One of the changes in residence halls this semester is the place students have to pick up their packages.

Rather than the front desks of residence halls, students now have to pick up their packages at the front desk of the Union.

Part of a collaborative effort between the Office of Residence Life and Campus Postal Services, the change is to meet staffing and distribution needs within residence halls.

“The efficiencies of staffing needs and labor made the determination that moving to a centralized package pick up would make distribution easier for students to get their packages more quickly,” said Sarah Waters, the Director of Residence Life. “We also will be better able to track packages when they get to campus.”

Becca Simpson, a sophomore, thinks the move is really inconvenient for the students and doesn’t like it.

“I think it might make things easier for [the Union] to keep the packages organized and in the same area, but I live in Kreischer,” Simpson said. “Having to go to the Union to pick up a package is not very convenient for me. Instead of going downstairs to pick it up, I have to find time to go to the Union.”

By moving the package pick up from residence halls to the Union, mistakes like wrongly addressed packages are solved more quickly, along with making distribution a bit faster, Waters said. Without packaging taking an extra day to just get to the residence halls, students get their packages sooner.

Sam Nousak, an AYA Social Studies major thinks the move from the halls’ front desks to the Union is a smart idea.

“I think it makes sense. The residence hall already has a lot to do,” Nousak said. “I don’t get why it’s such a big deal to walk here [the Union] and walk back.”

Students who have bigger packages that they may not be able to physically carry from the Union to their hall can arrange for their packages to be dropped off at their residence halls.

“[I live in] Founders, which is probably why I don’t care. But I imagine the kids in Kreischer care a bit more,” Nouask said.

Things that are fresh, like flowers, will still be delivered straight to residence halls, Waters said.

Students receive an email notification when their package arrives at the Union.

The shift from package pick up at the front desk to the Union “is a move in the right direction,” Waters said.