The student mailroom is entering the digital age. University Mail Services will soon be e-mailing students when packages arrive rather than distributing paper notices to mailboxes.
The notification system grew out of an initiative by the Undergraduate Council of Students. UCS President Brian Becker '09 said the Council started exploring the idea halfway through last semester. The new system "will make life much easier for students," Becker said.
Mail Services Manager Fred Yattaw said he hopes to have the program up and running soon, after the early semester mail rush slows down. The e-mail system would ideally begin "after the dust settles" around Valentine's Day, Yattaw said. According to Yattaw, current mailroom protocol involves scanning packages, typing student box numbers into a computer and then printing out alerts to distribute to mailboxes. With the new system, a software program will automatically link box numbers with e-mail addresses and send electronic notifications to students.
Initially, the mailroom will only e-mail students for packages requiring signatures, eliminating the current yellow slips. If students don't pick up their packages in a timely fashion, secondary paper notices for these packages will still be printed and delivered to student mailboxes. Under the new initiative, paper notices for packages not requiring signatures will remain in use, so students can still expect to see blue slips in their boxes.
Becker said he hopes the next step will be e-mailing students when all packages arrive.
