Starting Monday, the hours of the mail window in the Hinman Post Office will be extended, and by Fall term other new mail services will be available for students, Assistant Director of Facilities Services Bill Hochstin said yesterday.
Hochstin said a postage stamp vending machine will be installed in the Hinman Post Office in the Hopkins Center in the near future and by the beginning Fall term students will be notified by BlitzMail when they have received a UPS package.
Student Assembly President Jim Rich '96 said the Assembly has been "working closely with both Bill [Hochstin] and Howard [Durkee, who manages campus mail operations] all year on various projects that stemmed primarily" from the Federal Express issue Winter term.
Winter term the Hinman Post Office announced it would cease accepting deliveries of Federal Express packages because the company was "unwilling to meet the College terms required for the Hinman Post Office in order to ensure the most economical and efficient delivery of packages," according to a letter sent to students in the winter.
The Assembly worked with Hochstin to keep Fed-Ex available to students.
Hochstin said the Hinman mail window will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. during the week and 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays.
Currently the mail window is open until 3:55 p.m. on weekdays and noon on Saturdays.
Durkee said on weekdays the mail window gets very crowded around 4 p.m. He also said the changed hours on Saturdays should be beneficial for students "because students aren't around at eight in the morning."
Hochstin said he is "happy to announce we're working with UPS and matching data bases so when packages come in we will notify" students by BlitzMail.
He said this service will be available "definitely before Fall term," if not by Summer term.
Durkee said he has received "quite a few requests for stamps," and so he spoke with the Hanover postmaster about installing a stamp vending machine.
Durkee said the machine will be similar to the one in Thayer Dining Hall.
Hochstin said students have been asking for a stamp machine for a while, but "the impact of having the Student Assembly make the request made it more powerful."
Rich said there were several areas the Assembly "deemed the students would enjoy better service from," including the hours and the availability to provide service to ship and receive packages.
According to a press release sent out by Assembly Vice President of Communications Jonah Sonneborn '99, a local business run by a Dartmouth student called Road Runner Express has "partnered with Hanover Hardware to provide end-of-term discount package shipping."
Road Runner will also offer a large package delivery service at the beginning of the term, according to the press release.
The press release said the information about Road Runner Express will be finalized and announced later this week.
Mark Oldham '99 said he thinks the package notification will be useful, but he said he does not think the extra hours or stamp machine will be of much use to him.
Julie Pett-Ridge '97 said she does not think the mail service changes will affect her. She said the extra hour will not make much difference, and said, "I guess [the stamp machine] is a good idea, but it's only a block away to the post office."
