Mail Services staff member Chau Dinh sorts on-campus mail.

Caltech’s Mail Services delivers

Be they campus mail, U.S. mail, or privately shipped parcels, millions of pieces of correspondence pass through Caltech every year, and the dozen staff members at Mail Services make it all look effortless.

Based in Keith Spalding Building, the department runs a FedEx shipping desk and they also receive and distribute inbound FedEx, DHL, and Airborne packages under 50 pounds, says Darrel Goudeau, manager of Mail Services.

But the main focus of Mail Services, which is part of Campus Planning, is the delivery and pick up of campus and U.S. mail, which is done via a fleet of electric carts that travel throughout the campus to 120 mail stops, twice a day.

Mail Services and Graphic Resources run Tech Express on the Olive Walk, a three-year-old offshoot of the Spalding offices that provides many of the same mail and graphics services, but that is closer to the heart of campus.

Caltech even runs its own contract United States Post Office, which provides all the functions available at a regular post office, says Christopher Henderson, director of Mail Services and Graphic Resources. He estimates that half of the people who use it are local residents and South Lake Avenue businesses.

“Ours is a full-service office,” Henderson says. “The community sees it as a true convenience.” They like the shorter lines and cheerful service, he says, attributes that have won the Caltech staff several U.S. Postal Service honors.

Henderson adds that the contract post office distributes tax forms and holds extended hours during the December holidays and at the tax-filing deadline.

The Mail Services statistics are impressive for a virtual city like Caltech, which has its own campus ZIP code (91125), and another for undergraduate housing (91126).

Department statistics showed that the 2003 mail volume handled by Mail Services reached 6,318,855 units. This included 4,870,200 pieces of incoming U.S. mail; 65,000 FedEx, DHL, and Airborne parcels; and 833,300 pieces of intercampus mail.

Graphic Resources handled its share of the volume as well, performing nearly 11 million copies and prints.

Henderson says that proposed plans include a packaging center at the Keith Spalding mail center that will box, pack, and ship artwork and other fragile items for customers.
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