We have all been there: the seemingly endless line at the mailroom. Maybe you were waiting to acquire the much-anticipated package from back home or collect the clothes you recently ordered off the Internet. Maybe you experienced the freshman frustration of having to stand in line to see if you have any mail at all only because you can’t get the mailbox open and sometimes no one else can either. For those of us who have queued up 45 minutes before closing time just to be told to come back tomorrow mail services has become a pressing issue.
Most of us have learned to deal with this largely because we have to. However there comes a point where it becomes more than just a frustration but a hindrance to the intense academic standards of the average Pepperdine student. Many students this year have again resorted to buying books online because of the outrageously high prices in the bookstore which is another issue entirely. As time-sensitive items like books stack up at the beginning of the year doesn’t it make sense to have more staff in the mailroom?
Before bashing mail services we must emphasize that they do the best they can considering how understaffed they are. But with the number of work-study grants Pepperdine offers to its students on a yearly basis it seems like all on-campus job opportunities could surely find enough student employees to keep themselves running smoothly and even meet the sometime overly high expectations of Pepperdine students.
Furthermore mail service personnel will be the first to tell you that the mailroom is understaffed. They have admitted that there has been an obvious decline in the number of student workers in the past couple of years yet they have been unable to find any specific reason why.
On average they try to hire 15 student workers for the Sandbar mailroom. So far this year they have hired only eight and are still looking to fill positions. Adding to this difficulty is the significant increase in the number of packages received on a daily basis. Stan Jones manager of mail services says that while his office used to receive 300 to 400 packages a day it now receives 800 to 1000 on a daily basis. This combined with the lack of employees makes for a slow and somewhat frustrating process for students.
The lack of advertising for mailroom employment could be a large part of the sluggish pace of mail services. You could count on one hand the number of posters advertising employment for the mailroom and of those at least a couple are located only a few feet away from the mailroomitself or inconveniently in the package pick-up tucked away behind Rho parking lot.
Still there are other issues that are just as if not more frustrating than the line itself. Students with jam-packed schedules should know when the lunch break for full-time mailroom staff begins and ends — on a consistent basis. A lunch break is much deserved for full-time mail personnel. But for the students accessing their mailboxes for the brief 30 minute break between class it is more than frustrating to realize that the established 45 minute lunch break is 20 minutes past due.
Multiple other campus organizations such as Housing and Residence Life and student activities arrive early on campus to prepare for the arrival of both new and returning students. What is keeping mail services from doing the same? It would create more incentive for student employment and make approximately 3000 students more content with the mailroom.
But while we wait for these things to improve get used to standing in line and be glad you can at least enjoy USA Today the Malibu Times or the Graphic while you wait.