During Boston University’s 2003 Matriculation, then-Chancellor John Silber encouraged students to write letters to their parents instead of using the telephone. But several BU parents have found that some response letters are having trouble getting to their children, and they’re saying BU’s mail system may be to blame.
BU parent Jeff Robinson said he sent two birthday cards – one containing cash – to his son’sBay State Road residence in September. According to Robinson, the cards never arrived, nor did the check that was sent in early October to replace the lost cash. A letter sent in early December never made it to Robinson’s son either.
“I’m 57 years old and I have lost maybe one or two pieces of mail in my whole life,” Robinson said. “So that four pieces of first-class mail have been sent and not received is unbelievable. It’s either incompetence or malfeasance. I’d just like to know what the hell is going on.”
Lost mail is a perennial BU student concern. But Director of Housing Marc Robillard said though BU does not keep any statistics on the volume of incoming mail or reports of lost mail, problems with the system have decreased recently.
“If anything, I would say in the last couple years we don’t have as many complaints,” he said.
Robillard said correctly addressing letters can correct most misplaced or misdirected mail problems, an issue about which parents and students are advised at the beginning of each school year.
Once a letter is lost, it is very difficult to find, Robillard said.
“The word ‘lost’ is a nebulous term,” he said. “There is no way to know if it was even sent. There is not much you can do. A regular letter is not tracked or registered at any place in the system.”
Letters sent to BU through the U.S. Postal Service first arrive at the South Boston Postal Annex, where all incoming Boston mail is sent. The letters then arrive at the Kenmore Square Post Office to be separated according to street addresses.
Robillard said BU officials often speak to the Kenmore Square postmaster to relay complaints of lost mail.
“In the past they have sent mail through the system to someone we know doesn’t exist to see if it ends up where it is supposed to, and they have actually sent pieces of mail equipped with radio transmitters to track them,” Robillard said. “All you can really do is test the system. In most cases, we don’t find problems.”
Robillard said reports of stolen mail are directed to the police. He said he has not heard of an instance at BU were someone’s missing mailed check has been cashed illegally.
“In my 20 years here, I can only recall two incidences where mailroom employees have been caught stealing, and obviously we terminated their employment,” he said.
BU Police Department Sgt. Jack St. Hilaire said last year there was fewer than a dozen reports of stolen mail.
“I don’t think it is a real problem,” St. Hilaire said. “Larceny is, but theft of mail – no.”
BUPD investigates mail theft like any other crime, but works with investigators from the U.S. Postal Service because it is a federal offense.
St. Hilaire said all BU investigations into stolen mail have been inconclusive and noted the difficulty in investigating crimes like mail theft where there are generally no eyewitnesses.
“If your mom sends you a Rolex from Cleveland, Ohio and it doesn’t turn up, it’s impossible to determine where it was stolen,” he said. “The U.S. Postal Service told us that among the biggest problems are incorrect zip codes or the wrong bar codes that put them into a sort of recirculation limbo.”
U.S. Postal Service machines put bar codes on mail as a numerical way of reading addresses, according to a representative at the U.S. Postal Service’s National Customer Service Center who declined to give her name.
“Even if these bar codes are done incorrectly the mail will eventually find its way to a Mail Recovery Center,” she said. “If you have not received mail, you should write them and tell them what you are missing and your address.”
Other BU students say they have had relatively few problems with the mail system, including College of Arts and Sciences freshman Gina Riccio, a Hamilton House resident.
Riccio picks up her mail at the Student Residences at 10 Buick St. and said she has never lost a letter or package. The BU mail system is “a little slow, but fairly convenient,” she said.
But College of Communication senior Rachel Zake said she has had problems in the past. Zake said her parents sent her a card with a check inside when she was a freshman living in Warren Towers, but the envelope never arrived. But the incident has not affected Zake’s faith in the BU system, she said, and she continues to receive mail without any problems about once every two weeks.
Zake said the BU mail system is “effective, though the hours are inconvenient especially at the Student Village because [the mailroom attendants] aren’t always there when they say they will be.
“But people complain about everything at BU,” she added.
Still, some students do not give the BU mail system a stamp of approval.
CAS freshman Haley Manella said she lost a letter from her mother in September and has since discouraged people from sending mail to her BU address.
“Some of my friends still send packages to school but my mom holds onto stuff from home till I get there,” she said.
Manella said she never made a formal complaint about her lost envelope.
“My mom said it wasn’t that big of a deal,” she said. “The letter happened to be not that important, but if it was a package or something I’d definitely complain.”
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