Mail Services Procedures

US Mail is picked up from the Fairfield Post Office at 7:45AM. and brought to the Mail Center by 8:30AM. Between the hours of 8:30AM and 10:30AM, the mail is sorted. Our mail clerks are extremely busy during this period. As such, we ask that all faculty, staff, and students understand that we do not open for business until 10:30AM.

From 10:30AM until 11:00AM, various package delivery companies such as UPS, FedEx, DHL, RPS, and Airborne Express arrive on campus delivering packages. We, in turn, enter the information from these packages into our incoming parcel tracking system. Packages cannot be distributed until the tracking number has been scanned into our system, a delivery manifest has been created, the item has been signed for, and the item has been scanned out of our system.

Note: Although your package may have arrived at 10:30AM, no packages will be distributed until the process outlined above has been completed. There are no exceptions to this rule, and we ask that you have patience. You will receive your package.

Mail is delivered to Oakview between 11:15AM and 11:45AM. Outgoing mail is picked up at this time and is brought to the Mail Center for postage.

Packages are delivered during the afternoon. The Mail Center will make one attempt to deliver a package. If no one is available to sign for the delivery, the package will be returned to the Mail Center for safekeeping. At that time, a sticker is either placed on the vacant office door or given to a department representative informing the recipient that they must retrieve their item at the Mail Center.

Inter-office mail is mail that is sent from one department to another on campus. The following list includes the procedures that will ensure timely and correct delivery of Inter-office mail. Inter-office mail is for University business and purposes only. Inter-office mail is not to be used for dissemination of external advertising materials, for external sales personnel, nor for the distribution of political materials. Inter-office mail must be properly addressed with the recipient's full name and department. Inter-office mail must be separated from outgoing US Mail. University business envelopes should not be used for inter-office purposes. When dropping off inter-office mail to the Mail Center, please make sure you drop the mail in the inter-office mail drop box.

Note: Please make every effort to fill out inter-office envelopes correctly. Most often, the cause for a delay in delivery is due to the fact that the envelope was not filled out properly. Please take the time to include both the full name of the recipient and the recipient's department on the envelope.

The following is a list of the procedures to follow when preparing outgoing mail. All outgoing mail must have either a valid account number or department name to identify the account to be charged for postage. Outgoing mail should be held bundled with a rubber band. All outgoing mail must have the University's complete return address. The USPS does not accept letters and postcards smaller than 3.5 x 5 inches. The contents of an envelope should not be too large for the envelope flap to seal. Envelopes should not be nested. (Nested is a postal term for envelope flaps that are raised and sitting inside of each other).

Our automated equipment cannot operate with nested envelopes. When we receive nested envelopes, one of our staff members has to restack these envelopes. This requires time and resources and can delay your mailing. Envelopes that are larger than the standard #10 envelope need to be sealed before being sent to the Mail Center. Failure to seal envelopes will result in a $.04 per envelope surcharge. All outgoing mail must be facing the same way.

The Mail Center does not post personal mail. Mail that is brought to the Mail Center after 4:30PM (4:00PM on Fridays) will be posted on the next business day. We recommend all mail be dropped off at the Mail Center at least 15 minutes prior to the end of our business day to ensure same day postage. Important: international mail must be separated from domestic mail. The Mail Center can supply you with the USPS guidelines regarding the creation of mail pieces. However, we do not design mail pieces. Any questions should be directed to the USPS.

Note: We will make every effort to process your mail, but failure to comply with these procedures may cause unnecessary delays and may cause your mail to be sent back to you with either a warning or refusal memo.

All resident students are issued a mailbox when they arrive for classes in September. This mailbox is the student's official address for his or her time at Sacred Heart University. The mailbox number indicates the student's address, not the address of the student's residence hall. Vital mailings such as grades, warning letters, telephone and student account bills are placed in these mailboxes. It is the student's responsibility to pick up his/her mail. It is important for all students to provide their families, friends, etc. with their correct address. The Mail Center assumes no responsibility for the delivery of mail addressed incorrectly.

Mail is scanned into an Incoming Mail Tracking system. When mail is scanned an email message is sent to the student's email account. For mail, the message header is: "You've Got Mail."

Only students currently residing in the residence halls are permitted access to the MC Boxes. MC Boxes are assigned for personal mail only. Students are not allowed to operate a business from their assigned Sacred Heart University MC Box. The Sacred Heart University Mail Center reserves the right to hold and/or return any mail that appears to be addressed to a business. Occasionally, mail is misdirected. Please be courteous and respectful of other people's mail. If you find mail addressed to someone else, please return it to the service window.

Overnight letters and packages are entered into our tracking system. These items and any other “special delivery” items (such as flowers, valentines, candy, balloons, etc.) also generate a phone call to the student informing him or her that a package awaits them in the Mail Center.

The SHUPAD does not have the facilities to refrigerate medication, food, or flowers.  We are not responsible for said item(s) that are not picked up by the student by the end of business on the day the item(s) arrive at SHU.

If any parcels have been unclaimed for a substantial period of time, the student will be called on the telephone and will receive an email message informing them that a package has not been picked up for an extended time period. Periodically, our staff will search for overflowing mailboxes. This is an indication that the student is not retrieving his or her mail. Due to the sensitivity of some mailings (grades, warning letters, bills, etc.), the Dean of Students may be notified if a student is not retrieving his or her mail. Again, it is vital for all students to check their mailboxes on a regular basis.

