Director of Butler’s Campus Impressions gives students tips to avoid mailing issues. Photo courtesy of @TheButlerBlue on Twitter.
ALLISON MCELROY | STAFF REPORTER | aamcelroy@butler.edu
As Butler nears the halfway point in the semester, students, especially first-years, are starting to adjust to life on campus. However, there are some aspects that might take more adjustment than others, and one of them is the process of receiving mail or packages. Here are some tips for making this process as smooth as possible, for both yourself and all those delivering your mail to you.
Addressing packages correctly
Chris Davis, director of print, copy and mail service for Butler’s Campus Impressions, explained that the issue of packages and mail getting lost or not being received by students can often be a result of mislabeling and general confusion surrounding how to correctly address them. The information below is a guideline for the correct way to address packages and mail.
For students living in Apartment Village, Fairview House, Irvington House and Residential College, both mail and packages should be addressed as follows:
First and Last Name
Residence Hall
Residence Hall Address, Box #
Indianapolis, IN 46208
For students living in Butler Terrace, University Terrace or South Campus apartments, the information above should be used for addressing regular mail, since these apartments still have regular mail boxes. However, packages are different.
Davis explained that since these residences do not have a reception area like in residence halls and the exterior doors remain locked to third-party individuals, there is no way for packages to be delivered directly to the building. Therefore, packages for Butler Terrace and South Campus apartments have to be delivered to the Campus Impressions office in room 052 of the Holcomb Building, where students can then pick them up. Those in University Terrace apartments should address their packages to Apartment Village. Packages sent to Campus Impressions should be addressed using the information below.
First and Last Name
4600 Sunset Ave
Indianapolis, IN 46208
For students living in Greek houses, packages and mail are both addressed directly to the house address. However, junior sports media major, Kelly Robertson, who lives in the Alpha Phi sorority house, explained that it can be necessary to take some further steps to clarify where packages and mail should be sent.
“Recently we’ve had a lot of issues with… a lot of packages from other sorority houses getting delivered here, and then like a lot of other girls…and I will go and walk around to other houses and like literally drop them off,” Robertson said. “I know I’ve had packages go to like, [Alpha Chi Omega]…a lot of times just writing 842 West Hampton doesn’t really help.”
Robertson explained that she usually has packages addressed with not only the house address, but also the name of her sorority in order to avoid confusion.
Overall, Davis suggests carefully following the “‘How To’ Address Mail and Packages” flyer created by Campus Impressions, which can be found at the front desk of residence halls and at the Campus Impressions office. The flyer gives additional detailed information for the exact way packages and mail should be addressed in order to have the highest chances of success in receiving them.
Picking up packages and mail
Davis explained how the process of delivering and receiving packages works in residence halls on campus. First, a delivery person from the carrier the package was sent through, such as UPS, FedEx, USPS or Amazon, will drop it at the reception desk for the residence hall. Then, the desk assistant there will scan the barcode on the package into the university’s Q-Track system, a GPS-like system that allows Campus Impressions to track and locate packages.
Once it is scanned in, a drop down menu comes up with all of the students, faculty and staff that are registered in the system, allowing desk assistants to then label the package so it can get to whomever it belongs to. Students should then receive an email notifying them that they have a package waiting to be picked up.
Sarah Hess, a junior communication sciences and disorders major who works as a resident assistant in Irvington House, said one thing to note is that even if a student receives an email that the package has been delivered, that does not necessarily mean it is ready to be picked up. She explained that packages sometimes have to be transferred from the Campus Impressions office to the residence hall, and therefore are not always at the reception desk for pickup right away.
Once they receive their email, students can pick up their package anytime the front desk of their residence hall is open. They just need to have their student ID ready to show the desk assistant.
For students living in Butler Terrace, University Terrace and South Campus apartments, packages should be picked up at the Campus Impressions office as previously stated. Students will receive an email notifying them that their package is ready for pickup just like those living in residence halls.
Another tip Davis gave was to ensure that students have everything addressed using the name they are registered under at the university instead of any nicknames or abbreviations. Since the mail service utilizes the university directory to enter packages into their system, using the same name that will appear in the directory, and likewise, on your student ID, is important in order to be able to pick up your packages.
As far as mail goes, mail carriers simply deliver letter-sized mail straight into the individual mailbox each room number is assigned to in residence halls or at the apartments. Students should have a key, which allows them to access their mailbox and pick up mail at any time.
What to do when these tips aren’t enough
Even if students follow all of these tips, problems can sometimes still arise. Davis recommends that a student’s first point of contact should be with their residence hall desk assistant or community director, who can often offer assistance in figuring out issues with locating packages. If this does not solve the problem, however, staff at Campus Impressions are there to help. Students can request this help by emailing mailcenter@butler.edu.
“We do put forth the effort to try to help manage those deliveries where we can,” Davis said. “If somebody contacts us and they have an issue trying to find a package, we will go to great lengths to try to help them locate where that package might be.”
