<p>I think we’ll get him a pair of the timberland or LLbean boots as they are truly “Preppy” and I hear the 80s are back. Funny, that was my era in college;-)</p>
<p>AND thanks so much to you parents that have lived/are living through this and are bringing so much wisdom to us newbies. Can’t wait till I can return the favor to those that follow…</p>
<p>“The University offers the privilege of charging designated optional items and services to your student account. Included among these are various printing and copying services, extra meals and snacks at Yale Dining Service facilities, and purchases at the Yale Bookstore…You will be able to charge up to $1,000 per term (fall and spring) of purchases of books and other items and services.”</p>
<p>So…the charge account. Very useful/important to have? I know at some schools, kids swipe their IDs for practically everything. But if it’s mostly used at the bookstore, we may not bother. Advice appreciated!</p>
<p>We did not opt for the charge account or swiping ID’s. Instead, my son makes all of his purchases with his debit card, which includes books on Amazon (way cheaper than the bookstore, just remember to pay extra for express shipping), extra meals, snacks, even for laundry machines. I also liked the fact that he was responsible for managing his spending money he came to school with and not just becoming a charge-aholic!</p>
<p>My son uses it for a few things, so it’s nice to have. He doesn’t use it at the bookstore.</p>
<p>
For new students, don’t forget about Amazon Student where you can sign up for free (6 months currently). They do offer free two day shipping, but NOT to P.O Boxes unfortunately.</p>
<p>^use your student’s residential college shipping address for UPS/ Amazon 2-day</p>
<p>
Have you used this address successfully? If so, where does the package end up? Do you add the suite number and they leave it outside the door? Just curious.</p>
<p>Yes, several times. It gets routed to the UPS center on Elm and he gets an email that it’s there and he can pick it up. You just use the street address of the RC, no room number needed.</p>
<p>So you can use the residential college address if it’s a UPS mailing, then, it sounds like. But maybe not USPS?</p>
<p>Freshman handbook: “Please be aware that U.S. mail sent to you at Yale without your post office box number will be subject to delay in delivery, and in some cases will be returned to the sender. There is no direct delivery by U.S. mail to Yale buildings, so do not include the street address of your residen- tial college or dormitory on packages sent by U.S. mail. All letters and packages to your post office box should be addressed according to the sample below:
Your Name
Yale University
Your P.O. Box Number New Haven, ct 06520
Letters and packages sent by U.S. mail can be picked up at the Yale Station post office, 206 Elm Street, during regular operating hours.”</p>
<p>Just clarifying. Do I have this right? And Amazon is the way to go for cheaper textbooks & they use UPS, correct?</p>
<p>How do students handle textbooks during shopping period? Do they get all the books for all the classes they are shopping? Then return what they don’t end up signing up for? Seems like it might be more complicated to do that if you’re using Amazon.</p>
<p>Some shippers will use either USPS or UPS, and it is not always clear at the time items are ordered what method will be used. The US Post Office allows a form of addressing called “dual addressing,” which I always use when faced with this situation. The address that appears right above the city/state/zip line is the one used by the P.O. to deliver mail. Therefore, I write the college street address above the P.O. Box number, which immediately precedes the city/state/zip line.</p>
<p>Here is the verbatim text from the USPS Web site (“Basic Standards for All Mailing Services”):</p>
<p>Dual Address
Mail with a dual address (both a street address and a Post Office box number) is delivered to the address immediately above the city and state (or to the Post Office box if both the street address and Post Office box are on the same line). If a ZIP+4 code or 5-digit ZIP Code is used, it must correspond to the address element immediately above the city and state (or with the Post Office box number in the address if both the street address and Post Office box are on the same line). These restrictions also apply to return addresses on mail (for more information, see Publication 28, Postal Addressing Standards).</p>
<p>
