Andover students are able to customize their jackets among many options
“761 packages in a day is probably our record [number of] packages,” said Linda Capodilupo, Manager of Central Services.
Capodilupo said that the mailroom receives around 50,000 packages a year. The work of the employees in the mailroom, however, is often done out of sight of students.
Students who have work duty in the mailroom get to experience a world that most community members don’t realize exists. For many students, performing work duty in the mailroom can be a rewarding opportunity. According to Capodilupo, many students continue working in the mailroom to fulfill all of their work duty requirements because they enjoy it so much.
Capodilupo said that one sentiment many work duty students share is an appreciation for the break that working in the mailroom gives them from their hectic Andover days.
“I’ve had many students say that coming in here for work duty – they find it to be a great way to decompress because what they’re doing is very routine when they distribute the mail. Many of them will come and they’ll have their headphones, and they’ll go upstairs and distribute faculty mail. And they’ll say that they feel as if they’re very detached at that point from stress and the pressure sometimes. They feel as if they can just really let their mind go somewhere else while they do that,” said Capodilupo.
Capodilupo continued, “I find it really impressive that so many students have indicated that. We had one student who actually wrote his college essay on working in the mailroom. So that’s another thing that’s just so unusual, but it shows how much he enjoyed being here.”
Liz Tran ’19 does her work duty in the mailroom, where she helps sort mail into mailboxes once a week.
“I’ve worked in the mailroom since upper year. It’s really nice because everyone there is super friendly,” said Tran.
Tran continued, “The most difficult part [about mailroom work duty] is shoving mail into the boxes when they’re already super full, and my favorite part about mailroom work duty is that if you accidentally miss a day, everyone is super understanding about allowing you to make it up.”
Although students help sort envelopes, the Central Service employees regulate all incoming packages.
Ina Megalli ’20 said, “I don’t know how they do it. I’ll get an email from Amazon saying that my package is almost there, and two seconds later I get an email from Central Services saying, ‘We processed it.’ I couldn’t do it. They’re the unsung heroes [of our campus].”
Because of space limitations, Capodilupo says that mailroom employees have developed a system of organization based on size rather than last name. Students receive emails telling them to pick up packages that are too big to fit into a mailbox. For students to properly receive the emails, the mailroom works with a technology company by the name of Pitney Bowes, which also supplies Central Service’s mail meter machines that label outgoing mail.
Using Pitney Bowes’ technology, the mailroom is able to scan the barcodes on packages and then link them to the emails associated with students’ names.
Capodilupo said, “When packages come in, we scan anything that has a barcode, and once we scan in the barcode, we designate what area we’re going to store that package in. And then it gives us a list of names of everyone on campus. We click on that name so that it attaches a name to that package, and then the system prints out a label that goes on the package, so we can put it on the shelf or on the floor or in a mailbox.”
Megalli said, “I think it’s great. I think it works pretty well, pretty smoothly. I haven’t really had any trouble. Also, one of the top ten best feelings on this campus is when you get a Central Services notification.”
Beckett McKee ’22 says he visits the mailroom often.
“I’m here about every day. Maybe once or twice [a day]. They’re all very nice, and they help me with my mail. They’re very supportive. The mailroom is very speedy,” said McKee.
In an email to The Phillipian, Capodilupo gave some tips for visiting the mailroom. She recommends that students have their BlueCard in hand when they walk up to the pickup window, that students tell mailroom employees when they have more than one item to pick up, that students only come to the mailroom after they’ve received an email, and that students double-check that packages are addressed to the right person.
