Locker surveys
The survey that decides whether a parcel locker can be installed at a site, written from several dozen of them across the five boroughs and North Jersey. Covers the measurements that actually stop an install, the power and signal questions, floor loading, and the access constraint that is invisible on a floor plan: the route from the truck to the final position.
Doing it
Forty-five minutes on site, in the order that finds the blocking constraint early rather than at the end.
- Tape measure
- Phone with a camera
- Signal strength app
- Outlet tester
- 01
Measure the final position, then the route to it
Width, height and depth at the intended location, plus clearance in front for the doors to open fully and for somebody to stand. Then walk backwards to the street measuring every doorway, corridor, turn and lift the unit has to pass through. The route is what stops installs, and it is invisible on the plan somebody emailed you.
CautionNote the narrowest point on the route and photograph it. A unit that fits the wall and not the doorway is a wasted delivery and a wasted install slot.
- 02
Confirm power, and confirm it is live
Locate the outlet the unit will use, check it is on a circuit that is not switched with the lights, and test it. Measure the distance from the outlet to the unit's position. An extension lead across a lobby floor is not an installation, so if the distance is wrong the site needs an electrician before the delivery, not on the day.
- 03
Test signal at the exact position, not at the door
Cellular signal in a lobby and cellular signal in the back corner where the unit is actually going are frequently different, and the second one is the one that matters. Record the reading at the final position, and check whether wired connectivity or Wi-Fi is available as an alternative.
CautionBasements, lift lobbies and rooms behind lift shafts are the usual dead spots. Test, do not assume from the street.
- 04
Check the floor and the wall
A loaded unit is heavy and concentrated. Note the floor construction, whether it is level, and whether anything under it is a concern — a raised floor, a basement void, a recent screed. If the unit anchors to the wall, establish what the wall is actually made of rather than what it looks like.
- 05
Establish who lets you in, and when
Site contact, hours the space is accessible, whether a certificate of insurance is required, loading dock rules, and whether the lift can be booked. Get a name and a number, not a company address. This is the section that determines whether the install day works.
- 06
Photograph everything, wide and close
Wide shots of the position and the route, close shots of the outlet, the floor, the narrowest doorway, and anything unusual. The person planning the install was not there, and a photograph answers questions your notes did not anticipate.
- 07
Report a decision, not just observations
The survey exists to answer one question: can this site take a unit, and if not, what would have to change. Say so plainly, with the blocking constraint named. A form full of measurements that stops short of a verdict makes somebody else repeat your visit.
- What stops a locker install most often?
- Access, not space. The wall the unit is going against measures fine and the doorway, corridor turn, or lift on the way to it does not. Measure the whole route from the street to the final position, and record the narrowest point.
- How much clearance is needed in front?
- Enough for the doors to open fully and a person to stand and reach in, plus whatever the site's own accessibility requirements call for in a public area. Measure the actual clearance available and report it rather than judging it — the person specifying the unit knows their door swing.
- What if there is no signal at the position?
- Report it as a blocking constraint with the reading and the location, and check what else is available — a wired drop, site Wi-Fi, or a better position within the same room. A unit that cannot report is a unit nobody can use, so this is not a detail to leave to the install day.
- Does the survey need to check the floor?
- Yes. A loaded unit concentrates significant weight over a small footprint. Note the construction, whether the floor is level, and whether there is a void, raised floor, or recent work underneath. Level matters as much as loading — a unit out of plumb has doors that do not latch.
The rest of the section
- 01RJ45 Wiring: T568A and T568BBoth colour codes, pin by pin, side by side.
- 02RJ11 Wiring and Phone PinoutsSix positions, three lines, two colour systems.
- 03Keystone Jack TerminationStrip, seat, punch, snap — without failing the certification.
- 0466 Block WiringFifty rows, four columns, and where the bridging clips go.
- 05110 Block WiringLay the pairs in, press the connecting block on.
- 06Cat5e vs Cat6 vs Cat6a vs Cat8Speed, distance, and power decide it — not the bigger number.
- 07Fibre Types, Connectors and PolishRead the jacket, read the connector, don't mate blue to green.
- 08Subnetting, ExplainedWhere the numbers come from, and the meaning behind them.
- 09PoE Standards and Why It Won't PowerThe switch reserves the class, not the draw.
- 10Camera Lens, Field of View and Pixel DensityCovering the room is not the same as identifying a face in it.
- 11Patch Panels and Labelling to TIA-606A label that survives is worth more than a tidy rack.
- 12Rack Planning: Units, Depth, Weight and HeatIt fits vertically. That was never the hard part.
- 13Writing a Switch ConfigurationFrom factory default to a switch you would hand over.
- 14Networking and Cabling GlossaryThe terms, and what they mean on a job.
- 15POTS to VoIP: What BreaksThe lines nobody remembers until they stop working.
- 16Testing an Analogue Phone LineTip, ring, and the four numbers that tell you whose fault it is.
- 17Toning and Tracing a CableFinding one pair in a bundle of two hundred.
- 18Reading a Cable Certifier ReportWhat PASS* actually means, and which number to look at first.
- 19Which Cable Tester Do You Need?Three tiers, and the one most people actually need.
- 20Running an Office Floor RestackEveryone sits down Monday and their machine works.
- 21Cable Management for Desks and RacksTidy is a by-product. Serviceable is the point.
- 22Asset Tagging and CMDB AuditsThe scan is easy. Scanning it into the right record is the job.
- 23Cabling an Office Fit-OutHow many drops, run where, and what it takes to add one later.
- 24VLANs and TrunkingAccess, trunk, tagged, native — and which one is the security hole.
- 25Spanning Tree and Switching LoopsWhy one patch cord can take a whole floor down in seconds.
- 26Reading a TracerouteWhich loss is real, and whose network it is in.
- 27DHCP, DNS and Helper AddressesWhy the new VLAN gets no addresses, and why it is always DNS.
- 28Wi-Fi Channel Planning and AP PlacementMore access points at lower power, not fewer at maximum.
- 29SMART Attributes That Predict FailureA drive can report PASSED while it is visibly dying.
- 30BitLocker: Keys, Recovery and EscrowThe key exists somewhere, or the data does not.
- 31Grounding and Bonding a Telecom RoomOne ground, one path, and no loops between rooms.
- 32UPS Sizing: VA, Watts and RuntimeThe number on the box is not the number you need.
- 33Mounting Displays on Any WallFind the structure. Everything else is a repair bill.
- 34Mounting IP CamerasHeight, angle, and the surfaces that ruin the picture at night.
We do this work
as well as document it
Field technicians sent to survey a candidate site, and hosts working out whether their lobby or back room can actually take a unit.