Torria Catrone, Editor-in-Chief—
As the semester gets started, some departments on campus have yet to find their footing. Notably, Denison’s Student Mailroom has recently hit a few stumbling blocks. Students across campus are complaining about missing packages, an onslaught of (often incorrect) emails from the mailroom, and slow turnover between package delivery and pickup. What exactly is going on, and how can the campus community expect mailroom employees to respond to these concerns?
“Last year… [there were] approximately 85,000 incoming packages just for Slayter,” said the mailroom’s supervisor, Amy Hannahs. This figure does not include mail or alumni packages, “as they aren’t recorded in the system,” she continued. There are currently 30 students on staff at the mailroom, all tasked with dealing with this high volume of deliveries. Throughout the day, they experience lots of turnover. It can be difficult to keep everything straight, especially from closing to opening the next day. “There’s inconsistencies from shift to shift,” says student Lily Anderson ‘24.
There’s lots of factors working against them, Anderson explains. The mailroom’s layout is conducive to receiving snail mail, but lacks the floorspace needed to accommodate the high volume of packages they’re experiencing today. There’s more wall space than floor space behind that counter, and this can make it very difficult to keep things properly organized. On top of being student workers, mailroom employees fall under the umbrella of federal positions. They could face legal ramifications if they fail to observe confidentiality laws. In short, these students juggle a lot while trying to satisfy Denison’s wealth of online shoppers.
As far as the emails go, there isn’t much student workers can do about it. The messaging system which the mailroom uses is called Pitney Bowes SendSuite Tracking, and is managed by their supervisor, Hannahs. The system is automated, and sends an email to the recipient when their package is scanned in by the mailroom. Since the implementation of this software, the amount of time between package delivery and pickup by the recipient has decreased greatly. This turnover is helpful to streamlining the mailroom’s process, but only if the email system is operating correctly. As of this past week, the excessive emails and incorrect notifications were said to have been fixed. Yet, some students are still reporting that the emails haven’t stopped.
Anderson said that even though the mailroom just cut Sunday hours, Slayter Mailroom is open far more than you’ll find at other schools of Denison’s size. “Denison students consume a lot,” she said. The 30 mailroom workers are doing their best to keep up with all of that demand. They hold staff meetings once a month to check in with one another and standardize procedures. Even with these measures, it’s hard to coordinate. “There are so many moving parts to it,” said Anderson.
As they head into the new year, the mailroom is planning to focus more on their social media presence and communication with the greater campus community. They are aware of the issues students are experiencing with their mail, and are working hard to fix it.
Applications for the mailroom just closed this past Monday, February 13. Anderson hopes that their energy will help the mailroom keep up with the at-times overwhelming demand for mail on campus. If you have missing packages or mail, make sure to bring it up with the workers at the desk. Any one of the student managers will be happy to fill out a ‘Lost Packages Form’ with you and do their best to address your concern.