Mailroom boxed up

If you are waiting for a care package from mom, whether it contains the all important check for books or the favorite sweater you forgot at home, you may have to wait awhile.

The Oberlin College Mailroom is presently experiencing one of the worst back-ups in years. The confusion and slowness of delivery is due mainly to understaffing and the use of a new mailbox distribution system.

Oberlin College has just switched to a new database for record keeping called BANNER this semester. All procedures have been changing in accordance with it, including the assigning of student mailboxes.

In addition to the adjustment to a new system, there is the problem of understaffing. There are currently 15 students and two full-time employees working in the mail room. They are responsible for separating, sorting and writing up the 300 to 400 packages that come into the mailroom each day. At the same time, they must attend to 400 students that congregate at the package window daily. According to one employee, employers frown upon overtime, which contributes to the high volume of unsorted packages.

Since there is little room to maneuver in the sorting area of the mailroom, the large packages are usually delivered first. The next priority is on-campus mail, and then packages sent express, Fed Ex or UPS Next Day Service.

The problems with undelivered or wrongly delivered mail has left many students frustrated. "I opened my mailbox and was overjoyed and excited to see mail! Then I realized it wasn't even addressed to me," said junior Annie Schnarr. Schnarr's experience reflects many of the experiences of other students.

Many of the mail that cannot be matched to the right box because of confusion about the new distribution system goes in what the mailroom employees call the "nixing pile." These are stacks and stacks of letters that will not be sorted until the other incoming mail is delivered. The nixing pile is the last priority. In consequence, many students could be waiting until the end of September to receive mail they were expecting in the past few weeks.

Although this is the most backed up the mailroom has been in recent years, the disorder and delay are not expected to last much longer. Lori Gumpf, from the Registrar's office, said, "We are tracing the problems and rectifying them to insure that the mishap in the assignment of boxes does not happen again. I very much regret that this particular difficulty was/is such a bother to students, and I want to thank all those students who were inconvenienced by OCMR problems for their patience and understanding."

The employees in the mailroom also believe they are finally getting caught up, and caution students to remember that there is always some disorder in the mailroom at the beginning of the semester due to the huge influx of mail.

Many students are still angry and upset by late or undelivered mail. Sophomore Brendan O'Brien was waiting for a card from his father. "I've been kind of lacking in funds and the card had money in it. It was supposed to be here a week ago, but I just got it today," said O'Brien.

Yet others have a forgiving attitude. In response to other students' anger, sophomore Peter Mellman said, "I don't think it's a crime for them to be disorganized."