The Parcel Locker Sent Me in Circles
A delivery notification points to locker 18, but the building contains three different locker 18s.
Photo: Unsplash.
The message said my parcel was in Locker 18. It did not say which locker wall.
Our complex had one in the lobby, one beside the parking garage, and a new “smart delivery zone” behind Building C. Each contained a Locker 18. None accepted my code.
The delivery app showed a photograph of a gray metal door. Every locker was a gray metal door.
I called support. A recorded voice asked me to stand near the locker and enable Bluetooth. I stood near the lobby wall. Nothing. I walked to the garage. Nothing. At Building C, the app announced that I was getting colder, which was true because it had started raining.
A courier found me circling the courtyard and examined the photograph. He recognized a small sticker in the corner. “Old lockers,” he said, pointing toward a narrow passage behind the recycling room.
There was a fourth wall. Locker 18 opened immediately.
Inside was a box large enough to hold a microwave. It contained one USB cable and enough paper padding to explain a minor forest.
The next day, management emailed a map of all parcel lockers. The map itself was delivered as a password-protected attachment. The password was posted beside Locker 18.
They did not say which one.