Fix the mail rooms, RCB reps tell administration
Twelve student representatives of the Residential College Board sent a letter to William Banis, the vice president of student affairs, on Wednesday calling for changes to the university mail room system.
“Mail is too typically lost, not delivered, or tampered with,” said the letter, signed principally by Residential College Board President Kristina Wojt and Communications Residential College President Ryan Gallagher, who is also a North by Northwestern blogger.
The letter addressed students’ concerns that the mail rooms were not open during posted times, package notifications were not delivered promptly, and that mail was left in bins for students to sort through themselves. The statement also cited a Jan. 17 letter to the editor in The Daily Northwestern, titled “Apathy in the mail room unacceptable and illegal.”
Wojt said the issue came up at a Residential College Board meeting last week.
“We went around the room and asked, ‘Is this just a problem in one dorm or one mail room?’ We discovered that it was an issue that affected students across the university, and not just those in residential colleges, so we thought it was time to address it,” Wojt said.
Banis said Wednesday that he was aware of the students’ complaints and planned to discuss it this afternoon in a meeting with the director of residential Life, the director of housing, the director of fraternity and sorority life, and the dean of students. Although he recalled reading the Jan. 17 letter in The Daily, he said no changes have been made since then.
“Of course I’m concerned. Anything that is not servicing our students well, or the staff is not performing well is of great concern to me,” Banis said. He added, however, that it was premature to be making changes yet since his staff has yet to verify the claims in the letter or gather more information.
Wojt suggested that the university hire full-time mail room employees, not work-study students, to manage the mail.
“I don’t want to blame the work-study students, but ultimately U.S. mail is not something to be tampered with, and we’re entitled to our privacy and prompt delivery,” Wojt said.
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Excellent job, Ryan and Kristina. I have a suspicion you’ll see some positive changes soon.
David S.
January 30, 2008 at 5:06 pm
I wonder where my bean-bag chair is…
Alam
January 31, 2008 at 4:51 am
I used to manage a mailroom years ago and let me just say I know the service is bad. Mailroom workers are underpaid and apathetic.
However, NU students can be bossy, whiny, and compulsive about checking their mail. Some people constantly ask about packages that haven’t arrived yet and blame mailroom workers for bad service instead of taking up issue with the U.S. postal service. The worst is the mothers who would harass me via e-mail about their kids’ mail, when it simply just hadn’t arrived yet.
If you want to know where you packages are, get delivery with tracking confirmation.
If you want a package to come on time, go through FED-EX. It’s the only way.
Former Mailroom Manager
February 4, 2008 at 9:43 pm
“FED-EX…the only way”. UPS, in my experience, is far more reliable. Of course, you pay extra for either’s punctuality.
Zach
March 3, 2008 at 4:47 pm
My mom sends me mail through my girlfriend’s off-campus apartment now, the on-campus mail is so awful. Mine comes (slowly) through the Hinman mail room.
Benjamin S.
March 3, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Yes, there are problems in the mailroom, but they are not all mailroom employees’ faults. Of course, many employees are apathetic when they are barely making minimum wage and treated like crap by the majority of students. But often, the problem is that the mailroom isn’t open during hours that packages are attempted to be delivered. Usually, this is during popular class hours that mailroom workers simply can’t work.
I guess, as a mailroom employee, I wish the student body would have a little more sympathy for mailroom workers who, honestly, 99% of the time are trying our best to get things done. It’s not always our faults!
Trisha
April 17, 2008 at 11:33 am
No one said it was your fault. That’s why we were talking with the administration and not the mailroom employees.
Ryan Gallagher
April 17, 2008 at 4:40 pm
THANK YOU!!! FINALLY someone is doing something about this!
I am one of those people who is always bugging the mail people, but that’s because one day last quarter I went to see if I had a package and there was the delivery box for my dorm, sitting on the floor…full.
“Why wasn’t that delivered yesterday?” I ask…”Oh, I didn’t feel like it…I think it’s been there a week,” was the reply. WHAT? Come again??
And again yesterday and today, no mail delivered…the box is still there…full.
Thank f****ng god someone else is pissed about this too.
Cooper
May 1, 2008 at 1:43 am