Don’t count the days, make the days counts, Muhammad Ali

That was a hard lesson learned for many of us in 2020. That year is now done. We have not forgotten. It was a time for coming together as families and communities. It was a time for thanking hundreds of thousands of frontline workers, tradespeople, teachers, and all the employees that kept working so we could have a safe “New Now”.

In the New Now we re-learned the importance of being together with loved ones and colleagues, while maintaining safe physical distance.  We re-learned that preparing a great homecooked meal can be fun as well as be delivered to our fridge lockers. Thanks in part to great Canadian companies like GoodFood.com. We at Lockourier also re-learned as more suppliers began to import from overseas “There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper” – John Ruskin. Our parents put it a different way – You get what you pay for.

Shifting gears into the New Now

Our focus at Lockourier is to create the “Future of Package Delivery” now. The challenges the world faced recently put us and our partners at Luxer One to the test. We came prepared. Proudly designed, engineered, and built in North America to CSA standards, we already deliver market-leading products.

“We provide strong and durable lockers built with 12-gauge steel, more than 2x as thick as 18-guage typically used to manufacture lockers. We build space-efficient compartments, that provides 45% more usable space, for more deliveries than usually found in equivalent-sized lockers,” says Hector Gonzalez, Director, Western Canada.

As more and more verticals found themselves requiring contactless delivery lockers, we needed to step up production and delivery times. End-to-end we now provide our custom lockers in 6-weeks, delivering everywhere across Canada.  Supporting North American built, offers our clients great material and build quality, market leading support, and very quick product delivery. Contrasting that, long delivery times of 60 days and more are normally supplied through reseller of overseas lockers due to the time on the ocean of anywhere between 30 and 50 days.

“Cutting prices means cutting costs, which means cutting quality. We do not compromise on quality.” States Dylan Millward, Director, Quebec and Atlantic Canada

Proptech achievement and innovation acceleration

We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails, Dolly Parton.

We are a lot like the readers and leaders within the real estate industry. We aim to relentlessly improve the world of real estate and the elements of it through our technology. We strive to improve the lives of the residents, tenants, staff, and customers within multifamily, commercial, and retail properties. We work purposefully to provide clients the most dependable, strongest, and most secure parcel locker ever, and based on over ONE HUNDRED MILLION deliveries, our clients agree.  The team at Lockourier with Luxer One, the first smart locker company to achieve 100 Million deliveries, are enormously proud, keeping so many residents, students and teachers, business owners, retail staff, librarians, and so many others safe during this unprecedented time.

You may have already read in 2020 that we have introduced “Assistive Technology” to our lockers for the visually challenged in our community and that all our lockers, package rooms meet the AODA standard to serve our physically challenged clients as well.  In Canada, we have brought to our clients OCR (optical character recognition) package label scanning for the absolute quickest and accurate FedEx, UPS, Purolator, and Canada Post deliveries on the planet. This is made possible because we use the world’s most trusted and secure tablet as our touchscreen, the Apple iPad, securely managed through Cisco device management. We also provide our clients iOS and Android apps that will open your lockers without ever touching them…? It is like magic.  The safest locker magic in the industry.

Sharing customer and partner successes through adaptation

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change, Stephen Hawking.

UPS Store to recoup investment in smart lockers

With nearly 16 billion packages delivered in Canada and the U.S. annually (2019) by major carriers like Canada Post, Amazon, and DHL, smart package lockers have become one of the fastest-growing multifamily amenities including universities and other schools with both on-campus and off-campus housing. Already fully integrated into non-academic residential settings, the density of student dormitories makes multi-unit smart lockers an essential service. They eliminate extra labour, theft, and are completely contactless, benefiting student, staff, and carrier health.

The universities and small businesses that support student package pickups are having trouble justifying the initial investment required for a locker solution. “We’ve had our eye on smart lockers for a long time,” says UPS Store Franchisee, Jim Thien. “It’s the finances that held us back. As a small business owner of a UPS Store Franchise, I simply couldn’t find the upfront investment to make it work.”

“The impact of COVID-19 on e-commerce could now half the time it takes to reach ROI, greatly improving the value of Lockourier within any franchise.” estimates Joseph Collins, CEO

In partnership with Luxer One, the UPS Store Franchisee located at Belmont University turned to a subscription model to offset the cost in which students are charged a nominal monthly fee to receive their packages in a secured locker. Students pick up their packages through Luxer One’s mobile app and the locker door containing their package opens – no more waiting in long lines. Luxer One’s lockers accommodate packages of all sizes and from all carriers and retailers. Thien commented, “Now my staff can get back to helping students with shipping and printing needs and students can pick up their packages on their own time, it saves us hours of interruption each day so we can drive revenue.”