The issuing, deleting and modifying of mailboxes is processed by a computerized application. If you would like to keep the same mailbox for your entire stay at Sacred Heart University, it is important that you register for classes at least two weeks prior to the start of the Fall & Spring semesters. Two weeks prior to the start of each semester, the Mail Center will utilize a mailbox software application to search for the names of students who are either not registered for the upcoming semester, or whose housing status has changed (for example, from resident student to commuter student). If changes have been made to a student's residency status, the program will remove the student's name as the occupant of their mailbox. It will then issue the mailbox to another incoming resident student. Once the mailbox has been vacated by a student and has been issued to another student, the mailbox belongs to the new student.

The Mail Center utilizes the Qtrak tracking system to track packages. The barcode of each package delivered to Sacred Heart University is scanned into the system. All faculty, staff and resident students are identified in the system and routed accordingly. Faculty and staff packages are delivered to the recipient during our mail delivery runs. Student packages are held in the Main Campus SHUPad for pick-up.

Student ID's will be verified before distributing packages.

Due to the amount of packages we receive on a daily basis there are several ways to help make the process smoother.

• Come see us once you have received an email from us. Just because Amazon sends you an email that a package has been delivered does not mean we have entered it into our system. The package very well may be in our possession, but it may take an hour or longer for us to route the package to you. This is due to the volume of packages...please be patient.
• It is always a good idea to have the tracking number with you. We scan packages into our system using the tracking number. The tracking number is the key...if the tracking number is not in our system, the we did not receive the package.
• We have over 250 work-study students helping us to route packages and place them in a storage area until you pick up the item. Our student workers are great and the backbone of our facility, however, if you become frustrated please ask to speak to one of our full-time staff members. Our full-timers have been at this for a long time and can generally solve problems more efficiently when they arise.

Finally, as more and more packages are received, space for storing packages has become an issue. Our staff goes through packages every two weeks and looks for unclaimed packages. Packages sitting on our shelves longer than two weeks are returned to sender.

Flowers, food and other perishables.

Every attempt is made to contact the recipient for these items, however, if perishables are not collected in a timely manner and start to decompose, smell, or attract insects, a photo of the item will be taken as a record and the item will be removed and destroyed.

As parcels and mail volumes increase, it is common to have lines of students waiting in the lobby of the SHU PAD between classes and during lunch breaks.

In an effort to reduce waiting times which also helps with our social distance measures (fewer students in line equals less chance of breaking social distance protocols) the SHU PAD introduces RapidPass.

What is RapidPass?

RapidPass is simply an introduction of booking appointments to pick up your mail or packages. The student receives a message from us that an item has arrived for them and they book an appointment to pick up the item.

They go to our special RapidPass pick-up entrance, show their ID and leave with their mail or package. It’s that simple.

Below are the detailed procedures to use RapidPass. Please email shupad@sacredheart.edu if you have questions.

It won’t cost you anything but it’ll save you some time.

Student Procedure

Students will continue to receive mail and parcel notifications through our Q-Trak tracking system. Once a student receives the notification, he/she may go to our Microsoft Bookings page and schedule an appointment to pick up their item(s).

• Our bookings page can be found online, however, it will be more efficient to click on the link contained in the Q-Trak Package notification message.
• Once the student is on the landing page, they can click on the date and times available to book an appointment.

Since we can accommodate 8 people at a time, we can schedule 8 students at a time, every ten minutes.

• The student will need to fill out their name and email address. The other fields are not required.

A limitation of Bookings is that when one submits the appointment request, the student mailbox information does not display on the appointment. In order to have the name and mailbox display we ask all who book appointments to include their name and mailbox in the name field. For example, if my name is John Doe and my mailbox is MC4747, we ask that you enter your name as: John Doe MC4747.

• Click the Book Button
• The student will receive a thank you for booking with us message
• Click OK
• The student will receive an email message confirming their appointment

Please only book appointments after you receive a message from us that your item is here. If you received an email from UPS, Amazon, FedEx, or the USPS, we may have not physically received your item. Our messages come from the noreply@Qtrak.com email address.

Students who have made appointments shall go to the far entrance of the SHU PAD (located at the former Facilities & Construction driveway) to retrieve their items. Look for the RapidPass logo.

The USPS delivers all mail identified as Sacred Heart University to the University, regardless of its content or completeness of address. It will not take back most types of 3rd class non-business junk mail.

The following types of 3rd class mail will be delivered if the department's name is within the address or can otherwise be identified:

• Book clubs and book catalogs
• Communications from other colleges and universities
• Computer and other scientific catalogs
• Educational seminars
• Medical journals

Anything that appears to be business-related and/or related to education will be delivered.

Third class mail that will be disposed of:

• Department store catalogs (i.e., J.C. Penny, Sears, L.L. Bean, etc.)
• Advertisements marked “FREE”
• Gift catalogs of all types
• Lingerie and other non-educational catalogs
• Lottery offerings
• Leisure travel brochures
• Coupon books

The objective of this policy is not simply to dispose of this retail junk mail, but it is also to persuade the mass mailers not to send this material to Sacred Heart University. In a further effort to dissuade these mailings, a notice is sent to the retailer notifying them that their mail has been discarded.

An organization must have a permit registered with the USPS under special non-profit qualifications in order to do process any mailings at a non-profit rate. The Mail Center at Sacred Heart University finances and maintains the postage dollars in our USPS permit account to process qualified departmental mail. Sacred Heart University's non-profit status is directly tied to the permit held by the Mail Center. As the official mail representative for Sacred Heart University, we are solely responsible for the proper use of the permit, the non-profit status established in association with the permit, and to legally protect the University's interests. Printing Sacred Heart University's permit on a piece for mailing purposes requires that either the mailing be processed through the Mail Center, or that outside printers contact the Mail Center prior to designing mail pieces utilizing our permit and our indicia.