Penn launches off-campus mail service

Wharton junior Katarina Muller returned to her home at 41st and Pine streets expecting to find her textbooks delivered from Amazon.

Instead, she was greeted with a pile of empty cardboard boxes that had been torn apart and strewn on her porch.

Many students living off campus have encountered similar situations, Residential Services Administrator Paul Forchielli said. As a result, Residential Services has worked to create a system to heighten students’ security in off-campus residences.

Starting today, a new service will allow off-campus residents to send their packages to on-campus locations for $4 a package. Any student with a valid PennCard, regardless of whether they live in a fraternity house or in Center City, will have access to the system.

Students who wish to have their packages delivered to on-campus locations must register with a package room of their choice. Students can then download a form from the Residential Services website and drop it off at the mail room.

Only parcels under 25 pounds will be accepted. This is a restriction that was put in place to prevent students from shipping large items, such as couches, to the on-campus locations.

“There was an expressed need in the community for off-campus students to have a safe, secure, local place to send packages,” Forchielli said.

This summer, the University introduced a summer mail program to store mail for students who lived on campus last year and who planned to return to on-campus housing this year.

Both services “were part of one project for the expansion of mail services for students,” Forchielli added.

The Undergraduate Assembly initially approached Residential Services with the idea last fall and details were finalized in the spring.

“The UA will always be working to streamline and improve its projects,” said College senior Sam Bieler, the UA’s housing, sustainability and facilities director. “I think Residential Services has done a great job with this.”

Students living off campus, however, will not have all of the same benefits that College House residents receive. Each year, the service will begin in October due to the high volume of mail that is received during the move-in period. In addition, the service will end a few days before the end of the finals period in May.

Wharton junior Daniel Gutnayer said he and his housemates have also had packages stolen. Although he often asks the delivery service to leave the package between the two doors of his house – to prevent packages from being left in plain sight – they do not always follow those instructions.

“If someone’s not at home, it’s not very safe at all. I definitely think people would use [the service], especially to get things like textbooks delivered,” he said.

Even after her experience of losing a package, however, Muller said she most likely would not use the service. “$4 is pretty pricey for one package. Maybe I would use it if I knew that whatever was inside the package was really valuable and I couldn’t get it replaced.”

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