University sorts through mail system backlog, but some problems continue

University officials said yesterday the package delivery delays in the new Frist Campus Center have been remedied.

To that end, all freshmen and sophomores will pick up their packages in Dod Hall instead of Frist for at least the remainder of the fall semester — a switch made last week in response to the campus center's inability to handle the volume of incoming parcels — according to Keith Sipple, manager of student financial services for the University and director of campus mail services.

But despite these important strides, the mail system still has its problems, as Lisa Sotelo '01 learned firsthand.

Yesterday, Sotelo arrived at the Frist mail room about 3:30 p.m., a package delivery notice in hand, expecting to pick up an important check. After at least 10 minutes of waiting at the front of a six-person line while a mail services employee searched for her package, she was referred to mail room number two in Frist.

Minutes later, Sotelo was back where she started, still without her check. Finally, it was discovered that an incorrect campus address had been marked on Sotelo's pick-up slip, complicating the process and causing the delay.

"I should have used Federal Express so it would have come right to my door," Sotelo said, slightly annoyed.

Though Sotelo's experience seems to indicate the mail room problems have not been resolved, Sipple said her situation was "atypical."

John Yuncza, the University associate treasurer who is involved in an evaluation of mail services, also said he believes Frist has corrected the delays.

"My understanding is that the backlog was completely cleared by Thursday, meaning that everyone who had a package that was received at Frist was given notice," he said.

According to both Yuncza and Sipple, two major factors contributed to the mail problems — lack of storage space in Frist and inadequate notification systems.

Sipple said there is not enough room in Frist for the mail facility, partly because mail services requires a lot of storage space.

As for the notification issue, at the start of the year "there were not sufficient computer hookups in Frist to allow us to e-mail notification of package arrival to students," Yuncza said. E-mail is one of the most efficient ways the campus mail delivery system notifies students of the arrival of packages.

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The higher mail volume the University experiences at the beginning of the school year also contributed to the backlog. In anticipation of the additional mail flow, Yuncza said the University generally increases staff at the outset of the year, and has increased its staff even more this year to handle the recent backlog.

Yuncza said he sees the mail problems as an important learning experience as Princeton adjusts to life with Frist. "Frist was a combination of problems all at one time, but once we got started fixing things, the situation resolved itself fairly quickly," he said.