Why Property Managers Choose Fetch Package, Even Though Their Reviews Are Terrible

Fetch Package is the largest multifamily package solution in the country. Based on their website, they intake 35,000 packages daily for 1,200+ apartment communities across 25 markets. They operate at a massive scale, far beyond anyone else in the space, which allots them certain advantages. 

How Fetch Package Got So Big

For starters, Fetch Package is a venture-backed company with more than $45 million in equity financing raised to date. Supercharged by venture capital, Fetch was able to stand up a sales operation that reached the largest property management companies in the multifamily asset class like Greystar (3,900 communities under management) and Asset Living (2,700 communities under management). 

Due to the concentrated nature of property management, Fetch can acquire new apartment communities very efficiently since they only need to pitch a few management companies to potentially close hundreds of communities. When Fetch pitches the likes of a Greystar, by extension, they reach a subset of their communities under management without incurring additional sales and marketing costs. Fetch’s growth, however impressive, is due in large part to these venture-secured partnerships with property managers. It’s important to call out that their growth is not organic, and in almost every case, Fetch Package services are forced upon tenants by property management which causes a ton of resentment. 

Hundreds of 1-Star Fetch Package Reviews

When a company scales as inorganically and as fast as Fetch did, things break. Just look at their reviews in Philadelphia. Fetch Package Philly has 81 Google reviews, 1.6 average out of 5 stars. Residents consistently complain about missed deliveries, package delays, and terrible customer service. Same story on Fetch’s Better Business Bureau profile, 180 reviews, 1 star average rating. The end user, who is the tenant resident, despises Fetch, and if they weren’t contractually obligated to use Fetch Package per the lease, they’d certainly cancel. 

Fetch Package raised venture capital to lease warehouses, hire gig workers, and create a scheduling app, but even with all of that capital, 5-star service, happy customers, or organic growth can't be bought. Fetch Package grows by selling to property managers who then force their tenants to use the service. If Fetch Package reviews are terrible, and tenants hate the service, why do property managers choose Fetch?

The Fetch Package Value Proposition

Fetch Package positions itself as the anti-smartlocker, anti-mailroom, off-premises package solution for multifamily apartments. To steelman Fetch’s case,  smartlockers do require a significant upfront investment and they come with size and availability constraints. A package may not fit, or tenants may be slow to retrieve packages which leads to low turnover and limited availability. Another drawback to smartlockers is the fact that carriers rarely take the time to properly scan packages into the lockers. It’s too time-consuming for them. They have to type in the tenant’s name, snap a picture of the label, assign the package to a locker that fits, and then load in the package. Now multiply that by 50 packages and it can easily take a half hour for a single drop-off location. To speed things up, carriers tend to just leave packages in front of the locker, take a picture as proof, and move on. 

Dedicated mailrooms come with similar capacity constraints, plus they have to be maintained which requires paid personnel. By contrast, Fetch offers off-site package management. Packages are delivered to an off-site local warehouse, and residents schedule home delivery via the Fetch Package App. The Fetch approach bypasses the need for smartlockers, dedicated on-prem storage space and package handling staff. And most importantly for property management, Fetch usually doesn’t charge a setup fee. Fetch charges a monthly fee per unit ranging from 24.50 - 37.50. Residents cannot opt out. It’s a fixed fee per unit per community, and property management rolls it into the lease as an amenity. 

Why Fetch Package

Property managers chose Fetch Package for two main reasons. First, Fetch is venture-backed so they’re big and their marketing is good. They are perceived as the safe bet since they work with the largest property management companies in the country, and they can flaunt a ton of case studies. The second reason is their pricing model. No upfront fees or capital investments in smartlockers. Fetch Package's venture-bought size and fee structure gives them an advantage. I would caution property managers to skim through their hundreds of 1-star reviews. Fetch Package is an objectively bad service. Fetch Package will go down as a reminder of the hidden-costs of bad service and why bigger is not always better.