Beginning today, students will get an e-mail notification from University Mail Services when they receive most packages.
Instead of the traditional yellow slips placed in mailboxes, students who have received packages from FedEx, UPS, DHL and USPS's Express, Certified, Insured and Delivery Confirmation mail will be notified electronically.
Mail Services Manager Fred Yattaw said students will receive the postal tracking numbers of their parcels via e-mail, but they only need to provide their mailbox numbers to claim packages. Students will also be able to pick up their mail by providing the claim numbers.
"Carriers will be scanned and categorized, so when someone comes in with a claim, we'll know where to find it," Yattaw said.
Mail Services had hoped to implement the system by the beginning of this semester, but due to the Valentine's Day rush and some delays in making the program comprehensive, it was postponed, Yattaw said.
The program will not incur additional costs, he said, adding that it was unrelated to the move to the new mailroom in J. Walter Wilson.
According to Brian Becker '09, president of the Undergraduate Council of Students, the idea had been in the works since last year. Though Mail Services does not yet send out e-mail notifications for "blue slip" packages - packages that do not require signatures - Becker said he hopes students will soon receive paperless notices for those packages as well.
Becker said he believes students will be happy with the new system.
"I'm pretty confident that it'll be a great benefit for students on campus," he said.