Apartment leasing office no longer accepting packages (Atlanta: 2015, apartment complex)

[ncoflin]

I have been living in my complex for about four months and today received the following email:

"Dear Valued Resident(s):

The leasing office has gladly accepted packages for lease holders in our apartment community over the years as a courtesy and convenience for our residents. In our ever changing world, more people are shopping online and having their purchases shipped to their homes. Recently, we have experienced a dramatic increase in package deliveries to our office. Some days we can receive excess of 20-30 packages between USPS, FEDEX and UPS (especially during the holidays). We have limited space for storage of your packages. Although we would love to assist you and know that you are excited about the arrival of your package(s), we can no longer accept packages in the leasing office.
Effective February 1st, 2016, **Apartment Complex Name Here**’s staff will no longer be accepting packages for residents inside the leasing office. As a convenience, there are UPS and FEDEX ship centers within the vicinity that will allow you to have items shipped to their location and picked up.
If you are anticipating any package deliveries up until the effective date mentioned above, please retrieve them on or before January 31st, to ensure they will not be returned to sender.
Thank you for your cooperation in advance."

So basically I cannot have any package sent to my apartment anymore?
I am new to the Atlanta area but is this common?

Even their wording letting me know "as a convenience there are UPS and FEDEX ship centers within the vicinity" like they somehow helped set this up to be more convenient. I think this is pretty ridiculous. I have never lived somewhere with this type of policy. I am now supposed to have it shipped to some random center...which defeats the purpose of having it shipped to my home. I get that it is probably a pain for the leasing office but in 2015 I see this as just part of doing business in the apartment community industry. For a community that boasts about their amenities this seems like a basic service I am no longer entitled to. Particularly with USPS since they will not deliver to my door. Am I wrong to be so bent out of shape about this?

[PKCorey]

Are UPS and Fedex unable to deliver to your front door?

[ncoflin]

They do. However Amazon Prime even delivers via USPS. Or FedEx SmartPost which hands off deliver to USPS for delivery. It is the USPS that is most inconvenient to me.

[convextech]

Originally Posted by ncoflin

Am I wrong to be so bent out of shape about this?

Yes. Go get a post office box and deal with it like the rest of the free world. I have only lived in one apartment complex that agreed to take in packages, and then they only did it during office hours. UPS & FedEx deliver at all times of the day & night.

[TheKiwi]

I actually do think that is weird. One of the selling points of living in an apartment building is amenities like a front desk that can accept packages for you, especially if it's the kind of place where they can't deliver directly to your door, which I'm assuming it is. I'd be annoyed too.

[ATLTJL]

Do your mailboxes not have those big lockers?

Usually, they have large boxes and if you have a package, USPS leaves it in one and puts the key in your box. If you don't have those, demand that your complex build them.

Yes, this is something that I remember dealing with 10-15 years ago. Leasing offices always came up with some reason they didn't want to accept packages...not enough space, they didn't want the liability, etc. But they always ended up relenting after residents complained.

This is 2015. People shop online. If you want to keep residents, you have to be able to supply the services that they demand. You can also call your local post office and ask them to have drivers bring packages to your front door, just like they do for houses.

[ncoflin]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Do your mailboxes not have those big lockers?

Usually, they have large boxes and if you have a package, USPS leaves it in one and puts the key in your box. If you don't have those, demand that your complex build them.

That's the weird thing, we do have those big lockers. I used those at previous apartment complexes. However I do not think they are in use for whatever reason. I understand that during Christmas there are probably not enough lockers to go around and the excess would have to be kept in the office. I think a more fair solution is to charge some type of surcharge if your packages aren't picked up in a reasonable amount of time.

[TheKiwi]

You should complain. I'm sure there will be many others in your complex complaining too. Maybe they will change the policy if they get enough complaints.

For me, this would be a big enough deal-breaker for me to not move into this apartment complex if I was looking there and then found this out. My work hours are crazy, and I am not available during the Post Office hours to pick up packages. If I knew the apartment complex I was looking at wasn't able to accept my packages, I would not move there. Simple as that!

[ATLTJL]

Make a ton of noise.

Complain at the office. Then complain to a regional manager. Then find out who owns the complex (which may be different from who operates it) and physically write a complaint letter and have it sent to the CEO using certified mail.

[ncoflin]

My fiancé and I both wrote an email stating our disappointment with the new policy and how inconvenient it is for us. Including that we would include our dissatisfaction in our ultimate review of the complex on social media, Google and apartmentratings. I have yet to receive any response back. I would be surprised if they didn't have a lot of other negative emails regarding this policy. It is a big enough thing that will likely have me question my lease renewal and would impact me moving in to the complex retrospectively. I will be sure to ask about package receiving policies in my future apartment endeavors. Yes I know online shopping is getting to be more and more popular but I see the solution of "we aren't dealing with it at all" to be a knee jerk and short sighted response on behalf of the complex.