The USPS decided in 1978 to designate certain properties for single-point delivery, and in 2000 it further confirmed this notion with specificity toward university student housing.
“For it is the status of the majority of the residents as students and not any particular characteristic of the building, that compels single point delivery” — Francia Smith, Vice President and Consumer Advocate, USPS (Smith 2000).
The USPS has reasoned that student resident communities fall under the Postal Operations Manual’s definition of “transient communities”.
“The reason for the policy is that unmarried college and university students are a highly transient group, and single point delivery is the most efficient method of delivery to a transient population. Single point delivery is similarly the only delivery option available to on-campus dormitories and other types of transient communities for similar reasons. ” – See Postal Operations Manual 631.5.
There was some backlash to this requirement (specifically from the NMHC), but the post office stood firm and this policy is still the standard. Due to the severe budgeting issues seen with the USPS today, this trend is being extended to new developments by requiring them to use Cluster Box Units rather than individual mailboxes. This assists in keeping the USPS as efficient as possible as it relates to the mail delivery process.
Though new developments will usually have a few options to choose from, student housing properties fit directly in the policy and are typically not given any other option. This is where companies like US Postal Solutions comes in as a partner to assist with mail delivery management. In combination with PackageLog, an inbound package management software, US Postal Solutions is able to efficiently manage all university mail on property. It’s a kismet public-private partnership that universities across the nation take advantage of to not get bogged down by the enormous amount of mail received each year.
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US Postal Solutions is the nation’s leader in the student housing mail management industry, for both on/off-campus mail management services. The US Postal Solutions, Inc. companies offer mail delivery management, delivery services and package logging / package management software. For more information regarding US Postal Solutions, please call us today at (866) 378-8157 or visit us online at www.uspostalsolutions.com.
