@tonymom - I also could not believe it, but looks like they have to pay $60 to use mail services at the university.
@love2cheeses - do you know if the UPS box can be used by more than one student?
@Kelowna I believe the recipient can only be the student who signed the contract, but if your kid roommate wants to ship something using your kid name, the only thing is your kid has to go as well to pick up the package.
I don’t know how, but we knew clearly that D had to get a USPS box before arriving at Yale. I remember ordering it online with my credit card before move in. I was shocked too, and so were all my friends. No other college that I know of divests themselves from handling student mail. My D was very involved and she gets the email to renew each year. Maybe the other students you talked to have parents that handle it each year without their involvement in the details.
http://catalog.yale.edu/freshman-handbook/getting-started/planning-your-move/mail-shipping/
Thanks all ! @musicmerit - some companies will not ship to PO Box. Is there a way to go around it?
I read on this thread that 3 students could share the UPS box, so to confirm I just called the Yale UPS store and they said that this is correct - up to three students can have their names on the UPS box and share the $18/month fee.
I think that’s when the kids use street addressing for Yale station - they do the physical address of the Elm Street Yale station, then #12345 (whatever their PO box is). I think the kids have to sign a form giving Yale station permission to receive UPS/FedEx
Here is a cut and paste from the website:
According to the Student Handbook, in order to receive mail on campus, all students are required by postal regulations to have a post office box. Please be aware that U.S. mail sent to you at Yale which does not include your post office box number will be subject to delay in delivery, and in some cases will be returned to the sender. The cost of a post office box is less than $65 for the entire year.
Mail and Packages sent through the US Postal Service to your PO Box
(Your Name)
206 Elm Street, (Your PO Box #)
New Haven, CT 06520-(last four digits of your PO Box)
Packages sent through other carriers such as Fed Ex, UPS, and DHL
(Your Name)
Yale University - College Name
135 Prospect St.
New Haven, CT 06511
Street Addressing
You will have the option of using the street address of Yale Station for your mailing address in addition to your post office box number. Use this address when your post office box number is not accepted. Your address would be given as:
(Your Name)
206 Elm St #(6 digit box number)
New Haven, CT 06520-(last four digits of your PO Box)
NOTE: Yale Station now accepts UPS and FedEx parcels for delivery to student boxes. Use Street Addressing for accurate delivery of these parcels.
While D2 (Yale grad student) had campus box at her undergrad (listed under fees at $25/year) other D at Washington & Lee had to rent PO Box at city post office. Same for friends son at Kenyon. So not that uncommon.
@Kelowna Yes, you can use street addressing explained on this link.
But the actual example of how you address it, or type it into Amazon or other shipper is here (Basically type your PO Box number as if it is an apartment number. Do not type the words PO Box. Kid has to sign a form allowing USPS to receive packages. Now I see why this is not clear. Bits of information are on different sites. Also one site had said to have an extra line of Yale University.)
http://ezrastiles.yalecollege.yale.edu/faqs/mail-packages
Street Addressing
You will have the option of using the street address of Yale Station for your mailing address in addition to your post office box number. Use this address when your post office box number is not accepted. Your address would be given as:
(Your Name)
206 Elm St #(6 digit box number)
New Haven, CT 06520-(last four digits of your PO Box)
NOTE: Yale Station now accepts UPS and FedEx parcels for delivery to student boxes. Use Street Addressing for accurate delivery of these parcels.
For more details and other services available (such as signature on file and real mail notification service), please contact Yale Station (203) 773-3454.
To add to what scmom12 said, Stanford is another example of a school that requires students to get PO boxes. I’m not sure how many schools do it this way, but Yale is certainly not the only one.
According to what the Manager of the Yale Post Office told me last year, Yale and Stanford are the only two.
^^ IMHO there is absolutely no reason why Yale could not install individual post office boxes in the basement of every college. The Yale Post office, which is part of the the US Mail, could then deliver bags of mail to the colleges and each college could employ students to sort and put the mail in student’s individual mail boxes. After all, that’s what happens at Harvard and other colleges. It boggles the mind why Yale’s Administration doesn’t do something about it.
