Out of Office is a series about UA staff whose jobs take them anywhere but behind a desk. This entry features a couple of faces familiar to many UA students.
Long before students arrive on campus for fall move-in, the Campus Mail Service team is already hard at work preparing for them.
Each summer, Campus Mail receives, processes and stores approximately 35,000 packages shipped to students in advance of move-in. Throughout the year, the department handles nearly one million incoming and outgoing pieces of mail and packages serving UA students, faculty and staff.
During move-in, Campus Mail operates temporary package pickup locations to help efficiently distribute the thousands of packages students have shipped to campus before they arrive. During the school year, student packages are received and processed through Campus Mail before being routed for pickup in one of the University’s fourteen package locker locations or the Student Mail Center.
Anna Barber is a Campus Mail clerk who is normally stationed at the Student Mail Center, but during the summer months helps lead organizational efforts at one of the temporary move-in package centers inside the Witt Student Activity Center Storm Shelter. There, Barber helps organize thousands of packages and works directly with students and families as they collect the items they shipped ahead for move-in.
Keandre Webb is a Campus Mail clerk who during the school year, processes packages and delivers them throughout campus to package lockers. During move-in package season, he coordinates the sorting at storing and pick up of packages at the John England Hall satellite pickup location.
7 questions with Anna Barber and Keandre Webb
What’s something people may not know about your job?
AB: I’d say just the sheer amount of packages that we get. Last year during move-in, I think it was around 25,000 packages and that’s just move-in (this year it was 31,000). During the whole school year, we get around 254,000 packages during two semesters. So I think people really are surprised at the amount that we get in.
KW: It’s not just letter mail. People think it’s just letter mail. It’s more than that. Like I said, we get medicine — that’s important. We get important documents, things for students. I’d also say the processing. When packages come in, we process them to a certain student. Having their mail stop code is very important. If you miss that MSC, it’s hard to find who they are. So that aspect can be pretty difficult.
Why is what you do important to students and Campus Mail?
AB: It’s literally the things that they need to survive while they’re here. Their dorm is their safe space during finals and everything else going on during their college life. They’re going to need that space and so all the stuff that they order comes to us first and we make sure they get it.
KW: It makes it easier for them when they come and get their stuff because we actually group everything together on a pallet. When they come in to pick their stuff up, everything is together and it’s an easy process for them to get it and go.
What makes your job most meaningful for you?
AB: I personally didn’t go away for college but I know that having that safe space is important. I love getting to talk to all the students because they’re from all over the country and even from all over the world. And I love getting to hear their stories and why they chose UA as their college.
KW: I feel like Santa Claus on campus. It’s like Christmas in the summer. When they come in and see all the stuff they ordered, they’re like, ‘Wow!’ Seeing their reaction is probably my favorite part.
What do you do on slow days, if they exist?
AB: For move-in in particular, our slow days hit once the cutoff for move-in packages comes. Then, we’re not processing anything here because after the cutoff we don’t get packages at this location.
So about a week before actual move-in is when our slowest time at this particular location. And really, what we’re doing is just trying to make everything more organized and easier for the pickup days. So, we’ll make more pallets even if they don’t have a huge amount of packages. Then, since we’re not receiving anything else, we know we have the space for it so we’ll make some smaller pallets and just make it easier for the day of move-in.
KW: On the slow days during the year, I really just organize. If I can go ahead and group people together, I do that. Right now, though, there are no slow days. Everything is full speed.
See Anna and Keandre talk about getting ready for move-in
What your favorite aspect of your job?
AB: Honestly, for me, it is move-in. I love this part. I just love the organizing part of it and that’s part of why I’m in charge of this area here. Move-in is like organized chaos. Honestly, it’s just there’s always something to do and I do like just being on my feet and doing stuff.
We do get a lot of care packages throughout the school year and parents send care packages. It’s always nice to see when the student comes to pick it up and they’re like, oh my gosh, this is from my aunt or my mom or whoever. And even when they get letter mail they’re like, “oh my gosh, grandma sent me this letter.” It’s always sweet to see their reactions to stuff like that.
KW: It’s independent. You can work at your own speed, do it how you want to do it. You’re not micromanaged, so just being by myself and in my own little world, I love that.
What’s one thing you hope people remember or appreciate about the work you and your team do?
AB: It is a lot of work. We get in thousands of packages during the summer and we do our best to make sure people get their stuff. If something is missing, which doesn’t happen often, we are going to hunt that package down until we find it. We work our butts off for sure. Right now, I have almost 4,000 steps and it’s 10:30 in the morning. I usually have like 16,000 by the end of the day, so we’re all over the place.
KW: I’m really dedicated to my job. I know how much it means for someone who’s expecting something, and I can get it to them.
Is there anything we haven’t touched on that you’d like us to share?
AB: We do have an on-campus passport office (and offer TSA Pre-check enrollment). We have a few employees who are full-time over there, and then some of us other full-time employees are passport agents. Students don’t have to travel if they need to get a passport for spring break or anything. They can just come to our passport office right on campus.
KW: Using Campus Mail is convenient. It’s so convenient. Say, a student living in Presidential I gets a package delivered here — it can be downstairs in their locker the same day or the next day instead of having to go to a post office. So, it’s much more convenient.
Hear more from Barber and Webb on 92.5 UA Info Radio in your car or streaming online.