A new monitor has been installed in the mailroom displaying the order in which students will be called to pick up their items, according to a Jan. 24 Undergraduate Council of Students newsletter.
The change is not a new system for mail pickup, but instead “a new tool for Mail Services to provide additional transparency for our students (with) respect to where they are in our Mail Services queue,” wrote Elizabeth Gentry, vice president for business and financial services, in an email to The Herald.
When a student swipes their ID at the mailroom kiosk, their information — including the student’s name and their available mail — is fed into touchscreen devices behind the Mail Services counter, according to Gentry. Once a staff member claims the responsibility of collecting a student’s items, that student’s information line will turn from white to green on the newly visible monitor.
According to UCS President Ricky Zhong ’23, the new monitor makes the mailroom process “more efficient” and “makes people less anxious about missing their name” being called.
The idea for the monitor came about from student suggestions and UCS discussions, Zhong said, noting that the monitor’s implementation has received a lot of attention on social media platforms such as Sidechat.
Gentry described the initiative as an entirely “student idea” and encouraged similar partnerships between UCS and Mail Services in the future.
According to Rich Morello, a site manager at Mail Services, the process of collaborating with UCS and implementing the change was “fairly straightforward.” In addition to UCS and Mail Services, Facilities Management and the Office of Information Technology were involved in installing the new monitor, Zhong said.
The mailroom will also begin to adjust the volume of the music being played based on how busy the room is, Gentry said.
Julianna Chang ’26 said she first found out about the new monitor via email and knew about the new mailroom queue system before she returned to campus for the spring semester.
Chang described her initial impressions as “pretty positive.”
“It’s nice to know exactly where you are in line,” she said, and “how long it’s going to take.”
Indigo Mudbhary is a University news senior staff writer covering student government. In her free time, she enjoys running around Providence and finding new routes.
