Renovated USPS booth to better serve USU students
Employees overseeing the United States Postal Service booth in the Taggart Student Center at Utah State University expect the booth’s construction to be done sometime before November.
“It’ll be really, really nice when it gets done,” said Allen Wolcott, a postal service clerk.
The post office, which has seen a decline in usage throughout recent years, underwent $80,000 in renovations this summer for computers, credit card machines, scales and a lobby.
The lobby, card machines and extra scales serve to increase efficiency and decrease lines, while the computers serve to aid students mailing packages internationally because USPS and U.S. Customs require an online form for mailing international packages.
“We’re spending a considerable amount of money to better serve the students with computers in the lobby that will allow them to do international customs forms,” said Richard Boudrero, the manager of the Utah State University Distribution and Postal Service Center. “They will have equipment to better serve the students.”
Though the computers are the most notable asset, Boudrero hopes the lobby and extra resources help cut down waiting times in the post office.
“During the school breaks from one class to another, we get very busy and students don’t have a ton of time, they need to utilize their time as efficiently as possible, so we’re getting them out of the hallway and moving them back in,” he said.
Despite high hopes for the office’s future, Boudrero said if postal service revenue doesn’t increase, the federal government could choose to shut it down, but the idea upsets Boudrero.
“We spend money, good money, to provide a free service to our campus students, faculty and staff, and if they don’t want to use it or don’t care, then they might have the opportunity in the future to go down to Logan or somewhere less convenient and get their postal service there, that’s the bottom line,” he said. “People just don’t understand the value and the goodness that the mail brings.”
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