E-Mail To Replace Mail Slips

Increasingly crowded mailrooms filled with parcels yet to be picked up have spurred House superintendents to create what they hope will be a quicker and more efficient way to notify students of the arrival of packages.

In two weeks, a shift in the way that upperclass students are notified of awaiting packages will be complete, when all Houses are slated to end the practice of leaving package slips in students’ mailboxes.

Instead, residents of all Houses will receive e-mail notifications when packages arrive for them—a change that has already been implemented in some Houses.

The idea was first conceived by Kirkland House resident Neil S. Agarwal ’02 and Kirkland Superintendent Scott Haywood as a means to save time for both students and superintendents—as well as a way to reduce clutter in House mailrooms.

“I found it annoying to check my mailbox every few days when I was expecting a package,” Agarwal said. “I thought that e-mail would not only be good for the superintendent, but it would also be good for students, who check their e-mail more often than they check their mailboxes.”

After Agarwal designed the system this past summer, it began a trial run at Kirkland at the beginning of the fall semester.

The Kirkland system was so effective that other superintendents approached Haywood and expressed interest in implementing a similar system, said Zachary Gingo, manager of administrative operations for Harvard Yard Operations.

Gingo said that at a meeting of superintendents, they decided to adopt the system in every upperclass House.

According to C. Wallace, the crew director at Kirkland, the adoption of the e-mail system made things much easier.

“We did not have to worry about slips getting lost and the process of delivering packages was less time-consuming,” Wallace said.

Leverett House Superintendent Paul Hegarty said he was also excited about the system.

“It’s easier for me and the students,” he said. “We can track the status of the packages quicker, the packages get out of the storage room quicker and there is less paper waste.”

The House-wide e-mail system being developed by Gingo and Agarwal allows superintendents to enter students’ mailbox numbers, which bring up their first names, last names and e-mail addresses.

The system also gives superintendents the option of customizing e-mails.

“If a student has fresh flowers, the superintendent can write to the student, ‘Fresh flowers. Come quickly,’” Gingo said.

Gingo said the system will help reduce the amount of time it takes for superintendents to send out notification.

“What used to take 20 to 25 minutes will now take five minutes,” he said.

Though the changes will not be taking place at Harvard Yard Mail Center, where first-years receive packages, Gingo said discussions are currently taking place to determine whether the mail center is interested in implementing the e-mail notification system.