The Elon University mail room processed 414,000 pieces of mail last month with 0.25 percent error. In fact, Elon’s mail room performs better than the national average.

"We want to do better but percentage wise we are way better than the U.S. Postal Service and UPS," said Chuck Sparks, national certified mail manager.

Each semester about two packages on average are lost. Usually a misplaced package will be found on the inventory rounds performed by the office twice a day.

"People don’t allow enough time for the packages to come," Sparks said. Sparks explained students should allow 10 days for a package to arrive.

Mail and packages are routed through two different tracks and are transported on two different delivery systems. Sparks said that both mail and packages can go through many different post offices before arriving at Elon.

He explained that having two different "streams" of mail can cause problems, which may cause deliveries to be late.

Weather also accounts for the delay in packages. Hurricane Isabel delayed the process because packages had to be rerouted. Some packages posted during the storm still haven’t arrived.

All of the work in Elon’s mail room is done by hand. The process of organizing the packages at Elon is an eight-step process.

This process involves managing a coding system that helps keep packages organized by using a weekly letter and package number. Mail room workers create a list of all packages received then transfer each package’s identification information to an individual slip, which is then placed in the student’s campus box.

When a student brings a package slip to the counter, he or she must show a valid Phoenix card. The mail room workers highlight each package that is picked up on the master list to make sure everything matches at the end of the day.

Though the process seems complicated, Sparks said he feels it is working.

Elon has hired engineers and data analysts to reduce the number of steps but "nobody can get it less than seven steps," said Sparks.

Although Elon’s mail room has a 0.25 percent error rate, they still make mistakes.

Freshman Michael Guzewicz doesn’t play golf, but he did receive someone else’s golf clubs last month. The mail room gave Guzewicz a package that turned out to be someone else’s golf clubs. After asking his family if anyone sent the clubs, he returned the package to the mail room and the clubs were eventually returned to their rightful owner.

This year the mail room hopes to improve communication with students.