Since shopping period is two weeks you don’t have to order the books until you are sure you are taking the class. My son is a STEM major so he doesn’t have many classes that are optional and he will usually order them right away. Many students also sell their books through Marketplace using Yale Station and that is where you usually get the best prices for the expensive science books. My son already bought his Orgo and Cell Bio books at the end of this past year for the fall.</p>
<p>[YaleStation</a>, the Yale University Portal](<a href=“http://yalestation.yale.edu/]YaleStation”>http://yalestation.yale.edu/)</p>
<p>When packages arrived via UPS at my daughter’s college last year, they were held for her in the RC offices, and she received an email to alert her to their presence. She didn’t need to go to a UPS facility to retrieve them. This deviates from what has been posted in this thread, so the procedure seems to be particular to the student’s living circumstances.</p>
<p>The problem is Amazon uses USPS for a lot of the two day shipping. See excerpt on mail addressed to the college:</p>
<p>U.S. mail sent to you at Yale without your post office box number will be subject to delay in delivery, and in some cases will be returned to the sender. **There is no direct delivery by U.S. mail to Yale buildings, so do not include the street address of your residential college or dormitory on packages sent by U.S. mail. **</p>
<p>When my daughter went to Yale, shipping was nightmarish on several occasions. She didn’t get bedding for three weeks because BBB used a different method of shipping that didn’t work for the address used and it went all over campus. That’s the problem with Amazon. They use both USPS and UPS. We use Amazon a lot but I want him to actually get his stuff – and I’ve heard other complaints about receiving things via UPS. Has anyone figured out how to prevent this problem when ordering from businesses that only let you input one address?</p>
<p>My son must have been lucky last year; he ordered all his books from Amazon and had them sent to his PO Box. He received all of them within 3 days of ordering. I guess they all went through the Post Office and not UPS.</p>
<p>
There is not a problem having orders sent to the P.O. Box. You just can’t get the free two day shipping from Prime through a P.O Box. You may still get orders in a few days but it isn’t guaranteed.</p>
<p>mimk6 and kdog,</p>
<p>While the USPS will not deliver to the colleges, if they see the P.O. Box number in the proper place in the address, along with the correct zip code, they will just use that to deliver goods. It does not matter if the RC’s street and number also appear. They will just ignore it. (As per one of my previous posts.)</p>
<p>I do want to revise one thing I said before, however. I had been under the impression all along that UPS packages were held in the RC offices, but I was just informed that all UPS packages go to the central campus facility, and the students are sent am email. Perhaps the street address is not needed in this case.</p>
<p>I don’t know what happens with packages sent via other third party shippers, so I think I will just keep using the dual address that includes the street address, P.O. Box number, and city/state/zip, in that order. We had no trouble with package deliveries last year, no matter how they were shipped.</p>
<p>Our student followed the instructions on the Yale.edu regarding mailing packages etc. That is the best way to address things…</p>
<p>ONLY USPS will deliver to the PO Box.
All other shippers must use the RC address and commonly the packages shipped UPS are are routed to the UPS store.</p>
<p>Amazon and other book sellers use a variety of methods for shipping, and using Prime, it is difficult to know if the book will come overnight/2 day with USPS or if it will come UPS/FedEx etc. The address for Amazon/Prime included the PO box and RC so no matter how it shipped, it arrived
Our K1 found it best to wait for the email regarding the package.
As Yalemom15 stated, the UPS place on Elm is easy.</p>
<p>Not sure if this has been brought up recently, but BBB offers a service whereby you can order at one location (presumably local) and pick-up at another (such as in Hamden, five miles from Yale) on a specified date. No need to transport the sometimes bulky bedding items and no shipping/delivery issues. Worked like a charm for us.</p>
<p>fogfog,</p>
<p>I use Amazon Prime, too, and like you, the address I have on file for that is the dual address that contains both the RC street address and the P.O. Box number. This is at odds with the university instructions, however. </p>
<p>Because other companies ship through a variety of methods, I always use this dual address, and I have never had any problems.</p>