the Informer

At one time or another we have all fallen victim to the University of Hartford’s mailroom time warp. Our packages arrive and two days later we get a slip in our mailboxes letting us know it arrived two days prior, but now the administration is ecstatic to announce its new mail notification system: e-mail. During the first few days of the semester I was graced with short messages in my inbox letting me know a package had arrived and to get to the mailroom ASAP to retrieve it. After I ordered all of my books online before classes began, I noticed that none of them were arriving. The second week of classes ended and I was still missing almost all of my books; nobody told me my packages were sitting unaccounted for in the mailroom. Why is that? Oh, because the notification system was down and mailroom administration decided not to tell us. I didn’t need those books for any of my assignments or anything. Citing an unusual overflow of packages, Director of Mail Services Carol Murzyn told The Informer last week that the new system had gone down on Jan. 27 and would be up and running normally again on Feb. 3. What about the packages delivered during the time the system was down? Oh, you won’t be notified of those. You will, however, have to stand in the absurdly long line that scales down the ramp and out the back door of GSU each day just to find out if you have a package – and if you do have one, the person working behind the counter may not be able to find it in the mountains of unsorted packages that have graced the office for the past few weeks. For all of this nonsense, I am declaring a mail fail. Isn’t it a federal offense to withhold our mail? While waiting for books wasn’t a huge inconvenience for me, what about students who have their medication delivered to the mailroom? Or credit card statements that need to be paid? While the system was down why weren’t students notified, why were we left wondering if our mail was here? It sure would’ve been much easier for me to help alleviate the package congestion that was plaguing mailroom workers if I had known there were five boxes waiting for me. There is some serious lack of thought going on here. Did nobody really think to send out an e-mail to the student body letting us know that the system was down, or consider maybe going back to the old system during the week without scanners? Nobody? Really? For the amount of money that I pay to go to this school, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to expect: 1) notification of packages in a timely manner; 2) a backup plan in case the initial structure fails. I understand that there are a lot of packages, but the beginning of each semester is always busy. Even if this semester happened to harbor a larger influx of mail than normal, I cannot accept that the mailroom did not have a plan for overflow - it’s disgusting. There are no excuses for why students should have to stand in a ludicrous line for upwards of 45 minutes just to find out they don’t have a package – or that the mailroom cannot find their package. The irritating lines at a U.S. Post Office during the holidays aren’t even as bad as the nonsense that is still happening in our campus mailroom. It’s time for the university to restructure its mail services. Perhaps a few backup plans should be implemented or maybe even a second thought to scanner system. I sincerely hope this will not be a reoccurring problem or else the mailroom may see some serious backlash from the student body. If the mailroom structure is this awful, I shudder to think of how unorganized other assets of university campus life may be.