Keep Panic at Bay with EZTrackIt

People say that a Fireman’s life is 90% boredom and 10% pure terror. While I don’t think that the all professions are 90% boredom, there certainly does seem to be 10% of time spent in “panic mode.” FedEx Letters and messenger deliveries are as much the life blood of the law firm as the coffee that keeps everyone moving forward. When there is a deadline looming and one of those letters goes missing, all of the coffee in the world will do little to help. Those types of urgent deliveries are equally important for most industries. One of the problems that arises for the mailroom though, is that not all urgently needed packages and documents arrive by urgent or overnight services. Conversely, not all overnight packages are urgently needed.

Somehow, the folks outside the mailroom expect the mailroom folks to know which is which.

In that 10% of “panic time” everyone must scramble to get the right item to the right person before it is too late. This can cause chaos that disrupts all of your mailroom operations. Adding changes to an existing workflow to fix this on the spot can be an impossible task which creates animosity all around.

This is one of the reasons we suggest implementing a slightly different workflow for mailrooms using package logging software. If each package is logged upon arrival then a good package logging software solution will send an email to the recipient letting them know that it has arrived. Here is how you can use that little benefit to streamline the “panic time” in a big way:

1. Customize the emailed message to say that their package has arrived and that it will be delivered on the mail run at X O’clock.

2. Also say that if this item is urgent it may be picked up from the desk at anytime before X o’clock.

3. Hold firm to your changes. A one-time exception of delivering a single package early must be just that, a one-time event. Otherwise, you will wind up doing multiple mail runs.

Implementing a package tracking system does several things. It makes clear when packages are received, helping to dispel the idea that the mailroom is a “black hole” into which packages fall. It very subtly defines where the responsibility for urgent packages resides. And, it gives the package recipients a way to get their packages immediately if they are urgent.

Hey “panic time” is still going to happen, but with a little planning and some help from our package logging software you can keep one or two people’s panic from disrupting services for the entire organization.