Plenty of buildings already have a package room: a converted storage room, part of the mailroom, or a corner behind the front desk with shelves. As volumes grow, managers ask whether to keep it, replace it with package lockers, or put lockers inside it. This page compares the two honestly and lays out the hybrid most busy buildings end up with.
Quick answer
- Package room: most capacity per square foot, takes oversize items, cheap to set up. Needs someone to log parcels; any resident with access can reach any parcel.
- Package lockers: one locked cell per parcel, automatic notification, a record of every door opening. Every parcel must fit a cell.
- Hybrid: lockers on one wall for everyday parcels, shelving or a cage for oversize, inside the same controlled room.
- Convert when: the room is full by mid-week, staff spend real time logging, or residents report missing parcels.
- Price: see the rough price guide; a hybrid needs fewer cells than a lockers-only design.
The two side by side
| Package room (shelving) | Package lockers | |
|---|---|---|
| Capacity per wall | High; parcels stack | Set by the cell mix |
| Oversize parcels | Yes | Only in oversize cells, and only up to their size |
| Who logs a parcel | Staff, or the courier on a sign-in sheet or app | The courier, at the touchscreen, as part of the drop-off |
| Recipient notification | Manual, or through a package-room app | Automatic text or email with a one-time code |
| Who can reach a parcel | Anyone with access to the room | Only the code holder, and staff with a logged code |
| Disputes (“it was never there”) | Hard to settle | Time-stamped drop-off and collection record |
| Set-up cost | Shelving and a door lock | A locker bank, power and network |
| Ongoing cost | Staff time | Software fee; far less staff time |
Neither column is the winner everywhere. A building with a 24-hour concierge and lots of bulky deliveries may run a package room well. A building where the desk is unstaffed at night, or where parcels go missing, gets more from lockers.
Signs it is time to change the room
- The room fills before the weekend, and staff start stacking parcels in the office.
- Residents search, pulling boxes off shelves and leaving them in the wrong place.
- Missing-parcel complaints take staff time and cannot be resolved because there is no record of who took what.
- Couriers wait for someone to open the room, or leave parcels outside it.
- Logging takes real hours. Count a week of parcels and the minutes spent on each, then run the ROI calculator.
The hybrid: lockers and shelving in one room
The arrangement that suits most busy buildings:
- Lockers along the longest wall, sized for the bulk of your parcels: mostly standard cells, some large, a few oversize.
- A short shelving run or a lockable cage for anything that will not fit, opened with a staff code.
- One controlled door to the room, with courier access by code or fob.
- The locker touchscreen near the door, so the courier logs every parcel there, including oversize ones, and the resident is notified either way.
This keeps the room’s capacity for awkward items while putting everyday parcels behind individual doors. It also usually means a smaller locker bank than a lockers-only design, because the largest parcels never need a cell.
Converting the room: what to measure
| Measure | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Wall lengths and ceiling height | How many towers fit, and whether tall towers clear sprinkler heads and lights |
| Door width and swing | Getting the towers in, and keeping the room’s own door usable |
| Floor clear space in front of the bank | A courier with a hand cart and a resident collecting at the same time |
| Power outlet position | The controller needs mains power |
| Network point or Wi-Fi signal | The locker sends codes through its cloud service |
| A week of parcel counts and sizes | The cell mix; see the sizing guide |
Ask your fire and building officials before you narrow the room’s exit route or fix anything to a rated wall.
Running both: who does what
- Courier: drops off at the touchscreen. If no cell fits, the screen says so, and the parcel goes on the shelving with a logged entry.
- Resident: collects from the cell with the code, or from staff for oversize items.
- Staff: clear expired parcels with a logged staff code and hand out oversize items. Nothing else.
Where lockers are the wrong answer
- Most deliveries are bulky. If furniture and appliance boxes dominate, a well-run package room or cage is the better investment.
- The room is tiny and parcel counts are low. A shelf and a sign-in sheet cost almost nothing.
- There is no power or network, and none can be added.
- Couriers won’t come to the room. Fix access before buying hardware.
Rough price guide and quote
Because a hybrid room sends oversize parcels to shelving, it usually needs fewer and smaller cells than a lockers-only design.
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
Is a package room or package lockers better for an apartment building?
Package lockers are better when parcels are mostly small to medium and nobody wants to log every one; a package room is better when many deliveries are bulky or when there is staff to manage it anyway. With steady daily volume, the usual answer is both: lockers for everyday parcels and a smaller secured area for oversize items.
Can we put package lockers inside our existing package room?
Yes, and it is often the cheapest place, because the room already has controlled access, power and sometimes a network point. Measure the wall runs and door clearances, keep floor space for a hand cart, and leave a section of shelving for parcels that will not fit a cell.
How do couriers deliver into a package room with lockers?
The courier needs access to the room, by a code, fob or staffed door, and then uses the locker touchscreen to drop off. Oversize parcels go on the shelving; staff or the courier log them so the resident is notified. Our touchscreen needs no carrier integration, so any courier who can reach it can use it.
Do smart package rooms work as well as lockers?
A smart package room adds an electronic door lock, cameras and notifications to an open shelving room. It holds more and handles bulky items, but residents still share one space, so a resident who opens the door can pick up any parcel. Lockers keep each parcel behind its own door. Which matters more depends on how often parcels go missing in your building today.
What happens to the shelving if we install lockers?
Keep some of it. Even a well-sized locker bank will see parcels that are too large for any cell, especially furniture, appliances and bulk orders. A short run of shelving or a lockable cage beside the lockers handles those without sending them back to the front desk.
Related
- Parcel lockers: the product and how a delivery runs
- Package theft prevention for apartments
- High-rise package lockers: overflow at peak season
- Apartment parcel locker sizing
