University Mailing Services ensures safe delivery on all packages, including Amazon
Universities are unique when it comes to mail delivery.
Addresses are typically by building and not by street, sometimes there is no vehicle access near a building and it’s difficult to deliver packages when the driver isn’t familiar with campus.
University Mailing Services takes the worry out of package and mail delivery for parents and students.
Renee Smith, director of business operations for OSU Facilities Management, said UMS is the first line of defense for making sure packages are delivered safely.
“Sometimes we have students or parents who don’t understand why packages, like those delivered by Amazon, must come through University Mailing Services,” Smith said. “This is a much better and a much safer system. It reduces the number of vehicles on campus, ensures packages are delivered to appropriate locations and all of our UMS employees have gone through background checks to be able to work on campus.”
Receiving over 1.2 million pieces of mail annually, UMS provides all the same services as the United States Post Office, but with additional measures with OSU student safety in mind.
All UMS staff must go through suspicious package training, scanning each package when it arrives on campus and again when it’s delivered. Should they encounter anything suspicious, they call the OSU Police Department, rather than delivering to populated areas. UMS will not leave a package in a non-designated area in order to prevent opportunities for theft. No mailing services, UMS included, are allowed to deliver directly to a student’s room. Rather, packages are delivered to designated locations within Residential Life areas.
While the process of ensuring mail and packages are safe can be a tedious one, 99.8% of everything passing through UMS is delivered within 24 hours of reaching the UMS dock. They can pick up and deliver mail, both personal and business, in the 74077 and 74078 ZIP codes and have access to other carriers such as UPS, FedEx and DHL.
The same process, which includes carriers delivering to the UMS dock rather than students’ rooms, also helps to negate both truck and foot traffic on an already bustling OSU campus. Also, with UMS deliveries, if a student moves, mailing services employees can look up the student’s new address in university records, deliver to their new location or call a student who moved off-campus to let them know they have a package to pick up. Independent contractors have to return the package as undeliverable.
UMS Manager Darren Stormont said that although UMS can look up a student’s address, packages and mail arrive more quickly when the right format is used to address the package.
“Always address a package with a student’s full name as it appears in the university system, their room number and building name and then Stillwater, OK, 74077,” he said. “At times, packages are addressed to a street address, such as 1200 McElroy instead of the building name. We can typically find the student the package is meant for, but it can take time when it’s not addressed by room and building.”
Stop by ums.okstate.edu for more information, including answers to frequently asked questions. Or, email ums@okstate.edu or call 405-744-5385.