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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

Column: Mail services not to blame

The University continues to struggle with the poor student perception of GW Mail Services. As a Presidential Administrative Fellow working in the Office of Auxiliary Services as well as a recent graduate and four-year resident in GW’s residence halls, I am keenly aware of the slow mail service that currently plagues our University. However, now as a D.C. resident, I understand that slow mail is a problem affecting the entire D.C. Metropolitan area independent of GW Mail Services.

Throughout most of my time living in on-campus housing, mail service was consistent and reliable. Invitations and birthday cards arrived on time and I never had to worry about late bills. However, since the anthrax attacks of October 2001, mail service has been slow, inconsistent and unreliable.

The United States Postal Service Brentwood Mail Facility, which served as the main mail processing facility for the District of Columbia, has been closed since the events in 2001. Today all mail traveling to and from the University is routed through the USPS Southern Maryland Distribution Center in Capitol Heights, Maryland. This distribution center was designed to process mail for its own region alone and is now faced with the responsibility, not only for its own high volume region, but also for the District of Columbia’s mail. It is for these reasons, not a lack of GW service, that GW students and the entire D.C. community are plagued with slow mail service.

It is unfortunate that GW Mail Services is the last of many hands to touch students’ mail on its way to the residence halls, and thus is the easiest suspect to blame. Mail Services monitors its service levels constantly, and consistently meets acceptable service levels, most applicable, GW’s requirement that mail be delivered within 24 hours of its receipt by GW Mail Services. I am the first advocate for ensuring quality service within our University and mail service is certainly one of the most crucial services for students at our academic institution. On this note, however, I feel that Mail Services has received an unduly bad reputation in regard to its service.

The University is currently taking a number of steps to improve the quality of mail service, but before GW receives a piece of mail there is little Mail Services can do to ensure its timely delivery. Let’s continue to demand superior service in all our University departments, but let’s do so with accurate information and constructive actions.

-The writer, a graduate student in the School of Business and Public Management, is a Presidential Administrative Fellow.

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