bluegray79
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,091
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Post by bluegray79 on Apr 20, 2022 16:45:47 GMT -5
I'm adding this thread to share our family's experience with the student mail service on campus and encourage others to contribute their stories in the hopes of bringing attention to a problem that needs fixing.
We have a child who is a first year student and living on campus. Since his arrival on campus in late August 2021, the mail has consistently been delivered late, sometimes by as much as 2-3 weeks. He tells us that it is the same for everyone he knows. The mail service has become one of those jokes that everyone rolls their eyes about and have tolerated only because it's the only game in town.
On a more serious note, several of his friends and classmates have had their medications and time-sensitive supplies arrive well past the time they should be arriving, causing stress and extra expense to those families.
We wonder how this could be -- the university had no students on campus for a full year due to COVID. It would have been an ideal time to revamp the mail room and have it ready to handle returning students in Fall 2021. How can it be that this university, with a stellar reputation in so many areas cannot get this right? It is not lost on families that the tuition we are paying should ensure that basic and essential services, including the delivery of mail, be efficient and on time.
Thank you -- please share your experiences.
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DFW HOYA
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,740
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Post by DFW HOYA on Apr 20, 2022 17:25:15 GMT -5
The issue is not altogether within the University. Mail Services (fka "Hoya Station") is run through what is known as a USPS contract station or CPU. Per the Post Office, "A Contract Postal Unit (CPU) is a supplier-owned or supplier-leased site operated by the supplier, under contract to the Postal Service to provide postal products and services to the public at U.S. Postal Service prices." The problem is that USPS employees (who know something about delivering mail) are contractually prohibited from working in a contract facility. Thus, GU has to hire people who literally do not know the business to run a business with literally no margin. It's also convoluted in that they cannot actually mail "out" letters and packages from GU, only receive them, because that only postal employees handle outbound mail per the American Postal Workers Union, and, as earlier stated, they're not part of the deal. Postal services are part of a far-flung department at GU called "Auxiliary Business Services", which includes food service, the conference center, off-campus townhouses, the bookstore, laundry, the PNC Bank lease, and managed print services (aka copiers). Complaints should be directed there. auxiliary.georgetown.edu/ |
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bluegray79
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,091
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Post by bluegray79 on Apr 20, 2022 21:00:56 GMT -5
Thank you for that reply, which was at the same time informative and maddening. I get the sense that directing complaints to ABS would prove to be fruitless if not Kafkaesque. My next question concerns how the university demands accountability from its employees -- where does the buck stop in the arrangement you have described? It seems set up to fail or at least perform poorly not because the people working there aren't trying or working their best, but because their ability to do what a postal station should is hamstrung by rules, regulations, and bureaucratic inanity. Just leaves me scratching my head that Georgetown University has outsourced important aspects of services for the university community in a way that doesn't serve that community well at all, at least as far as the mail service goes.
Perhaps we are among a very small number of people who have had the experiences I described. Maybe it's not a problem for as many people as I imagined.
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DFW HOYA
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,740
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Post by DFW HOYA on Apr 20, 2022 21:42:35 GMT -5
Thank you for that reply, which was at the same time informative and maddening. I get the sense that directing complaints to ABS would prove to be fruitless if not Kafkaesque. My next question concerns how the university demands accountability from its employees -- where does the buck stop in the arrangement you have described? It seems set up to fail or at least perform poorly not because the people working there aren't trying or working their best, but because their ability to do what a postal station should is hamstrung by rules, regulations, and bureaucratic inanity. Just leaves me scratching my head that Georgetown University has outsourced important aspects of services for the university community in a way that doesn't serve that community well at all, at least as far as the mail service goes. Perhaps we are among a very small number of people who have had the experiences I described. Maybe it's not a problem for as many people as I imagined. The mail isn't a priority for either side. The USPS has been farming this kind of operation out for years and continue to cut back on overall services. Meanwhile, open positions in Mail Services at Georgetown start at $12.50/hr with a HS diploma and six months experience -- it starts with the University hiring and retaining better talent. |
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Post by HoyaRejuveNation85 on Apr 20, 2022 23:08:07 GMT -5
Thank you for that reply, which was at the same time informative and maddening. I get the sense that directing complaints to ABS would prove to be fruitless if not Kafkaesque. My next question concerns how the university demands accountability from its employees -- where does the buck stop in the arrangement you have described? It seems set up to fail or at least perform poorly not because the people working there aren't trying or working their best, but because their ability to do what a postal station should is hamstrung by rules, regulations, and bureaucratic inanity. Just leaves me scratching my head that Georgetown University has outsourced important aspects of services for the university community in a way that doesn't serve that community well at all, at least as far as the mail service goes. Perhaps we are among a very small number of people who have had the experiences I described. Maybe it's not a problem for as many people as I imagined. My junior son in Village A, and many of his friends, have packages sent to my senior son off-campus for the very reasons you describe, bluegray79. |
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SSHoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown."
Posts: 18,266
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Post by SSHoya on Apr 21, 2022 5:05:18 GMT -5
Thank you for that reply, which was at the same time informative and maddening. I get the sense that directing complaints to ABS would prove to be fruitless if not Kafkaesque. My next question concerns how the university demands accountability from its employees -- where does the buck stop in the arrangement you have described? It seems set up to fail or at least perform poorly not because the people working there aren't trying or working their best, but because their ability to do what a postal station should is hamstrung by rules, regulations, and bureaucratic inanity. Just leaves me scratching my head that Georgetown University has outsourced important aspects of services for the university community in a way that doesn't serve that community well at all, at least as far as the mail service goes. Perhaps we are among a very small number of people who have had the experiences I described. Maybe it's not a problem for as many people as I imagined. The mail isn't a priority for either side. The USPS has been farming this kind of operation out for years and continue to cut back on overall services. Meanwhile, open positions in Mail Services at Georgetown start at $12.50/hr with a HS diploma and six months experience -- it starts with the University hiring and retaining better talent. Georgetown would be better off if it outsourced the operation of Hoya Station to Student Corp for better talent.  |
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bluegray79
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,091
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Post by bluegray79 on Apr 22, 2022 18:00:23 GMT -5
The paucity of responses would seem to indicate that a) there aren't many people affected negatively by this situation; b) that there are other problems and challenges that make this less pressing, OR c) both. Of course on the university/administrative side, either a) they aren't aware of the extent of this poor performance by its postal service; b) they are aware and it doesn't move the needle enough to act on it; OR c) the bureaucratic landscape around the contracting/outsourcing is too convoluted and entrenched to prompt even well-meaning staff to take it on.
Whatever the reason, it's too bad. I have attended large state universities where indifference to a situation like this seems to be part of their oversized bureaucratic M.O. But for a smaller, private, and, dare I say, elite university, which prides itself on personal growth and accountability of character, it's disappointing.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and feedback.
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