Post office struggles with misplaced mail, delays

SUSIE CHO/YH Students are exasperated when their packages don't arrive.

Elizabeth Prestel, SY '02, waited in line at the parcel pick-up window of Yale Station Post Office, tapping her foot impatiently. She wasn't holding a yellow slip, but explained to the postal worker that she was expecting a package that had been mailed a week before. The employee scoured the shelves behind him and promptly produced the awaited package. Prestel watched his return with a look of foreknowledge—she had experienced this interaction several times before.

Delayed mail is the most common complaint students level at Yale Station. Tardiness grievances range from accounts of mild vexation to stories of acute inconvenience. Jamie Tabb, BR '00, was set to work in New Haven for part of the summer but had to change all his plans at the last minute. "I didn't get my housing information in time, so I had to scramble to find another place to live—and I checked my mailbox every day," he said. Nilanj Desai, SY '02, ordered a piece of software for his Italian class, but didn't find a slip in his box until more than two weeks after the package had arrived at Yale. "I know they received it on the 8th of September because I got an online confirmation of delivery—but they didn't put the notice in my box till the 28th," he said. Jodi Weinstein, SY '02, said, "My mom mailed me a dress for winter ball last year. They had gotten the package but didn't put the slip in my box—and by the time I got it, it was too late."

Of course, acute inconvenience is a relative term, entirely subject to one's perspective. "My U2 CD came two weeks late," Gavin Pratt, JE '01, said, shaking his head incredulously. "And that's definitely a big inconvenience." Samir Kaushik, SY '02, said, "I didn't get my Maxim yet, and I mailed the subscription months ago."

Chris Murphy, Operations Manager for the 06520 zip code area, which encompasses Yale Station, has a ready explanation for short-term delays. "We have several dispatches a day—12:30 p.m., 1:00 or 3:00 o'clock," she said. "Regular mail is placed in boxes the next day, priority mail that same day." If students check their mail too early in the day, they won't find an expected package till the next day, creating the illusion of sluggish delivery. "There's also something called critical entry time," Murphy added. "Any mail received after this time is [by default] dealt with the next day."

Complaints of lengthy delivery delays leave Murphy baffled. She classified such delays as either exceptions or instances that are neither predictable nor preventable. "There are occasionally problems at the plant or during transportation," she said, "but such cases are rare." More likely, Murphy suggested, "a student will lose a slip or it will get mixed in with magazines or whatever mail is in the box, so the student never finds it even though it was put in on time."

If anything, Murphy insisted, service has grown more timely and efficient, not less so. "We're dealing with increasing volumes of mail due to the advent of e-commerce [and therefore we're making every effort] to stay ahead."

Pratt's CD and Desai's software are emblematic of the recent influx of internet-ordered mail that Murphy and the office are striving to address. One way Yale Station is reacting to the flood of Internet mail is by handling mail ordered online—and delivered by carrier service—as priority mail. "We've always given priority mail our very best attention," Murphy said.

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