In the span of one week, the mail center received three packages that were unable to be traced back to an owner within the university.

Two of the packages, still in the Mail Room, contained black mounting plates and the other an unclaimed brunette brow tint. Although an email was sent out university-wide to alert students and faculty of these packages, they have been only partly successful in finding owners. 

Before her interview, Jacky Bobak, head of the Mail Room, had a student just pick up a package without a last name. Because the student’s first name was on the package, it allowed Bobak to send out a narrower blast email to all of the Isabellas in the university.  

“I had to go through the E-mail system and compare who’s on our roster and email them all to find out whose package it was,” Bobak said.

For every unclaimed package without a name on it, the mail center tries to keep it for at least a month, but during their more busy times of the year, it’s difficult to quickly find the owners and keep these packages on hold. So when they can’t find an owner, the office returns them to the sender.

Isabella D’Onofrio, a freshman PR/AD major, was at the Mail Room to receive one of these nameless packages. She received a blast email from Bobak alerting her and every other Isabella at the university that a package arrived without a last name. 

“They’re supportive, every time whenever this has happened before and they try to fix it, but it just sucks,” D’Onofrio said.

She said that the situation can be annoying. Instead of being able to follow usual mail protocols, like handing them a blue slip, she has to receive an email every time she gets a package from Amazon. She said that her first and last name are listed on Amazon so she doesn’t understand why it arrives without her full name.

“I kind of had to assume that it was mine just because I have two packages that were being delivered for me,” D’Onofrio said. “I’m coming to receive packages for my course books.” 

At the Mail Room, Dean of Student Life Michael Gieseke is a point of contact for Bobak and the last hope to find the owner for these packages. Because, according to Gieseke, he is one of few faculty that can send out such large communications to the university.

“I have no illusions that unfortunately campus announcements get ignored or dismissed by many of the university,” Gieseke said. “But unfortunately it is still our primary way to communicate, so at the very least we can say that we tried to reach out to the community to see whose it was.”

According to Gieseke, these emails are sent out to the entire community because of the possibility of these packages belonging to an individual department within the university, not just students.

D’Sihre Cadette, a freshman accounting major, lives in Lawrence Hall and hasn’t had any issues ordering from Amazon and having the items sent to the university. They speculated that these nameless or ownerless packages could be someone “trolling” the mail office.

“I don’t think you can really order something without putting a name on it,” Cadette said.

Utilizing a blast email through campus announcements alerted one package owner, university advancement, that a nameless package belonged to them. Although, to claim a package that does not have a name, the owner has to present the tracking number to prove that it’s theirs.

“If there’s no name on it, we open it to try to get it to the person,” Bobak said. “I guess technically you’re not supposed to, but then you would have so many packages sitting here.”

Dakota Wagenhoffer, a freshman psychology major, has ordered textbooks and clothing while living at the university from places like American Eagle and Amazon. They’ve also received packages from family at the university before too, like coffee.

“Everything is relatively smooth,” Wagenhoffer said. “At first it wasn’t because I couldn’t figure out how to open [my mailbox], but then once I got the hang of it, everything was pretty smooth.”

Wagenhoffer offered their opinion about the email students and faculty received about nameless packages in the Mail Room. 

“I don’t really know any other way that they could do it,” Wagenhoffer said. 

Bobak advises students and faculty to fill out the forms properly when ordering something online. If a package comes in with a parent or girlfriend-boyfriend’s name, it’s likely the package will be delivered back to the sender.

“If the student is trying to send a package, they should just double, triple check to see if their name and the address fields are right,” Bobak said.

The Mail Room is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and closed on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the Spring 2024 term. Along with package pick up they offer prepaid package drop offs, otherwise all other services will have to be done at the post office.

ail Room received three packages that were unable to be traced back to an owner within the university.

Two of the packages, still in the Mail Room, contained black mounting plates and the other an unclaimed brunette brow tint. Although an email was sent out university-wide to alert students and faculty of these packages, they have been only partly successful in finding owners. 

Before her interview, Jacky Bobak, head of the Mail Room, had a student just pick up a package without a last name. Because the student’s first name was on the package, it allowed Bobak to send out a narrower blast email to all of the Isabellas in the university.  

“I had to go through the E-mail system and compare who’s on our roster and email them all to find out whose package it was,” Bobak said.

For every unclaimed package without a name on it, the mail center tries to keep it for at least a month, but during their more busy times of the year, it’s difficult to quickly find the owners and keep these packages on hold. So when they can’t find an owner, the office returns them to the sender.

Isabella D’Onofrio, a freshman PR/AD major, was at the Mail Room to receive one of these nameless packages. She received a blast email from Bobak alerting her and every other Isabella at the university that a package arrived without a last name. 

“They’re supportive, every time whenever this has happened before and they try to fix it, but it just sucks,” D’Onofrio said.

She said that the situation can be annoying. Instead of being able to follow usual mail protocols, like handing them a blue slip, she has to receive an email every time she gets a package from Amazon. She said that her first and last name are listed on Amazon so she doesn’t understand why it arrives without her full name.

“I kind of had to assume that it was mine just because I have two packages that were being delivered for me,” D’Onofrio said. “I’m coming to receive packages for my course books.” 

At the Mail Room, Dean of Student Life Michael Gieseke is a point of contact for Bobak and the last hope to find the owner for these packages. Because, according to Gieseke, he is one of few faculty that can send out such large communications to the university.

“I have no illusions that unfortunately campus announcements get ignored or dismissed by many of the university,” Gieseke said. “But unfortunately it is still our primary way to communicate, so at the very least we can say that we tried to reach out to the community to see whose it was.”

According to Gieseke, these emails are sent out to the entire community because of the possibility of these packages belonging to an individual department within the university, not just students.

D’Sihre Cadette, a freshman accounting major, lives in Lawrence Hall and hasn’t had any issues ordering from Amazon and having the items sent to the university. They speculated that these nameless or ownerless packages could be someone “trolling” the mail office.

“I don’t think you can really order something without putting a name on it,” Cadette said.

Utilizing a blast email through campus announcements alerted one package owner, university advancement, that a nameless package belonged to them. Although, to claim a package that does not have a name, the owner has to present the tracking number to prove that it’s theirs.

“If there’s no name on it, we open it to try to get it to the person,” Bobak said. “I guess technically you’re not supposed to, but then you would have so many packages sitting here.”

Dakota Wagenhoffer, a freshman psychology major, has ordered textbooks and clothing while living at the university from places like American Eagle and Amazon. They’ve also received packages from family at the university before too, like coffee.

“Everything is relatively smooth,” Wagenhoffer said. “At first it wasn’t because I couldn’t figure out how to open [my mailbox], but then once I got the hang of it, everything was pretty smooth.”

Wagenhoffer offered their opinion about the email students and faculty received about nameless packages in the Mail Room. 

“I don’t really know any other way that they could do it,” Wagenhoffer said. 

Bobak advises students and faculty to fill out the forms properly when ordering something online. If a package comes in with a parent or girlfriend-boyfriend’s name, it’s likely the package will be delivered back to the sender.

“If the student is trying to send a package, they should just double, triple check to see if their name and the address fields are right,” Bobak said.

The Mail Room is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and closed on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the Spring 2024 term. Along with package pick up they offer prepaid package drop offs, otherwise all other services will have to be done at the post office.