Officials announced a campus-wide transition to self-servicing electronic mail and package service pickup in an email Thursday, slotting the installation of new mail lockers in residence halls for spring and summer.

Officials will implement 24-hour mail and package lockers in JBKO Hall during spring break and in District House and Mitchell, Amsterdam, Guthridge and South halls during the summer, some of which will hold mail for neighboring halls without lockers, the email states. The email states officials are expanding the electronic locker system for mail and package, phasing out the existing mail and package service system after officials noticed a “huge increase” in package deliveries and a decline in postal mail.

Officials said JBKO Hall will service Munson and Fulbright halls, District House’s lockers will serve residents of Lafayette Hall, Amsterdam will service Madison Hall residents, Guthridge will serve 2109 F Street and Mitchell hall lockers will hold mail for 1959 E Street residents.

Residents of Shenkman, Thurston and West halls will continue to use preexisting electronic mail lockers in the lobbies of their buildings, according to the email.

“We set a goal to identify a way for you to pick-up your packages closer to where you live rather than trekking across campus,” the email states. 

Under the existing system, Mail and Package Services receives student mail in their primary campus hub, the mailroom in the lower level of the Support Building on F Street. MPS then delivers postal mail to personal combination, lock and key mailboxes for all hall residents – except for those in Shenkman, Thurston and West halls, who can already access electronic lockers. Residents without the lockers must pick up packages from the Support Building after receiving an email PacTrac pickup notification.

The preexisting MPS buildings in Foggy Bottom and the Mount Vernon Campus will continue to be open throughout the summer and next year and will receive packages that are too large to fit in the new electronic lockers, according to the email. The email states officials will remove older mailboxes in the buildings upon installing the new lockers.

The email states officials will install 24-hour kiosks in the lobbies of the buildings, which will receive mail and packages directly and send students a code to open the locker and access their mail upon deliveries.

The email states that officials are still reviewing mail and package services for those in townhouses, including The Dakota, International House, Building JJ and Francis Key Scott and Potomac halls, but that more information will come out this summer.

“As we get closer to installation dates, we’ll let the residents of that building know of upcoming work,” the email states. “We hope you like these lobby ‘makeovers’ that will provide you with more convenient ways to pick-up your mail and packages.”

Officials first installed the electronic lockers in West Hall in 2018 and added the kiosks to Shenkman a year later. They installed new lockers in Thurston Hall during renovations of the building, reopening for use in fall 2022.

In November, students without access to electronic lockers said they faced difficulties accessing their mail, including receiving their election ballots to vote in the 2022 midterm elections. More than two dozen students said they received their ballots days before the election, after the election or never at all, leaving many with little time to cast their votes.