The post office here at the College of William and Mary is infamous for being incredibly slow and disorganized, taking forever to process packages and sometimes even losing them.
Recently, I was talking to some of my friends who are freshmen, and they had no idea that the post office ever suffered from these issues. How is that possible?
Have they just not ordered many items yet? Have they not had to deal with the stress of awaiting a book that they desperately need for a class, or a dress that they desperately need for an upcoming formal night?
“No,” is the answer. These freshmen are not uneducated: the post office has recently made changes that have massively increased productivity for students. Before, if a student ordered a package off Amazon that had a one-day shipping time, they would be lucky if it arrived after three or four days. Apparently, this was because the packages were delivered to the Williamsburg Post Office before they were then delivered to campus. It’s not a huge, ground-breaking issue, but it still causes problems and delays for students, which make them fall behind in classes. Now, it seems as if that is all completely different, and I noticed this shift about halfway through this semester.
I ordered a book online that I was planning on reading just for fun, so I wasn’t worried about the time frame in which it arrived. However, the very next day, I received an email from the post office that my package was ready. I could not believe it. I was in absolute shock, and I showed the email to several friends who were shocked, as well. When I went to pick up the book, the process of retrieving packages was a little different as well. Instead of just giving the worker the package slip, I also had to give them my student ID. This does not seem like that important of a change, however, it does signify a change in some way or another. Honestly, though, I just thought this was a fluke, and that maybe I caught a slow day at the post office.
Since then, I have ordered several packages, ranging all the way from a holiday garland to a financial calculator. All of these orders promised one day shipping, and all of them have lived up to that promise.
Now, you may be asking yourself: “Why do I care that you received your package in the expected amount of time?” It’s important because people are still criticizing the post office for an issue that it has addressed and seems to have fixed.
Something that many of my articles here focus on is giving the College a chance; students are very quick to complain, but then they do not care when actual changes are made for their benefit.
It reminds me of the ever-present “Cancel Culture” that exists online, where a celebrity is “cancelled” and “over,” also known as when their fans decide to no longer be their fans because of something uneducated that they said or did. Of course, that celebrity should change their ways, and of course second chances are not always relevant, but they often are.
People should be able to learn and grow, instead of being thrown away before they even have a chance to correct their actions for the better.
In the same way, students should give the post office another chance, despite its past mistakes. What is the point of complaining if students never expect or look for change?
Email Alyssa Slovin at amslovin@email.wm.edu.