Campus mail workers keep information moving

Despite the expansive size of the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus, the mail sorting area fits into a small basement corner on Charter Street. It’s an apt metaphor for the four-man crew: small but mighty.

Within a metal cage, stacks of plastic mail bins stand taller than the people who use them. Exactly 181 wooden pigeonholes, labeled with the names of 128 campus buildings, form a compact grid.

“Have to keep them close,” says Otto Oimoen, a Truck Services veteran of over 20 years. “You don’t want to be running all over the place.”

The pigeonholes only hold campus mail — the ubiquitous manila envelopes. Oimoen sorts a few strays while the campus mail staffers make their deliveries. He frowns as he examines one, labeled only with initials: the envelope could go to one of two buildings, separated by several blocks.

“We can’t keep track of abbreviations all the time,” says Oimoen. “Put a street address or a building name.”

Aside from handwriting, the biggest complication involves constant campus moves. Unlike a personal move, U.S. mail regulations prevent campus mail staff from forwarding mail to new locations. A letter or catalog sent to the wrong building is marked as a “nixie” and returned.

“That’s the biggest thing we want people to know,” says Dave Grueneberg, supervisor of Campus Services, which oversees mail operations. “When your department or lab moves, it’s important to contact all the people you do business with to let them know your new address. Otherwise, this mail is out there floating around somewhere.”

“We still get mail addressed to the Peterson Building,” adds Oimoen.

On most days, mail supervisor Jeff Fure sorts the constant influx of mail as two drivers crisscross campus in trucks. Robbie White and Ed Skolaski rotate the east and west routes, split down the middle by Charter Street. With 90 buckets per route, the guys have a system. Fure can consult a route sheet, but he knows it by heart, stacking the buckets four or five high in the order of distribution.

White and Skolaski begin their first runs around 8:30 a.m. They typically return two hours later, unloading the mail they’ve picked up for another sort before starting over again in the afternoon.

Doug Percy handles the U.S. mail — a completely different animal.

During the past several years, campus mail staff members have taken on more responsibility as the U.S. Postal Service has slashed staff. When the post office took away one of its two carriers serving campus, campus mail added 22 delivery stops — for a total of more than 40 — to make up the difference. Additional cuts at the main post office have strained the campus schedule even more.

Percy starts most days at 7:30 a.m., with a run to far-west locations such as the University Research Park. At 10:30 a.m., he heads to two post offices. He starts at the Capitol Annex, picking up part of his supply, before heading to Milwaukee Street for the rest. If the mail is ready, he can load the mail in time to get back and do half of his route — up to Charter Street.

“We used to pick our U.S. mail up at 8:30; now it’s 10:30. A lot of times we don’t get it until 11, sometimes noon,” says Grueneberg. “We’re still dealing with that; we’re trying to get it squared away. So when a lot of people are used to getting their mail and it’s three, four, five hours later, that’s why.”

The domino effect doesn’t just hit the person in charge of the U.S. mail deliveries. With an 8:30 a.m. pickup, Percy could spend four hours on U.S. mail and devote the rest of his day to helping Truck Services: replacing light bulbs that custodians can’t reach, delivering supplies to steamfitters or sheet metal workers. Delaying one stop means that Percy can’t assist his co-workers.

“If it’s late getting out of there, we’ve got to have somebody go with him and do the east side, so he can do the west side,” says Grueneberg. “A lot of the mail is time sensitive. Places such as Stovall and the vet lab get samples that are mailed to them; Bascom expects certain kinds of letters. If they’re not getting it until after lunch, that’s a problem.”

Grueneberg has sat down for repeated meetings with his bosses and representatives from the U.S. Postal Service to find a happy medium.

In one recent negotiation, Grueneberg and other Facilities, Plannning and Management administrators brought in one of their biggest customers: John Stevenson, associate director of the UW Survey Center, whose studies send out hundreds of mail pieces at a time.

Regardless of these changes, the mail workers’ jobs remain the same: pick up the mail, sort it and send it out ASAP. The dedication pays off, as thousands of mail pieces cross campus every day. Amidst cuts and compromises, nothing stops campus mail employees from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.