an Alexan Enclave case study

At Alexan Enclave, a 352-unit ZRS community located in the heart of Houston’s Energy Corridor, residents’ package deliveries used to be a nightmare. But that was before the utilized Fetch, which has reduced time spent by site staff by 3 hours per day.

The Issues, The Benefits

“We used to do it the hard way,” says property manager Keri Denson. “We tried a couple of different software packages to scan the packages and notify residents, but it was extremely time-consuming; and it didn’t solve the myriad of problems we experienced with packages delivered to the leasing office. Residents were frustrated with delays in picking up packages due to leasing office hours, carriers would drop off packages after hours just anywhere, packages would be picked up by the wrong person, and residents expected us to figure out where their lost packages were.”

With an average of over 100 packages delivered per day, Alexan Enclave was in the contract process for a locker system when Keri became aware of Fetch in a managers’ meeting. “My question was, how quickly can they get here?” says Keri. Luanne McNulty, the ZRS area vice president, adds that, “I really didn’t see locker systems as a sustainable solution. There’s only so much space, and the number of packages keeps growing, with huge peaks depending on the time of year. Fetch takes over the package receiving process, and delivers the package directly to the resident’s door. Problem solved.”

Months later, everyone is experiencing a lot less stress over package delivery at Alexan Enclave. According to Keri, “My team no longer deals with ‘package dread’ – no more angry, hostile residents, no more tracking down missing packages, no more issues with drivers. Best of all, my team is able to take more time to do their jobs!

How much time has Alexan saved? Three hours a day, or 15 hours a week that the team is able to spend on actual leasing and positive resident interaction.

And while there are fees associated with the service, Keri emphasizes that residents were quick to come on board. “We rolled out the mandatory program in early December ’18, and by late January ’19 we had 76% participation among residents. And most important, no more packages delivered to the leasing office.”

A Resounding Thumbs Up

Luanne McNulty, who is responsible for 20,000 ZRS units, 70% of which are new construction lease-ups, would like to see Fetch deployed everywhere. “I really wish more owners and developers understood that package rooms or lockers are not the long-term solution. Not only has Fetch been the right answer to our package challenge at several communities now, they executed flawlessly, held client events to promote the service to our residents, and there have been absolutely no negatives. It’s been a dream.”

“It’s really difficult with the number of suppliers reaching out about their product or service,” adds Luanne, “and it’s impossible to talk with everyone. But Michael Patton (founder/CEO of Fetch) really got my attention with a hand-written note; and I love everything Labrador retriever, which is their logo. So I met with him, and am I happy I did. Let me put it this way . . . if I ever need a back-up gig, I’m going to go sell for Fetch. That’s how much of a fan I am.”