Ah tradition! Ain’t it grand…
I vote Gibby pass on that perfect solution to Yale…as a new parent…speaking selfishly, it would make my life easier 
^^ I would love to, but as a graduated parent the Administration isn’t going to listen to me. They will, however, listen to the current students if they complain loudly enough and make a recommendation through the proper channels. My suggestion would be to have your student bring up the issue at their next college council meeting.
IMHO, I think the real issue comes down to priorities. Yale’s administration has other priorities and this is not one of them. The administration doesn’t see the need to spend the money to purchase 1300+ individual post office boxes as well as carve out space for the PO boxes and storage/sorting rooms for the mail. But, that could change if the current student’s want to put it out there.
06520 – after forever, I still remember the zip code. I recall my own PO box and probably know its combination.
The PO situation has changed over time. When I was there, it was simply a feature of every day life. I probably checked walked over to the PO 90% of the weekdays during my four years (it helped that I lived on Old Campus 3 out of 4 years and my residential college also was nearby during my sophomore year).
Nowadays it seems 1) the customer service nightmares I’ve heard about are simply ridiculous and 2) snail mail doesn’t hold as much importance as before (besides wanting a destination for packages).
For Yale to invest in mailboxes to the individual colleges, it’d require quite the investment as well as more staff. I don’t know if the problems will outweigh the inertia of the status quo
Mailboxes for the individual colleges would only help with mail small enough to fit in the mailbox. IRL, students want to get delivery for packages, many of them large. I wonder if anyone has stats on what percentage of deliveries fit. At home, I get a few regular pieces of mail, a lot of packages that fit only because I have an oversized mailbox, and junk mail that goes to the recycle bin unread.
I’d love jobs for Yale students, but I’m afraid those solutions are “paving the cow path.” I’m a supporter of the USPS, but I have seen customer service decline everywhere (except for the actual letter carriers, who seem to have pride).
I wonder how Amazon intends to use drones on Old Campus
I think if Yale installed Amazon lockers on campus, this would solve a lot of problems! Maybe put them where those lockers in Bass Library are located.
Here’s a pic:
https://www.amazon.com/b/?node=6442600011
Amazon makes them in all sizes. I used one at Imperial College in London and it was huge; maybe there were even two side by side.
Wow @faulkner1897, that’s amazing. I bet though that labor forces might rail against it though.
I am pretty sure that all post office boxes that are owned by USPS are rented. It is very common to have all mail delivered to a box in the city What is silly is that its Yale… There really could be a system or student job in each college that sorts the mail. I suggested this to my daughter but she said that she would not want another student rifling through her mail. It is a personal thing to her so perhaps that is why they just don’t do this. I do think its silly though that they have individual RC’s that could have mail sent to it and instead its sent to a horribly staffed PO.
Here’s the way it works at Harvard: All mail and packages (US Mail, UPS, FEDEX) are delivered to the residential houses.
All small envelopes are placed in individual mail boxes by student’s who work at the residential house mail center. (@memmsmon: the student’s working in the mail center just put the envelopes in mailboxes – they don’t rifle through mail or open the letters.) FWIW: very few students get actual letters these days, as most communication is sent by email.)
All large envelopes and packages are held at the building manager’s office. The building manager’s office then sends an email to the student alerting them they have a package, which can pick up during normal hours: http://hums.harvard.edu/mail-delivery/mail-center-management/house-mail-centers. It’s not rocket science. it’s organizational skills, which the USPS sorely lacks.
In the vast majority of instances, I think Yale does a much better job than Harvard. Not in this case though. If Harvard and other colleges can make the investment, I don’t see why Yale can’t or refuses to!
Yes the Harvard mail system does sound better. At the same time, with physical mail (except packages) dwindling, it may not be high on the Yale administration’s list of things to worry about.
I do think the Yale PO has horrible customer service and is an embarrassment to a school that is superb in almost all other respects. We now send important packages for pickup at FedEx instead. A change to a Harvard type system would be great but I would be kind of surprised if it happens.