Page 10 - CooperatorNews New York December 2021

ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING SERVICES: - Structural - MEP - Interior Design BUILDING ENVELOPE / RESTORATION / FACADE INSPECTION SAFETY PROGRAMS CONSTRUCTION DEFECT TESTING / INVESTIGATION ENERGY CONSULTING FORENSIC TESTING / LITIGATION SUPPORT NYC SPECIAL INSPECTIONS 5 YEAR CAPITAL PLANNING 350 7th Avenue, Suite 2000 New York, NY 10001 (646) 292 - 3515 info@falconengineering.com www.falconengineering.com ENGINEERS, ARCHITECTS AND ENERGY CONSULTANTS 10 COOPERATORNEWS — DECEMBER 2021 COOPERATORNEWS.COM en up a noticeable amount of time that front desk employees would otherwise dedicate to other administrative tasks, some associations have also begun charging residents storage fees on a per-package basis. Alternatively, some communities have added a fl at package delivery fee to residents’ monthly assessments as a ‘common expense.’” Th e pros report that some communities have even discontinued package services al- together when the delivery volume exceeded manageable levels. Staffi ng and space limita- tions can simply make it impossible for on- site teams to receive, store, and distribute packages on behalf of residents while still staying on top of their other responsi- bilities. Some attor- neys say the safety and liability issues alone are reason enough to disallow delivery personnel from entering resi- dential buildings. Th e onset of COV- ID made this all the more plain. “We recommend that no delivery per- sonnel be permitted past the entrance of the building,” said Dale Degenshein, an attorney with Manhattan-based law fi rm Armstrong Teasdale, in the early days of the pandemic, “and that in most cases, residents pick up their packages or food deliveries in the lobby or outside of the building.” Of course, such arrangements only work when residents ex- pect 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’ behalf. Now UPS has a service called My Choice, says Peterselli, that allows registered users to have their packages delivered to an- other location—be it the local convenience store, the offi ce, or a designated neighbor. While it can defi nitely help, this option might not be practical for all the types of things we order off the internet. Furniture? Perishable goods? Live animals? Good luck getting your deli guy to accept and keep those deliveries. 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 shift ed 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. Th ere 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.” Th e Buzr system is geared toward older, smaller build- ings without lobby attendants or high-tech security systems, and is installed as a relatively inexpensive modifi ca- tion to an existing in- tercom access panel. “I like to think of it as Nest or Ring \[popular app-based systems for remote home monitor- ing\], but for access,” says Liebel. Installation is de- signed to be easy enough for a resident to do themselves, he ex- plains, using their unit’s existing wiring—no matter how old—and an upgraded hardware replacement for the intercom station. (Resi- dents not comfortable tinkering with wires can opt for the company’s installation helper for an additional fee.) Th e interface remains the same, it just becomes “smart”—meaning that access data is stored in the cloud, allow- ing a building to maintain a record of when the lobby door 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 programmable in an app or text message. Vir- tual keys can allow a food delivery person, for example, to have limited, recorded access to a building for the purpose of a dropoff , elimi- nating the need for a staff member to handle the receipt and enhancing security by logging the access. In places like New York City, it also reduces the waste and inconvenience pro- duced by the 30% of packages the Wall Street Journal found go undelivered on the fi rst at- tempt. Th eft is reduced as well, according to Liebel, who says that 90,000 packages are sto- len here in the Big Apple every year. “What we do is at least make sure packages get in the front door,” he says. Communities with the space and fi nancial 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 notifi cation—not to mention liability and customer support—off the plates of building personnel and management. Amazon itself off ers such a product, called Amazon Hub. PACKAGE SECURITY continued from page 8 “We have found the activity during the day has increased by 200%, be it food deliveries, UPS, USPS, FedEx, or Amazon.” —Joseph Ferdinando