Can 'remote Doorman Systems' Replace Real Doormen?

By Author: Doorman 24 is an affordable remote doorman service offering security to buildings throughout the Uni
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Be honest: I’ve never lived in a doorman building in New York and I’ve never really felt the need. At first, I just couldn’t afford it, and then I discovered I enjoyed the privacy that comes with not having a near-stranger take stock of all of my comings and goings (and embarrassingly plentiful Seamless orders). In short: having a doorman is the solution to a problem that’s never existed for me.

Even in my doorman-less state, however, I was curious about the influx of new construction and remodeled apartments that now offer remote doorman systems, including the name-brand Virtual Doorman. Are they essentially the same thing as having a real-life doorman? Do they make a building any safer? What’s the difference between a remote system and a video intercom? And who exactly are the people behind the intercom, anyway?

TRIAL AND ERROR

I arranged a trial doorman run at 345 Union, a new condo building in East Williamsburg that, among its other amenities, offers a remote doorman system (not to be confused with a Virtual Doorman, a name brand and one of several high-tech platforms offering the service). ...
... I called up to a top unit and was promptly buzzed in by the apartment’s owner, Thomas. He had just come from a traditional doorman building in Chelsea and said he much prefers the privacy afforded to him by no physical doorman actually being in the building. “With this system, no one is seeing when you go in or when you come out,” he told me.

And, since there’s no person sitting behind a desk 24/7, the cost is on average about $1,000 per month lower than similar buildings with doorman (and presumably there's no holiday tipping required, either). The biggest difference between this system and a standard video intercom, Thomas told me, is being able to receive packages when you’re not at home, a definite perk for busy New Yorkers (and arguably one of the bigger draws of living in a doorman building in the first place).

Here’s how it works: the delivery person buzzes the remote doorman and is granted access to a locker room where they can then put the package. The tenant then gets an email saying a parcel is waiting for them. It sounds pretty no muss, no fuss.

But this particular system—a VirtualWay service and an Airphone video intercom —has some kinks. "I have no way of knowing which package has been delivered,” Thomas told me. So aside from separately keeping an eye on following UPS tracking numbers, there's no indicator to what the package is, from an Amazon Prime delivery to a Blue Apron order.