Students divided on mailing belongings
Some say postal service is too expensive, not a sure way to get items back

By LaNasha Houze
Staff Reporter

With three weeks left until spring semester ends, students are starting to prepare for finals, plan summer trips and pack up their belongings. For students who live on campus, the task can be even more challenging.

Ashley Tate, a freshman computer science major, said she plans to use the TCU Post Office to ship packages home to St. Louis, Mo.

Photo by Izumi Yoshimura - Skiff Staff Ivy Totta, a junior elementary education major, signs for a package Wednesday at the TCU Post Office pick-up window.

“(I) always send my packages third class,” Tate said. “When I send things home it is about $10 (a) package. Starting in September my mom will start sending my packages back.”

Tiffany Verduce, a freshman marketing major, said she will pack up her car and drive her things back to her home in Houston because the postal service is too expensive.

“It cost too much money to ship stuff,” Verduce said. “Plus the U.S. Postal Service is unreliable. They have lost some of my packages. I just want my things with me. If I don’t use something, I will just sell it.”

Glen Hulme, manager of TCU mailing services, said the beginning and end of the semester, when students are moving in and out, are the busiest times at the TCU Post Office.

“Our peak time for out-going packages is when students ship materials home (at the end of the semester),” he said. “For incoming mail the peak begins at the beginning of each semester, and during finals when parents send care packages.”

Hulme said the TCU Post Office does not have any statistical data that keeps track of the amount of mail TCU students ship out.

“(Federal Express and the United Parcel Service) are competing with the U.S. Postal Service,” Vaughn said. “Because of the (supply) and demand, their prices are cheaper.”

Some students also chose to store their belongings at a facility near TCU instead of shipping things back and forth.
Bobby Simmons, a sales consultant for Public Storage, said this time period is their busiest for student reservations.

Ebony Russo, a freshman premajor, said she plans to use storage facilities.

“I wouldn’t want to ship my things because I don’t want my valuables to break,” Russo said. “Anything that is not valuable I will put in storage and the rest I will leave at my sister’s house.”

LaNasha Houze
l.d.houze@student.tcu.edu