Spring semester is back in session—and if you’re a manager returning to the mailroom of a busy student housing complex, that means chaos (it’s like black Friday in there!). You’ll be receiving many care packages from worried moms and mountains of Amazon and chegg boxes (darn online shopping and textbook rentals, right?).
I don’t know about your operation, but most university housing mailrooms are a mess during peak season—the organization is…well, not there. Messy binders with unclear directions on how to sign a package in/out almost guarantee late packages for the first couple of weeks of every semester. And when students know they have vital textbooks coming their way, they’ll make daily stops at your office to make sure they don’t miss their packages when they arrive.
To avoid unwanted confrontations with your employees and student residents, we’ve prepared some useful tips to keep your system streamlined before rush week.
Here is how you can get organized this Spring semester:
To keep confusion away, always communicate— Do you know how RA’s always come in a week or two earlier to decorate their halls? Well, you should be doing the same, but instead of decorating dorm halls, we suggest you plan a meeting with your student workers to discuss goals and skills that will enhance performance. Clear and frequent communication with your staff and residents is a must.
Talk schedule— Talking about availability with your workers is also important. If, for instance, you know that half of your students have class till 2pm every day and won’t be able to accept or deliver packages until that time, then ensure that these restrictions are known by the student residents in advance. Make fun fliers; get in the decorating spirit!
Brainstorm— Having your workers log incoming and outgoing packages by hand and stuff a hundred packages in an unlabeled space is not ideal. This system is an organizational nightmare, and students (workers and residents) – never known for patience – can become frustrated very easily. Work together to come up with an easy-to-learn system for organization (hey, we might just have something like that lying around…).
Evolve— The EZTrackIt package tracking software is the way to move forward. Our simple and convenient software allows front desk student workers to log incoming packages quickly, so they can handle the hundreds of packages coming in every semester without feeling overwhelmed (and without losing touch in the customer service department). EZTrackIt can send out automated notification emails to let recipients know when to come and pick up their packages, or that their packages are on their way to be delivered. No more anxious students haunting your front desk! You also have the option to go paperless and get rid of that massive, messy binder. You’ll save effort, space and most importantly, time.
Ready to streamline your student housing mail center package management this Spring semester? Try out a free demo of EZTrackIt on our website today!
Source: HubSpot
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