bank.
Specification checklist
- Two weeks of parcel counts, personal and business, with sizes
- Attendance pattern and average days before collection
- Personal-parcel policy approved
- Directory import or sync method
- Bank position, power and network
- Cells for IT equipment, if used for hand-outs
- What the mailroom still handles
Where this is the wrong answer
- The office bans personal deliveries and business mail is light.
- A small office where one person can hand out a few parcels a day.
- Most items are signed-for and policy requires hand-to-hand delivery.
Rough price guide and quote
Most offices need a single bank near the mailroom; the ranges below apply.
A small bank of about 10 cells with a courier touchscreen typically comes in at a few thousand US dollars, roughly US$2,000–5,000. A 50–100-cell building system is roughly US$8,000–20,000. Software is a flat monthly fee of around US$100 per location, with no per-parcel or resident fees. Freight, duties and installation are extra, and your quote fixes the price.
Price enquiry · 1 minute
Get a quote for your building
Tell us roughly what you need and we reply with a cell layout, a drawing and a firm price. For the full form with cell sizes and options, use the price enquiry page.
Frequently asked questions
Should employees be allowed to have personal parcels delivered to the office?
That is a company policy decision. Many workplaces allow it as a benefit with limits, for example on size, perishables or valuables. Lockers make a permissive policy cheaper to run, because mailroom staff no longer log and hand out each parcel. Write the policy down before the lockers go live.
How do package lockers work with hybrid schedules?
Parcels wait in a cell until the employee’s next office day. That makes waiting time longer than in a residential building, so size for parcels waiting across a week, set a collection window that matches your attendance pattern, and send reminders. Clear expired parcels with a logged staff code.
Can the same lockers hold internal mail and IT equipment?
Yes. Staff can load any item into a cell for a named employee, who gets a code to collect it. Laptops, badges, documents and returns can all go through the same bank, with a record of who loaded and who collected each item.
How do employees get their code?
By email or text. The employee directory can be imported from a spreadsheet or kept in sync with your HR or identity system over the API, so joiners are added and leavers removed without manual work.
Does the mailroom still need staff?
Usually fewer hours. Someone still handles signed-for items your policy keeps at the desk, oversize deliveries, outgoing mail and exceptions. The lockers take the routine receive-log-notify-hand-out cycle for everyday parcels.
Related
- Parcel lockers: the product and how a delivery runs
- Coworking package lockers: several tenants, one bank
- Employee and phone lockers
- Click and collect lockers: if you also hand out orders to customers
