Tamara Douglas, sophomore hospitality and resort management major, is waiting for a package.
In fact, she's been waiting for almost two weeks for the campus post office to get the package her parents sent from Clarksville, Tenn.
Wednesday afternoon she walked into the campus post office on the first floor of Richardson Towers to check her mailbox.
Still nothing.
"They're taking too long," she said. "They're too slow."
Since the introduction of e-mail, business analysts began to forecast the disappearance of the United States Postal Service, but more than a decade later "snail mail" still remains.
Postal service is usually never as fast as many people would like, but many students have complained about a seemingly lethargic nature of campus mail in particular.
Ebony Braithwaite, senior sports management major, said she sent a letter to Chicago that took two weeks to deliver.
"My mother just got that," she said.
Mail services accounting clerk Tina Thompson said outgoing mail is not in the jurisdiction of the campus post office.
"If we pick it up today, it goes out today," she said. "Once it leaves here, it's the post office's responsibility."
As for incoming mail, Thompson said students could help speed up the process if they make sure their mail is addressed correctly with zip codes, legible writing and no nicknames.
Thompson directed further questions about incoming mail to Penni Istre, mail services manager who was out sick Wednesday and Thursday afternoon.
Istre's supervisor, Director of Auxiliary Services Sandra Barksdale, declined to answer questions that weren't in a written form, a practice many news outlets and The Daily Helmsman do not condone.
However, Yvonne Yoerger, spokeswoman for the USPS, said incoming and outgoing mail could be delayed because of the sheer volume of parcels flowing through the system every day.
"We deliver 46 percent of the mail for the entire world," she said. "We add 2 million new addresses across the United States every year, through businesses, new homes and other things."
While the campus office is under the jurisdiction of the USPS and must follow those guidelines, the people who work for the office are University employees, Thompson said.
However, students who are having trouble with consistent mail delivery can complain to the postmaster or the officer in charge, Yoeger said.
"We have a consumer advocates office," she said. "It's basically a consumer office for people to work with if they have concerns or compliments about the postal service."
While some students have become upset with waiting for packages, others are very satisfied with the amount of customer service they've received.
"It's been great," said Matthew Ferguson, senior education major. "I remember I lost my key, and they accommodated me."
Thompson said mail services is looking into further helping students by accepting credit and debit cards and possibly having a FedEx station in the future.
"Part of that has to do with getting authorization," she said. "I know that's been something they've wanted to work on."
