Student Roost’s Journey to Efficient Parcel Handling

Student Roost is among the leading providers of student accommodation in the UK, managing a broad portfolio of modern buildings staffed by dedicated professionals.

As a Customer Service Advisor at Student Roost, Brandon’s role extends far beyond simply greeting students at reception. He handles an array of responsibilities, including sales, student well-being, maintenance requests, and, at times, a daunting volume of parcel deliveries.

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The Problem:

On busy days, Brandon found himself processing anywhere from 50 to 150 packages, spending up to 4 hours just logging, notifying, and distributing parcels. This left little time for the high-value, community-building efforts that underpin Student Roost’s success.

Student Roost’s parcel management process was labor-intensive and reliant on manual record-keeping.

• Manual Logging: Each incoming package required a handwritten entry in a paper ledger, along with details such as recipient name and carrier.
• Time-Consuming Notifications: Staff had to send individual email notifications, often resulting in 50–100 emails daily, on top of managing other critical tasks.
• Cluttered Reception and Delays: Limited storage space, combined with slow manual notifications, created a backlog of uncollected parcels and lengthy queues.
• Inefficient Collection Process: Students would sign out their packages on the same paper ledger, offering limited security or accountability, and slowing down the queue when multiple students arrived simultaneously.

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The Process:

Deploying the large Student Roost portfolio on Parcel Tracker was fast and simple. Parcel Tracker was purposefully built for PBSA and property managers who operate multiple sites and need the ability to quickly view their entire portfolio and administer it through a single dashboard.

• Bulk uploaded a spreadsheet with a list of recipients from each site
• Allocated a mobile device to scan parcels using the Parcel Tracker app
• Attended a remote 40-minute training session held by Parcel Tracker

Student Roost’s teams were able to pick up and use the system quickly.  

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The Solution:

Parcel Tracker introduced a suite of tools that addressed Student Roost’s most pressing parcel management pain points:

• Camera-Based Scanning: With a single snap of a parcel label, the app automatically captures recipient details and sends an instant email notification, eliminating manual data entry.
• QR Code Collection: Students receive a QR code in their notification emails. At pickup, Brandon or another team member simply scans it, confirming the handover in seconds.
• Automated Reminders: If a parcel goes uncollected for a set period, the system dispatches reminder emails to reduce clutter and keep packages flowing quickly.
• Enhanced Security and Tracking: All collections are digitally recorded with a timestamp, closing accountability gaps and minimizing lost package risks.
• Portfolio-Wide View: Designed for operators with multiple sites, Parcel Tracker’s dashboard lets management track operations across the entire Student Roost portfolio in one place.

Online shopping has been increasing by around 20% year on year, and Student Roost has felt this increase firsthand as the number of deliveries seems to never stop increasing. Unfortunately, the storage space they have is limited, hence the speed at which students collect their parcels is paramount. With Parcel Tracker, notifications are sent out faster, the email deliverability is over 99.99%. Reminders are sent if students do not collect their packages on time. These factors all work together to increase speed at which parcels are collected.

Brandon can now simply snap a photo of a parcel using the Parcel Tracker mobile application, and the application automatically detects who the package is for and sends them a notification to come and collect it. When the student comes to collect their parcel, Brandon can scan the QR code on the student’s email notification and hand out their delivery.

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The Result:

What previously took a few minutes per parcel now only takes a few seconds with the help of Parcel Tracker. This has freed up significant time for Brandon and the other CSAs and operations teams to work on value-added services. The teams can focus on organizing events, responding to maintenance requests faster, and spending more time interacting with students.

Every time a student receives a parcel, there is a “Christmas effect,” a very positive interaction between Student Roost and the student, one that Parcel Tracker helps capture consistently.

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