Package delivery backlog at Frist prompts changes in mail services

When the prescription his mother had sent him via two-day priority mail had not arrived after a week, Jon Barnes '03 began griping to the Frist Campus Center mailroom workers. No one seemed to have seen the package. But after a visit or two, the workers remembered his name.

So when Barnes returned to the mailroom Sept. 20 — 10 days after the parcel had been sent and the same day his last dose of the medicine had run out — he and one of the clerks rummaged through boxes of unsorted packages until the parcel was found.

"It would have been a problem in that it was a prescription that needs to be taken every day," Barnes said. "I think it arrived on time, but they didn't have the time to go through all the boxes piled up. They were swamped."

His situation is not unique.

The backlog of student packages at Frist has forced University mail services to begin using the old Dod Hall mailroom facility to handle packages for freshmen and sophomores — a change that will take effect today. The backlogged mail should be distributed by Friday afternoon, according to University associate treasurer John Yuncza, who is involved in a University evaluation of the mail system.

Before this year, all undergraduate packages came through the Dod mailroom where they were stored. According to Yuncza, the current problem stems from both the centralization of package services in Frist and the added seasonal volume of packages.

"This is really a combination of problems," he explained, pointing to logistical issues and personnel shortages. "Primarily, the space that has been provided in Frist is just not large enough to hold and to sort the packages, and volume is up."

As new packages arrive daily and unsorted ones build up, space becomes even more of an issue, and the parcel turnover slows. "It's almost a chicken and egg situation," he said. "It's as if you are in the middle of 500 jellybeans and don't know where to start."

In addition to the Dod move, the University has added four workers to the parcel-sorting assembly line and is training them to use its upgraded e-mail notification software. And unless mail services finds a larger space in Frist — which is unlikely — undergraduate package delivery will be split permanently between Dod and the campus center.

"This is a permanent solution for this year," Yuncza said. "The question is will we ever have enough room in Frist."

Frist Campus Center director Paul Breitman said he doubts this will happen. "I don't know where we would put them. Now, the space was designed for them, but whether it was designed to handle all mail or just mail for seniors and juniors is an issue," Breitman said. "Clearly it's not enough for all mail."

University officials also hope to ease the traffic on the campus center's loading dock, which has been a problem for U.S. postal carriers. Mail carriers compete for dock space with cafeteria deliveries, which use the space to drop off orders for dining services throughout the day.

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"The problem for the [mail] carrier is the unloading and accessing the dock because there are other companies or vendors there," said Chris Ippoliti, the Princeton U.S. Postal Service's supervisor of customer services. "And I don't think the space is sufficient to handle the volume there is."

Though the situation has not yet led to undelivered mail, emerging frustration from both sides has prompted the University to consider ways to remedy the problem.

"The difficulty is that this is a general loading dock," Breitman said. "And a system needs to be worked out that the post office has some priority."