How Cornell University Streamlines Their Package Tracking Process

Improving Efficiency and Resident Service

Understanding the needs of your community and proactively addressing those needs is a big undertaking, but worthwhile for long-term impacts. As technology advances, taking a look at your existing processes and making positive improvements is a great place to start. Take package management, for example - looking at how to tackle a few different needs will help increase productivity on your operations team and keep your community satisfied. That’s why Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, implemented the StarRez Package Tracking solution to help manage their robust package operation for their residential community. For Cornell, providing the best service possible for residents includes having all the comforts of home shipped directly to campus. Since implementation, Cornell housing and front desk operations have seen reduced costs, simplified training for staff, and consolidated data insights and reporting on all aspects of their housing operations.

“StarRez has made processing our packages much easier and has also increased the speed at which residents come to claim their packages.”

Brandi Smith-Berger, Associate Director of Conference and Event Services at Cornell University

The team at Cornell focused on increasing the efficiency and time in which it takes staff to deliver packages to their residents. A huge supporting factor of this has been electronic scanning within StarRez when packages arrive to their buildings. Prior to their implementation of StarRez, all packages were physically documented in paper form. In this tri-fold approach, one copy was taped to the package, one remained at the front desk, and one was placed in the student's mailbox. Now, when a package arrives at the building, the staff can quickly scan the barcode and automatically trigger pre-configured communication notices to be sent to the student, allowing for a quicker, more efficient, and automated process.

Providing Paperless Solutions

Starting with the fall semester, Cornell took another big step forward: removing residential mailboxes from their two largest mail centers. All packages and letters are centrally received and students are automatically notified via email indicating what type of mail awaits. This pivot in mail and package delivery not only supported Cornell's drive to go paperless, it also supported their efforts to streamline the package retrieval and delivery process within a centralized location for their residents.

“Students don't receive much flat mail these days, so we are not experiencing a significant jump in processing."

Brandi Smith-Berger, Associate Director of Conference and Event Services at Cornell University‍

To manage this process, each front desk is equipped with iPads and touchscreen monitors. The iPads are used to initially gather the student information and find the package(s). Upon receiving a package, the student electronically signs for the package via the touchscreen. In addition to issuing packages, iPads are used to support several other functions of the housing operation, including issuing keys.

The built-in reporting and dashboards keep the housing team updated on everything package related.  Here is a snapshot:

• 189,819 packages were processed during Academic Year 2018-19 (August 2018-June 2019)
• 33,250 packages were processed in August 2019 for an average of over 1,000 packages per day

Reports and dashboards are used to increase staff during peak package times, audit package numbers, track down packages that were incorrectly received, and view staff usage.  

“Reports are also used to give monthly metrics to leadership and to stay on top of trends.”

Brandi Smith-Berger, Associate Director of Conference and Event Services at Cornell University

Efficiency doesn’t just mean that students receive their packages promptly, it also means that perishable items are documented and prioritized. Cornell uses StarRez to note if the package is perishable. By doing this, the team is able to better prepare the operation of managing these types of packages and increase chances for success. They identify features about the parcel, such as “P” for perishable and other easily identifiable features, to make it easier for the staff to find in areas of storage.

Delivering Exceptional Front Desk Experiences

StarRez offers the most complete, easy-to-use, and fully integrated front desk & package tracking solution for student housing operations of any size. Our comprehensive student package tracking features include:

• Packages are easily received via a scan of the package’s existing barcode or through quick data entry.
• When a resident arrives to pick up a package, a quick swipe or scan of an ID will indicate how many packages need to be issued to the student.
• For packages that are not retrieved by a student, forwarding and return tracking is available.
• Upon being issued a package, the student can be prompted to provide a signature.
• Reports and dashboard panels are available for tracking the overall package process.
• Custom fields allow for configurable processes.