Janet Givens never knows what will be delivered on her doorstep at 3615 Hamilton Street.
Bouquets of flowers, junk mail and bundles of The New York Times all regularly land in her mailbox. More often than not, the name on the label is not hers, but that of a resident of Ware College House, at 3615 Hamilton Walk.
Starting last fall, a system of three mailrooms -- and three separate addresses -- was implemented in the Quadrangle as part of a larger plan to divide the dormitory into three separate college houses. In addition to 3700 Spruce St. -- which used to include the entire Quad -- the University added 310 S. 36th St., and 3615 Hamilton Walk.
But two similar sounding street addresses in close proximity have proved troublesome for both Hamilton locations.
"I'm inconvenienced, but so are the students, and there are a lot more students than me," said Givens, who lives in Powelton Village, several blocks north of Market Street.
The problem was at its worst last year, with an estimated 50 pieces of mail being delivered to her each week.
In some cases, the mail was simply addressed to "Hamilton." Other pieces of mail were properly delivered to Hamilton Street, when in fact the intended recipient resided on Hamilton Walk. And some have been lost altogether.
College sophomore Ramin Roufeh experienced sporadic delivery of his Sports Illustrated magazine and other items last year.
"I lost an important package... and I still don't know where it is," Roufeh said of a shipment last semester that had been addressed to Hamilton Walk.
Givens and her husband have lost packages, mortgage papers and Social Security checks. After they complained to both Penn and the U.S. Postal Service, both took steps to solve the problem.
At the beginning of this semester, Ware Faculty Master Mark Liberman sent an e-mail to his residents to alert them of the problem, and to recommend that they give out the 3700 Spruce St. address, in lieu of 3615 Hamilton Walk.
He said that so far this academic year, he has received no complaints from the students, but that "it's a little bit early because the freshmen have really only been here for about a week."
The Post Office has provided the Ware mailroom with envelopes that include postage, in order to return any mail destined for Givens that winds up in the Quad.
However, Givens said that no system has been provided to enable her to return Penn students' mail. After enough such mail has accumulated, Givens hand-delivers it to the Ware mailroom.
"We have to make a special trip, it's true, but I would expect them to do the same thing if they had to," Givens said.
The long-term solution is to assign Ware College House a new address, according to Gordon Rickards, assistant director of Facilities Support. He said that the new address will likely be one on Spruce Street, and that it will be implemented by the next academic year.
"It's upsetting -- you want your mail and you want it in a timely manner," Rickards said. "But I think we're on the road to fixing it."
However, the problem is not limited to the 3615 addresses alone. Residents of 3610 and 3620 Hamilton St., said they regularly receive mail destined for the Medical School and laboratories that have the same numbers along Hamilton Walk. However, the quantity of mail intended for those buildings is not as great as that heading for Ware.
Staffers in Medical School and lab offices said that they were not aware of the problem.
Postal Service delivery services manager Patrick Canning said that after the Quad mail problem is fixed, the remainder of the Hamilton Walk addresses will be reassigned.
But Givens said she has her own solution in mind.
"Maybe Penn could let me audit a course for free as their way of saying I'm sorry," she said.
