Parcel lockers for schools create healthy communities
Parcel lockers for schools are an important part of creating healthy school communities. As students return full time, the schools’ dynamic and busy environment is front of mind. Some State Governments have delivered air purifiers to many schools and encourage outdoor classroom sessions. Vaccine mandates for teachers and their availability for young students has been another approach for safety. However, parcel lockers for schools are another important tool that is being overlooked.
School health and safety
When you look at the news, it seems like there’s a different headline every day about schools and safety. With so many students, teachers, staff members and visitors on-site everyday, safety is a primary concern. There are also couriers, contractors and repair technicians trying to get in and out of schools daily. Schools have to take every precaution possible to ensure the safety of their school community.
Schools are required to keep track of everyone who enters the premises. This effort to ensure safety and security for all is very time-consuming, and a certain amount of contact is needed to fill in sign-in forms. A smart parcel locker system can help manage this process. All the details of each delivery and collection via the lockers are automatically recorded and stored on the facility admin dashboard.
Another way to ensure the safety of students and staff these days is to minimise the number of people coming onsite. So far this has meant parents or couriers were not allowed onsite, or at least only during drop-offs and pick-ups. To make this work long-term, you need a way for parents and contractors who are not on campus to drop off or pick up things safely and securely.
Parcel lockers provide a single drop-off point which can be placed in a convenient outdoor location to keep visitors out of the building entirely. It eliminates the need for someone to meet couriers at the door or to continuously check the reception desk or office mailbox where packages are often left unattended. This solution provides both the deliverer and the recipient with a safe, contactless transfer and ensures each package or item is secure.
Benefits of parcel lockers for schools
Parcel lockers for schools provide so many benefits due to schools’ unique needs. They are truly a premium service keeping the school community safe and attracting enrolments. Parcel lockers can be used to distribute everything from uniforms and equipment to forgotten lunches or as a collection point for click and collect library books.
Time savings for parents faculty and staff
Students, parents, and teachers can collect packages or drop off lost and found without visiting the school office, saving a lot of time and reducing interruptions to staff. Staff also benefit from no longer being interrupted by repair technicians and couriers as items are dropped off and picked up. Everyone interacting with the lockers (and those who aren’t!) benefit from contactless and fast delivery and collection.
Instead, a staff member can simply deliver the merchandise into a locker, maximizing a retailer’s floor space through efficient storage, and instantly notifying the customer that their parcel is ready to be collected at their convenience.
Increased security
Parcel lockers at the school premises also increase security with access control and delivery tracking. With so many people coming and going all day long, school security is vital. Parcel lockers provide everyone the peace of mind knowing sensitive items like cash transfers and fundraising prizes are securely distributed and collected.
Extended hours for uniform distribution
When it comes to uniform distribution, schools manage this in different ways. Those with an on-site uniform shop often require volunteers to run them. Collecting times are restricted to the small window of time such volunteers are available. Items are packaged up and placed at the office for collection throughout the week. Those schools which have uniform purchases delivered in will also be collected from the office during the week. Parcel lockers will extend the time students can collect their items and again, saving them time to collect at their own leisure.
Blended-work equipment exchange
As schools continue to grapple with the logistics of reopening in a post-COVID world, the ability to swap equipment contactlessly in blended-work situations is a necessity. The combination of safe and secure parcel lockers with digital smart phone technology creates a contactless solution that makes equipment exchange safe and easy.
Contactless technology and equipment repair
Technology and instrument repair is another aspect of school life. No matter how repairs are managed at your school, whether by an on-site team or off-site contractor, parcel lockers are the best solution for efficient and contactless exchange of these items for repair. The lockers keep these items secure and also save students time when collecting.
Communicating with the school community
Smart parcel lockers can also act as a communication tool between the school and the community. For example, you could use your parcel locker system to notify parents of an upcoming school event. Or, you could use it to distribute information about the new COVID-safe procedures that are in place at your school. The sky’s the limit! New uses are being implemented every day as needs evolve.
Common school parcel locker applications include:
- Uniform distribution service
- Library click and collect
- Technology or instrument repair drop off/pick up
- Concierge/admin staff assistance
- Incoming deliveries
- Parents dropping off forgotten items
- Staff to students or parents
- Assignments, lockdown packs
- Achievement rewards, welcome back packs
- Lost and found items
- Staff to staff transfers
- Equipment or sensitive item distribution
- Equipment management when shared
- Parent to Parent
- Committee members
- School fundraiser tickets and prizes
How parcel lockers for schools work
Parcel lockers for schools work in much the same way as parcel lockers in residential buildings. The only difference is that parcel lockers for schools are exclusively used by the students, staff, parents and contractors of that community. The parcel locker system can be integrated into existing smart school apps or it can be set up as a standalone system. They can be installed at a central location or in several places across large campuses.
Smart parcel lockers for schools are the latest innovation available in Groundfloor’s award-winning suite of solutions. Already servicing the student accommodation and university population across Australia, Groundfloor is bringing the benefits of contactless delivery and collection to primary and secondary schools. Parcel locker systems are now the best and most secure way to receive and distribute items at schools.
