August 20, 2020 — The University of Washington’s Urban Freight Lab (UFL), in conjunction with smart locker provider Parcel Pending by Quadient and parking magnate REEF, this week launched an open-network smart locker system in Seattle’s Belltown, offering the neighborhood free, accessible, safe, contact-free package pick-up.
The open network locker system — smart lockers that can receive packages from all retailers and delivery companies — is a part of a U.S. Department of Energy-funded three-year research project testing the ability of various technology solutions to reduce delivery vehicle dwell time and carbon emissions, and increase productivity of load/unload parking spaces.
“The explosion of online shopping has flooded the streets of Seattle and many other cities with delivery vehicles, and the trend is expected to grow even further in the coming years, resulting in increased congestion and negative environmental impacts,” said Andisheh Ranjbari, UFL Manager and Research Scientist. “So, it is important to evaluate new solutions such as open network locker systems, to help cities mitigate the harmful impacts of increased online shopping on congestion and carbon emissions.”
The UFL now invites all Belltown residents, dwellers, workers and commuters to participate in the locker project by signing up online, ordering packages to be delivered to the locker system, and retrieving their packages within seven days of delivery.
Additional project partners include the City of Seattle, King County Metro, Sound Transit, CBRE, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, and the City of Bellevue.
“Parcel Pending is honored to assist the Urban Freight Lab with the implementation and technical support for this research project,” stated Kate Reidel, SVP Business Development for Parcel Pending. “Our lockers provide a safe, secure and most importantly contact-free way for consumers to retrieve their online orders and packages at their convenience. We’re confident that our lockers will help expedite the overall package management process in Seattle and have a positive impact on the environment while also saving retailers and delivery services valuable time and money.”
UFL and Parcel Pending previously joined forces in 2018 to study the effectiveness of open network locker systems in the Seattle Municipal Tower to reduce delivery vehicle parking time and the number of failed first delivery attempts. Results of this initial pilot program showed that open network lockers completely eliminated failed first deliveries and reduced time needed for deliveries by 78 percent when compared to traditional floor-to-floor and door-to-door delivery. This allowed for a significant increase in commercial vehicle load/unload space capacity in the network without building additional infrastructure. Most importantly, the lockers also created greater convenience and security for consumers receiving packages and online orders.
About Urban Freight Lab: An innovative public-private partnership housed at the Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics Center at the University of Washington, the Urban Freight Lab is a structured workgroup that brings together private industry with City transportation officials to design and test solutions around urban freight management. Since launching in December 2016, the UFL has completed an innovative suite of research projects on the Final 50 Feet of delivery, providing foundational data and proven strategies to help cities reduce truck dwell times in load/unload spaces, and failed first delivery attempts by carriers, which lowers congestion, emissions, and costs.
About Parcel Pending: Parcel Pending is the leading provider of package management solutions for residential, commercial, retail and university properties in the United States and Canada. In 2019, Parcel Pending was acquired by Quadient (formerly Neopost), the global leader in parcel, mailing, customer experience and business process automation solutions. Parcel Pending by Quadient, with an average of 2 million packages successfully delivered monthly, offers a wide range of solutions that ensure the simple and secure delivery and retrieval of packages and online orders. With the strength of our combined power, reach and offerings, Parcel Pending by Quadient provides state-of-the-art solutions and world-class customer service to solve the last-mile delivery challenge. Learn more: www.parcelpending.com.
Media Contacts:
Katie Ward
Krw2@uw.edu
Melissa Penn
Melissa.Penn@ParcelPending.com
READ MORE:
In the Media:
- Urban Freight Lab Awarded $1.5 Million DOE Grant (Urban Freight Lab News)
- Can Common Carrier Locker Systems Solve Urban Freight Challenges? (Eno Transportation Weekly)
- Photos from Pilot Test Site Walkthrough with Urban Freight Lab Members (Urban Freight Lab)
- Researchers tackle the ‘final 50 feet’ of delivery challenge as online shopping spikes (Geekwire)
- Pilot Test Site Selected for New Freight Management Technologies (Urban Freight Lab)