“We were shocked by the number of students who signed up for the service,” adds Thien. We will have the lockers fully paid off in less than three years and are already discussing plans to use our Luxer lockers to help limit human contact within a variety of other university environments.”

“As well, this draws in students and faculty that can then take advantage of additional services from the UPS franchise. It is a win-win” adds Craig Cameron, Executive Director, Lockourier Canada

Contactless delivery keeps students learning

School districts are being required to adapt and change to serve their student populations while they study from home. For Rochester City School District that not only means maintaining daily lessons, but also distributing thousands of laptop computers to students and teachers for homeschooling and supporting the demanding technology needs of a 23,000-student school district. The idea of continuing these students’ education without being in class seemed like an impossible challenge.

The School District needed to find a seamless way to deliver laptops to many students who did not have access to one. This was a barrier that would completely cease all efforts by the district to continue the education of their students if not addressed. They needed a secure, contactless solution to deliver laptops to students and they needed it fast.

“Not only did we need to source the laptops, we had to figure out a way to get it to the students without compromising their safety, or that of our faculty,” notes Network Administrator for Instructional Technology for the City of Rochester School District, Nicole Klimek. “The lockers help us distribute new laptops to students and rapidly repair or replace broken laptops, all without contact.”

Designed and manufactured by Luxer One, the School District introduced a system of keyless, smart lockers for contactless delivery of laptops to support all the schools in their district. Delivered, installed, and deployed within 17 days after their first contact, the multi-unit parcel locker system that IT and faculty load and delivery laptops and tablets. Families use the built-in iPad screen to their unique code, scan a QR, or use their smartphone Bluetooth to pop open their assigned locker, completely touchless. These contactless pickups are as quick as 15 seconds.

Klimek adds, “The team held our hand through the entire process. The technology was easy to learn and share with our families and the lockers are built to last. Luxer is helping us adapt to the changing way we must run our schools and serve our students.”

Since installation, there have been an average of 500 pickups a month. All lockers have stayed securely full of working laptops and have allowed students to safely drop-off any laptop that needs servicing.

Communities keep reading with 24/7 book lockers.

For many families, Canadian public libraries have provided a reliable source of reading materials, entertainment media, research, and study tools all conveniently available for borrowing and enjoying at home. The ease of visiting our local public libraries, searching the catalogue via computer, or simply perusing is a comfort many have been forced to forgo throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

Many libraries have closed public areas completely because of COVID safety regulations, choosing instead to promote the use of online catalogs to place book holds, enabling readers to come by and go through a process of curbside pickup Like many including Halifax Public Libraries.

While safer than previous methods, this incremental approach increases the risk of bottlenecks during busy hours, with many cars potentially waiting at once.

While families with limited free time and increased safety concerns may look at curbside book delivery as being more trouble than it is worth.

Waiting in crowded parking lots or hurrying to get to the library before closing time to pick up a delivery that requires interaction with a public employee might lead to stress and safety concerns of patrons.

As a result, many public library systems have been considering alternative approaches to streamline and simplify day-to-day process. One such innovation would be the use of Lockourier smart locker systems. The next evolution in customer convenience is provided by modular smart library lockers from Lockourier, offering safe and customized no-contact, self-service pickup, AND return systems.

The first smart lockers in Canada to be integrated with ALMA, the only unified library services platform in the world, Lockourier is deeply connected and able to support seamless library integrations.

Designed with integrated video surveillance, a secure internet connection, the thickest steel, and innovative software, these durable systems provide an intuitive user experience that can be accessed 24 hours a day, meaning book holds can be picked up on everyone’s schedule.

Lockourier powered by the Luxer One line of secure and tamper-proof smart locker systems can provide the answer to public libraries seeking to evolve their operations to meet the needs of their customers.

2020 – ONE FOR THE BOOKS

Creating a contactless and efficient delivery system is easy with Lockourier and Luxer One. Going on a decade, we have combined smart technology with some of the strongest, most durable materials, making our lockers as savvy as they are sturdy. With a simple, contactless, 15-second process to exchange materials, a Lockourier smart locker system is the most convenient way to keep both patrons and staff safe. Ensure your team is as safe as they are efficient.

Library, Parcel, Asset and IT Management, BagDrop® and many more Solutions available.

Connect with us and follow what is changing in package management industry.

All Lockourier systems are multilingual and offered in French, Spanish and English.

Lockourier’s Luxer One product is engineered to meet disability acts across Canada and the Standards Council of Canada and CSA guidelines. The company’s high commitment to the privacy of information fully complies with the Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act standard.

About Lockourier Canada

Ranked #1 lockers in multi-family. Parcel lockers for libraries, municipalities, schools, offices, hospitals, more. Known as the innovation leaders providing Canadian firsts – smartphone apps, contactless pick-up, callbox, package rooms.