Mailroom makeover

Mail Services to make package pickup faster

BY KEIRSTEN ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER

Starting in the summer of 2017, Mail Services will implement changes in the mailroom to make package pickups more convenient.

In recent years, the growth of package services has been immense, while the amount of regular mail received has been starkly declining according to Mark Kraner, the executive director for Retail Operations at Mason Dining. With these new changes, students will no longer have to wait in the line that sometimes wraps up the stairwell of the Hub.

The new changes will include the removal of the 6,600 mailboxes currently in place. Regular mail will be distributed at the windows that packages are now disbursed from, and the mailboxes will be replaced with package lockers. When a package is delivered, students will be notified, similarly to how the system works currently. Instead of waiting in line, however, students will receive a locker number and a one-time code that will open the locker so they can retrieve their packages.

“This [new system] will allow students to not be in line as much,” Kraner said, “especially at the beginning of the semester.”