Mail System to Cut Expenses

A new intra-University mail system, to be implemented as soon as two months from now, will eventually save Harvard money and result in more efficient letter delivery on campus.

Currently, administrative offices and faculty departments use the U.S. Postal System, paying standard rates. Letters and parcels are processed by the Boston Post Office, then returned days later to students' mailboxes.

Under the new plan, the postage rate for regular-sized, pre-sorted pieces will be as low as six cents. Harvard employees will deliver mail directly to student boxes, although students will not be able to send mail through the system.

"This service is being developed for official Harvard business being sent from academic departments to students who live on campus," said Jeffrey L. Smith, associate director of Facilities and Maintenance.

"All other mailers will have to continue to send information in the ways that they currently are," he added.

Smith emphasized that the project is still in its early stages and said attempts to use the new system before it's ready will delay potentially "time sensitive" student mail.

"Unfortunately, some mailers have already tried to send letters to students without U.S. postage, and this caused headaches for many people," Smith said. "And we want to keep confusion to a minimum."

Last year, Harvard became the last university in the country to retain direct delivery services to its dormitories. According to Smith, the student mailboxes are now University property.

"The bottom line is that we can deliver things ourselves a lot cheaper and more efficiently than the Postal Service can," Smith said.

"So, for the last several months, we've been putting together this limited service," he said.