Snail mail's shell cracked on way to P.O. Box

"I had to wear glasses with masking tape on the side for two weeks because it took that long for the contact lenses my mom sent by overnight mail to get here," an anonymous freshman in Trumbull, who now claims to have no friends, said. "And to make matters worse," he added, "it was during my first month at Yale. Now I guess you could say I'm kind of a loner. I play a lot of solitaire on my computer. Thanks a lot Yale Station Post Office!"

ERIN I. LEWIS/YH Need a stamp to send that postcard to your grandmother? She might have great-grandchildren by the time you get to the front of the line.

This sad tale is one of many told by Yalies who use the Yale Station Post Office on Elm Street. They claim that long lines, delayed packages, slow mail delivery, and bad service in general have plagued the Yale Station, causing students unnecessary grief.

"I got a letter from one of my friends that had been opened. The envelope was torn and the letter was gone," Laura Periscope, TC '04, said. "I went to the people who work in the package department, and they said that there was nothing they could do and that it shouldn't have been put in the box that way. They told me I could file a complaint, but I didn't because I figured they wouldn't be able to do anything."

Gina Reiger, the mother of Katy Dion, JE '02, went so far as to call the Yale Station Post Office's service "abominable." Reiger, who sent her tuition bill to Yale on time, was forced to pay an additional fee of $110 because it was recieved by Yale past the deadline. "I believe that my payment was sent in a timely manner and was received late due to the inefficiency of the Yale postal system," she said. "I had to go through a lot of trouble to get this turned around, and I really felt there was a lack of consumer friendliness. But in the end, Student Financial Services (SFS) did waive the fee."

Reiger isn't the only person to whom this has happened. According to Ernst Huff, associate vice president of Student Financial and Administrative Services, "of the about 45 to 50 late fee appeals we received for tuition bills this spring, about 10 to 15 stated that it was the post office's fault that their tuition bill arrived late. And 100 percent of the time, we have waived the late fee."

But Reiger feels that there are probably many more people charged for late fees due to the "deplorable state of the mail delivery system" who don't complain. She said, "I bet lots of people don't even bother dealing with SFS and just pay the late fee."

Part of the problem may stem from Yale's unusual relationship with the Postal Service. While most universities hire personnel to handle mail, Yale Station's employees are federal postal workers. The space is not a federal one, however; it belongs to the University.

Sylvester Savage, manager of consumer affairs for the Connecticut postal district, in a letter written in response to Dion's complaint, claims that "this [University-post office] relationship has been in place for over a century." Much has changed, however, during that time. He said, "Yale has many more students. The amount of mail each student receives has grown as well, and the type of mail being received has changed. Yet the space for processing the mail has not changed, making it very difficult to handle the tremendous volumes received."

Dion feels that the post office needs to be expanded. The size of the package room is about the size of a common room in Lanman-Wright, and there is only one person in charge of retrieving packages.

Savage explains that although "the exterior of the building was remodeled eight years ago, it is a historic site, and floor space cannot be expanded. Mail must enter through a small, antiquated elevator that cannot accommodate modern postal equipment."

Christine Dugas, a U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman, is aware of the tight space. "But," she said, "there are many post offices that are much worse off than the Yale post office." She added, "I don't know of any plans for improving the Yale post office in the near future."

Stephen Haskell, TD '04, found the lines unbearable. "The other day I needed a stamp desperately and the stamp machine was out of order. I had to wait on line for 20 minutes to get one stamp—highly irritating," he said. Periscope echoed his complaint, saying "I think a huge part of the problem is that the post office is way under-staffed."

Savage said that "managers have contemplated ways to solve the logistical problems with mail for Yale for years and are still doing so. We have been unable to hire additional employees due to space constraints."

Dugas disagrees. "We don't think that the Yale Station Post Office is under-staffed," she said. We don't think that there is a problem—the staffing seems adequate."

"Seems" is a key word. A postal worker who handles packages, who requested that his name not be used, said, "We're so overloaded with packages. And with only about 10 people working here, students can't possibly expect to get their packages immediately—especially during the holidays. The kids expect their packages to be here within two days, and that's just not possible."

"There are 9,000 post office boxes for students," Savage added, "which is more than triple the number of boxes in most large post offices with modern, automated mail- processing systems."

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