After more than 30 years in the same location, the Bakersfield College faculty mailroom is making a change. The mailroom is being merged with shipping and receiving, bringing its new home to the BC Bookstore.
Philosophy professor Dr. Jack Hernandez said the campus community will be affected by the move, which is expected to happen in late October.
“As the college has spread out and grown, there are fewer opportunities for faculty to run into one another, and the mailroom provided one of those opportunities,” he said. “It was also a place where people could post various things, little notices posted from different organizations as well as personal notices and that were important, too.”
Hernandez has been a professor at BC since 1961 and is nostalgic about the mailroom move.
“The mailroom was originally (in) the administration building right where the reception desk is. And faculty not only ran into faculty but you also ran into administrators,” he said. “Because they were there and you just had a chance to informally talk to them. So I think it’s unfortunate that the move of the mailroom will remove that particular opportunity for us.”
Robert Day, BC bookstore director, said that the mailroom move will prove to be a more efficient way of distributing mail on-campus.
“The idea is that if we have a single drop point (for mail) on campus we’re not going to lose any packages, we can assure prompt delivery and all the positive things that go with that,” he said.
Safety on campus also was a factor in the decision to move the mailroom, Day said.
“It will curtail a lot of cross traffic on campus. There are big trucks, semis currently going across. The thought was just safety for students.”
The bookstore will serve as the single destination for all mail arriving on the BC campus after the current renovations are complete.
The mail will then be distributed out to the various departments on campus and will be sorted out by that department’s secretary.
Day said faculty shouldn’t worry receiving their mail later under the new system.
“One of the things we’re going to do is we will be calling (the faculty) and give them the option of coming to get it. Most people if they need it really bad will come get it immediately.”
The mailroom move also will provide some much-needed job training, according to Day.
“When shipping and receiving and everybody gets in here we’ll do cross-training. Because right now, if somebody in the mailroom gets sick, the mailroom literally shuts down,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense for the whole place to shut down. So with the Shipping and Receiving people here it will go on. So the cross-training will handle those problems.”
Speech instructor Dr. Mark Staller is concerned about the many new people who will handle the mail.
“I think it’s going to give more responsibility to the department secretaries,” he said. “They have to sort out the mail but what if you have a secretary that doesn’t want to. Before someone was just stuffing the mail in the boxes. I’m not sure how it’s going to be more efficient but we’ll have to wait and see.”
English department secretary Angela Thompson will be handling the mail for the English faculty once the change is made.
“It will be different, but there should be a little more notification to everyone. Because we should be more prepared. I’d like more detailed information about what we need to do,” she said.