Though we’re well into the “future,” it still feels like campus mail is stuck in the days of the Pony Express. Students expecting packages on next-day delivery sometimes don’t get a “package received in RHO” e-mail message for days. Other people’s mail floods student mailboxes. The University must take steps to streamline and speed up mail and package services by assigning Hoyas a single mailbox for all four years and increasing student staffing at Resident Hall Offices.
All letters to Georgetown are collected at the off-campus Harris building before being sorted by box number and delivered to the relevant RHO, which puts mail into the actual boxes. Aside from disruptions like those caused by the recent snowstorm, letters received at the sorting center are usually delivered to the dorms on the afternoon of the same day, according to George Montgomery, Operations Manager at Mailing Services.
The rest of the day is spent re-sorting mis-sent mail and forwarding letters to their current address; several hours of labor are wasted daily shifting mail from dorm to dorm. Every year, Hoyas have to tell their banks, doctors and relatives that they’ve switched addresses. If not, their bills and letters are sent to the wrong mailbox—though this mail may be re-directed, the student who initiall receives it may just discard it.
One simple solution is for students to keep the same mailbox for their entire student career, instead of changing it every year when they change residences. Such a system is in place at universities like Princeton and Mount Holyoke. It would drastically improve the correlation between students who subscribe to magazines and those who actually receive them. Though this would mean that student boxes would no longer necessarily be in the student’s dorm or apartment complex, students trek all over campus every day.
Unlike mail from the U.S. Postal Service, packages from services like Fedex and UPS are delivered directly to RHOs, but students often do not receive a notification e-mail as soon as packages arrive. It can sometimes take days for the package to be entered into the computer system. Though students who are sure they have a package can usually find it if they go down to the RHO, the University should increase student staffing to speed up computer entry.
Beefing up staff and giving students a four-year mailbox isn’t a panacea—but it’s a good start. Campus mail will still be relatively slow, but at least students will get their cookie delivery from Mom when they want it.
