Lost in the mail

Despite efforts to improve mail delivery on campus, hundreds of students still complain about lost and late mail on a daily basis. Complaints are being received from all over campus, but a majority of the problems -- as in the past -- are in the Quadrangle. Residential Living Director Gigi Simeone says the 30th Street Station Post Office is providing inadequate service. But officials there say the University is at fault for the mail problems. Quad students, caught in the middle of this debate, are receiving their mail days, weeks, even months late -- if they receive it at all. College freshman Amy Kwan echoed the sentiments of many of her Quad neighbors. "I just want my mail," she said. "Is that too much to ask for?" Campus mail surveys recently distributed by The Daily Pennsylvanian to 120 students in the Quad reveal that students are losing more mail than they are reporting to Residential Living officials. At least 394 letters and cards were never received by the 120 students, and at least $13,064 in checks were lost in the mail. In addition, 52 students reported lost magazines or catalogs, and 27 said they had lost "important documents" -- plane tickets, bank statements, bills, credit cards, MAC cards and the like. Many students said they are also experiencing late mail, which may arrive days, weeks or even months after the postmarked date. And several students, like Wharton freshman Jeffrey Greenhouse, commented that it is impossible to guess how many more items they had lost. "I am sure that I have lost more mail, but I don't know what I have lost since I didn't receive it," he said. The current inquiry into campus mail delivery arose from an incident two weeks ago when several University students found a garbage bag full of undelivered mail outside the Quad mailroom. At that time, Simeone said she had received about 200 complaints of missing mail since September. These complaints followed an investigation last spring which determined that the University was not responsible for the more than 350 incidences of late or lost mail reported to officials. "I tell people not to mail anything because I know I won't get it," said College freshman Rahul Aggarwal. Aggarwal -- whose problem occurred with intramural mail -- said a letter he received on January 29 was sent on January 10. The problem, he said, was that the letter was regarding a meeting on January 17. Other students have experienced similar problems with first class mail delivery: · Wharton freshman Michael Fieldstone received a package on January 23 that was postmarked December 17. · College freshman Dalya Rosner had a MAC card sent to her three different times and never received it. · College freshman Erika Leslie had a tuition check which never arrived, and an overnight Federal Express package which came a week late. · Nursing freshman Jina Wye received a magazine one month late, and it "looked like it had gone through a gutter" when she finally got it, all torn up. The late and lost mail has left students angry and confused. "The mail system, for lack of a better word, sucks!" said College freshman Ben Saul. "What amazes me the most is probably the lack of concern or lack of attempts to change an obviously inadequate system," said College freshman Maria Gonzales. Simeone said last week that she and her assistants are "tremendously frustrated as we know students are" about the delivery problems, but she reiterated that the University is not to blame. "We have perceived tremendous inaccuracies with the mail we've been receiving [from the 30th Street Post Office]," she said. "When we get the mail, we get it out to students immediately. "We feel very good about the system that we have in place and the employees that we have on campus," she added. The employees are retired postal workers who have been in place since January 1993, Simeone said. At that time, Residential Living fired the student mailroom workers in an effort to correct reported mail problems. Lenore Dash, supervisor for the University's postal zone, said the 30th Street Station Post Office is just doing its job -- delivering the mail to the University. After mail arrives at the University, Dash explained, it is the University's responsibility to get the mail to students. "All we do is deliver bags of mail with a truck to the mailroom," Dash said. "Once we drop it off at the mailroom, it's not our responsibility. We don't know what goes on in that mailroom." Customer service clerk Frank Marcoveccio did acknowledge that the post office is experiencing delays, but added that the delays are still due to recent bad weather. The biggest problem that 30th Street Station has experienced, he said, is mail being delivered late from other states because of weather conditions. Marcoveccio added that every piece of first- or second-class mail which is received at 30th Street each day must be delivered that day. "If you get something that's dated a week and a half ago, the carrier [still] got it today," he said. "As soon as the carrier gets it, it goes out that day." Another problem causing disagreement between the University and the post office is how students should file complaints about missing mail. Assistant Director of Residential Services Nancy McCue said last week that students are given "1510" forms from the post office to fill out when they have a complaint. "It gives [the post office] an overview of where things are coming from," she said. "It's more than what they offered us last year." "The post office said, 'we don't want to hear from you unless we have the forms,'" Simeone added. But Marcoveccio said that "a lot of people make the mistake" of filling out the form at the wrong location. "It you're waiting for a piece of mail and you're not getting it, you can't fill out a tracer form," he said. "You have to fill it out from the place it was sent from." "A lot of [the University complaints] won't get attention because they're being sent by the wrong people," he added. Amid the confusion between the post office and the University, students seem to agree on one thing -- they don't care who is at fault, they just want to receive their mail. Students who repeatedly have mail problems have become especially frustrated. "I am lucky when I receive my mail almost a month late, but half the time I don't receive it at all," said College freshman Elizabeth Bernstein. "My parents now only send me anything important by [Federal Express] because that's the only way that I will receive it." Students have also complained about the post office's Priority Mail not coming in the 2 to 3 days which it is usually promised to arrive. "I got a 2-day Priority Mail package after a week and a half," said College freshman Katie Hort. But Marcoveccio warns that students should not be fooled. "Priority mail is the same thing as first class mail -- it's the same price," he said. "I'm not going to sit here and lie to you and say, 'mail Priority Mail' because that's misleading." Marcoveccio added that although Priority Mail "should get there in 2-3 days, there's no guarantee." The only guaranteed mail, he said, is Overnight Express which has its own tracking system. Simeone maintains that her office is doing the best it can to remedy the situation. Last year, after complaints mounted, Simeone, along with University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich and former Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson sent a letter to parents alerting them of the problems with mail delivery. Residential Living also installed windows in the mailrooms to allow for observation, and video cameras were installed to record mailroom activity. "We feel that we have been very up front with students," Simeone said. "This is a problem we're concerned about, and they should be concerned about it too." Manager of Residential Services Rodney Robinson added that the current mailroom staff is comprised of experienced, trustworthy people. "These are people who have been in the post office 30 years and have built their careers around mail," he said. "They're taking a lot of abuse down there." But Wharton and Engineering junior Allen Chen is doubtful. "Screw the mail workers!" he said. Daily Pennsylvanian Staff Writer Gregory Thomas contributed to this article.

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