The Brown University Mail Room
an updated user experience
The Problem:
If you’ve ever tried to pick up a package from Brown University’s campus mailroom, chances are you’ve experienced the chaos of mail room rush hour. With hordes of students lining up out the door, rushing to pick up packages between classes, the situation only becomes worse for the mail staff trying to juggle as many orders at once. However, the most frustrating part isn’t the extended wait-times due to disorder, but the fact that many of the issues are so immediately remediable.
Our current mail system works by processing orders into a queue and having one of the stationed workers call out the names of the receivers. Although this method usually works, there is plenty of room for error and much to be improved on. In cases where the receiver has a particularly difficult name to pronounce, the process can be delayed further by added confusion. In addition to this, the more crowded the mail room is, the harder it can be to hear the actual names being called, forcing unnecessary strain on the staff and making the situation even harder to manage.
There are, of course, some obvious solutions. If audibility is an issue, perhaps we could add microphones to the pickup stations. Maybe we could even add a ticker above each that would display the names of receivers. However, these solutions still pose extra costs to Brown, which seems to already be making enough budget cuts as it is.
There are, of course, some obvious solutions. If audibility is an issue, perhaps we could add microphones to the pickup stations. Maybe we could even add a ticker above each that would display the names of receivers. However, these solutions still pose extra costs to Brown, which seems to already be making enough budget cuts as it is.
The Solution
With that being the case, there is still one powerful tool we are not taking full advantage of: the giant TV in the middle of the room. In such a hectic time like rush hour, why are we not using all of our available resources to expedite the process? Currently, the TV uses the whole screen to constantly display the current playing song, which could easily be done in one line of text. Instead, the TV should have a UI that clearly displays the names of the people currently being called, and even some of the subsequent names in the pickup queue.
Doing so would immediately lead to clearer communication, eliminating the issues of mispronounced or unheard names. Since people would also know how soon they would be called by looking at the queue, there would be less delay between each pickup, which would definitely add up to a lot of saved time during rush hours. For such a low-cost solution that benefits both students and our hard-working mail staff, taking this sort of approach seems like a no-brainer.