No matter how dependent on technology we become, I think that everyone can agree that getting mail is very exciting. Snail mail and packages undoubtedly brighten our days, even if we ordered it ourselves. However, the process of receiving these goodies can often be complicated by the mail delivery service. My own apartment’s mail delivery system manages to work wonderfully and horribly at the same time.
As a newly renovated apartment complex, it boasts modern features such as the Amazon Hub locker. This allows tenants to collect their packages from a secure location without being restricted to the leasing office’s working hours. Although designed for Amazon and Amazon orders specifically, the lockers at our complex are also used as the drop location for any other package that is small enough to fit in them. Some of key design elements of the Hub lockers that benefit the users are how it notifies recipients as soon as a package has been delivered and the locality of it in the apartment complex. Additionally, rather than requiring a physical key, an access code is included in the delivery notification email, which users enter into a keypad at the lockers. If someone has received multiple packages, one code can often be used to open multiple locker doors and retrieve all of your belongings, rather than juggling several codes at once.
The recently added Amazon Hub lockers improved the package delivery system in place at the apartments by automating the process for tenants. On the other hand, however, the mailboxes used for the delivery of smaller items, such as letters, flyers, and bills, are very outdated and confusing to access. The numbers assigned to the apartments in our complex coordinate to the tenant's building, floor, and apartment. For example, if you lived in unit 11205 that would translate to building 11, floor 2, apartment 5. This makes perfect sense and helps decipher a person’s address within a very large complex. Unfortunately, the numbers on the mailboxes are completely random in comparison.
The mailboxes, which are located in the same pavilion as the Amazon Hub lockers, are numbered perhaps based off what the apartments were cataloged as before their recent renovation. The same tenants from unit 11205 actually use mailbox 289. How do they find this out? Based off the barely legible sharpie unit number range written above a grouping of mailboxes. Now that the tenants have identified the range of mailboxes that correlate to their unit, how do they match their unit number to the mailbox number out of the 20 possible options below? The range simply says 1101-11220. Does this count down in columns or across in rows? Only a test of trial and error can tell. Once the tenants have finally figured out that their mailbox is number 289, it should be easy enough to let their roommates know which mailbox is theirs, right? Wrong. The same numbers are displayed on the north and south facing sides of the mailbox divider in the pavilion.
The contrast between the mail and package collection processes is a wonderful example of how user experience and design play a huge part in menial daily tasks such as picking up the mail. There is really no competition for best UX between the Amazon Hub locker, clearly designed by a large company with a team of customer experience employees researching and thinking through every step of a simple process, and the old school mailboxes that weren’t taken into consideration when unit numbers were redefined.
As a newly renovated apartment complex, it boasts modern features such as the Amazon Hub locker. This allows tenants to collect their packages from a secure location without being restricted to the leasing office’s working hours. Although designed for Amazon and Amazon orders specifically, the lockers at our complex are also used as the drop location for any other package that is small enough to fit in them. Some of key design elements of the Hub lockers that benefit the users are how it notifies recipients as soon as a package has been delivered and the locality of it in the apartment complex. Additionally, rather than requiring a physical key, an access code is included in the delivery notification email, which users enter into a keypad at the lockers. If someone has received multiple packages, one code can often be used to open multiple locker doors and retrieve all of your belongings, rather than juggling several codes at once.
The recently added Amazon Hub lockers improved the package delivery system in place at the apartments by automating the process for tenants. On the other hand, however, the mailboxes used for the delivery of smaller items, such as letters, flyers, and bills, are very outdated and confusing to access. The numbers assigned to the apartments in our complex coordinate to the tenant's building, floor, and apartment. For example, if you lived in unit 11205 that would translate to building 11, floor 2, apartment 5. This makes perfect sense and helps decipher a person’s address within a very large complex. Unfortunately, the numbers on the mailboxes are completely random in comparison.
The mailboxes, which are located in the same pavilion as the Amazon Hub lockers, are numbered perhaps based off what the apartments were cataloged as before their recent renovation. The same tenants from unit 11205 actually use mailbox 289. How do they find this out? Based off the barely legible sharpie unit number range written above a grouping of mailboxes. Now that the tenants have identified the range of mailboxes that correlate to their unit, how do they match their unit number to the mailbox number out of the 20 possible options below? The range simply says 1101-11220. Does this count down in columns or across in rows? Only a test of trial and error can tell. Once the tenants have finally figured out that their mailbox is number 289, it should be easy enough to let their roommates know which mailbox is theirs, right? Wrong. The same numbers are displayed on the north and south facing sides of the mailbox divider in the pavilion.
The contrast between the mail and package collection processes is a wonderful example of how user experience and design play a huge part in menial daily tasks such as picking up the mail. There is really no competition for best UX between the Amazon Hub locker, clearly designed by a large company with a team of customer experience employees researching and thinking through every step of a simple process, and the old school mailboxes that weren’t taken into consideration when unit numbers were redefined.
Comments
Post a Comment