HOUSTON – Kim Hughes loves the convenience of online shopping, especially with the holidays fast approaching.
"It's simple," Hughes said. "It's simpler for us. There's a lot of places we can't go around here to get the stuff."
But a fairly new policy at the Upper Kirby apartment complex where she lives has forced her to scale back. This spring, Camden Property Trust stopped accepting packages at all of its properties nationwide. That includes all of its 24 properties in the greater Houston area.
Leasing offices at complexes across the country were being inundated with parcels. They were so overwhelmed, a local corporate spokesperson told Channel 2 something that to give.
"Residents were given 30 day notification of the change in policy. There was no interruption of service. Carriers are allowed access to deliver packages to residents' doorstep," Julie Keel said.
It hasn't always worked out so well for Hughes.
"We always have to go to the post office to get the packages, and half the time we don't even get the slips, so I have to call the post office. It's pretty ridiculous," Hughes said.
Residents like Chris Lintelman see both sides of the issue, and it's led him to think outside the box. "Instead of having it delivered here, we have our job address as the delivery point so we got things delivered to work instead of here," Lintelman said.