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Managing deliveries at reception

Parcels arrive at the same desk as visitors and usually get less care. A step-by-step process for logging, notifying, storing and handing over deliveries, with a clear trail and a plan for the ones nobody collects.

By LobbyExpress Editorial

Photo: Mailroom and Tax Processing - 04/18/2025 by MDComptroller, CC BY 2.0

Ask a receptionist what takes up their day and deliveries will be near the top of the list. Couriers arrive unannounced, need a signature in a hurry and leave parcels on whatever surface is free. Hours later someone asks whether their package came, and the answer depends on who was on the desk.

Most visitor management systems include some form of delivery logging, and dedicated tools exist too. But the software only helps if the process behind it is clear. A parcel that is logged but stored on an open shelf is still a parcel anyone could walk off with.

This how-to sets out a process you can run at any reception, with or without dedicated software. The principle throughout is simple: every time a parcel changes hands, someone records it.

Step 1: set the rules before the first parcel

A few decisions make every later step easier. Agree them with facilities, the post room if you have one, and whoever is responsible for security.

  • What reception accepts. Business deliveries only, or personal parcels too? If personal parcels are allowed, set limits on size and on how long they can be held.
  • What reception does not accept. For example, items that need refrigeration or are too large to store safely. Tell staff in advance so they can redirect deliveries.
  • Who can sign. Name the roles allowed to accept deliveries, so couriers are not handing parcels to whoever happens to be passing.
  • Suspicious items. Your security team should set out what reception does if a delivery looks wrong. Staff should know the procedure before they need it.

Step 2: log on arrival

Log each item before it leaves the courier’s hands or immediately after. The record should let someone else find the parcel, identify the recipient and see what condition it arrived in.

What to record when a delivery arrivesA checklist of eight items to record when a delivery arrives, in two columns with tick boxes. Identity: recipient name, carrier, tracking or reference number, and number of items. Condition and location: date and time received, who accepted it, condition on arrival including any damage, and where it is stored.What it is and who it is forWhen, by whom, and whereRecipient nameCarrierTracking or reference numberNumber of itemsDate and time receivedWho accepted itCondition, including damageStorage location
Eight fields are enough for most receptions. A photo of a damaged package is worth taking; a photo of every label adds personal data you then have to manage.

If a parcel arrives damaged, note it before signing, and tell the courier if your process allows it. That note is what lets the recipient pursue a claim later.

Delivery records include people’s names and sometimes home addresses on personal parcels, so give them a retention period like any other personal data. Our guide to GDPR and visitor data covers how to set one.

Step 3: notify the recipient

Notify the recipient as soon as the parcel is logged, and use the channel they read during the working day: email, a chat message or a text, depending on your organisation. The notification should say what has arrived, where to collect it, and when reception is staffed.

For people who are rarely in the office, agree an alternative. They might nominate a colleague to collect, or ask for the parcel to be held until a named date. Record any such instruction against the delivery.

Step 4: store securely

Where parcels are kept matters as much as how they are logged. A clear store needs to be out of reach of the public, organised so items can be found quickly, and lockable when the desk is unattended.

Example reception layout for deliveriesAn illustrative floor plan of a reception. The main entrance is at the bottom. Visitors walk straight ahead to the reception desk and sign-in kiosk. Couriers follow a separate route to a delivery drop point at one end of the desk. Behind the desk is a lockable parcel store, out of public reach. Collection happens at the opposite end of the desk from the drop point, so incoming and outgoing parcels do not mix.EXAMPLE LAYOUTParcel storelockable, staff onlyReception deskDropCollectKioskMain entranceCourier routeVisitor routeCouriers goto the drop point
Example only. Separating the drop point from the collection point, and both from the visitor queue, keeps incoming parcels, outgoing parcels and visitors from mixing at a busy desk.

Within the store, group items by recipient or by date, and label shelves so that anyone covering the desk can find a parcel from its log entry. If the store fills regularly, that is a sign the collection and unclaimed steps are not working, rather than a need for more shelves.

When the desk is not staffed

Many receptions are no longer staffed all day, and couriers do not wait. Decide what happens to deliveries outside staffed hours before it happens by accident. Options include asking carriers to deliver within a set window, redirecting deliveries to a post room or security lodge, or using parcel lockers that issue a collection code to the recipient. Whichever you choose, the same rule applies: the delivery is logged, the recipient is told, and the collection is recorded. A parcel left on an empty desk overnight breaks all three.

If you use lockers, check how they record who deposited and who collected each item, and whether that record can be joined to your reception log. Two separate logs make it harder to answer the question that matters when a parcel goes missing: who held it last?

Step 5: hand over, and record it

Collection is the handover that matters most, because it closes the record. Check that the person collecting is the recipient or their named delegate, and record who collected it and when. Depending on your system, that might be a signature, a collection code sent with the notification, or a scan of a staff pass.

Record internal moves too. If the post room takes a parcel to a different floor, or a colleague collects on someone’s behalf, that is a handover and belongs in the log. The result is a chain of custody: an unbroken record of who held the item from arrival to collection.

Chain of custody for a deliveryA horizontal flow of five stages: received from courier, logged, recipient notified, stored, and collected. Between each stage a small marker shows that a record is made at each handover. A branch from the stored stage leads down to an unclaimed path, which follows the organisation’s unclaimed-items policy.Receivedfrom courierLoggedRecipientnotifiedStoredin locked storeCollectedby whom, whenUnclaimedfollow the agreed policyHandover recorded
Each amber marker is a record. If a parcel goes missing, the log should show exactly where the chain broke.

Step 6: deal with what nobody collects

Every reception accumulates parcels that nobody comes for: the recipient has left, is on long leave, or never knew the item was coming. Without a policy, these sit on a shelf indefinitely. Set a schedule and apply it consistently.

Example schedule for unclaimed deliveriesAn illustrative timeline for an unclaimed parcel, to be adapted locally. On arrival, the parcel is logged and the recipient notified. After a few days, a reminder is sent. After about a week, the matter is escalated to the recipient’s manager or team. After a longer agreed period, the item is returned to sender or dealt with under the organisation’s policy, and the outcome recorded.ILLUSTRATIVE SCHEDULEDAY 0DAY 3DAY 7DAY 14Logged andnotifiedReminderto the recipientEscalateto manager or teamReturn orresolveper policyDay counts are an example only. Set your own with facilities and, for personal items, HR.
Illustrative only. What matters is that the steps and the time limits are written down, applied the same way to every item, and that the final outcome is recorded.

For the final step, agree with facilities and, where personal items are involved, HR or legal what “resolve” means in practice: returning to sender, forwarding to a home address with the recipient’s consent, or another option your policy allows. Record the outcome so the log is complete.

Step 7: review the log

Once a month, look at the delivery log for patterns. Are some recipients always slow to collect? Does the store overflow on particular days? How many items reached the unclaimed stage? Small changes, such as a second notification channel or a collection window at the end of the day, often deal with most of the backlog.

The same approach to measurement works for visitors; see measuring whether your visitor system works. For how variable occupancy has changed the work of the front desk, read what hybrid work did to reception, and for the wider role reception software now plays, see front-desk software is becoming facility infrastructure. To find products with delivery features, browse workplace platforms and dedicated VMS in the directory.