Grand Valley State University has experienced a handful of changes since the last school year, many of which I appreciate and have been beneficial to the entire campus community. However, one change that is not well-liked among my peers is the merging of the residential building package centers to a single building, the Ravines Mail/Package Center.

Previously serving as a community building for residents of the now-demolished Ravines Living Center, the building now functions as a complex that serves for every student who lives on campus – just over 6,000 students. Compared to previous years when oversized mail or packages were sent directly to the office of the respective building the student lived in or the Laker Store, consolidating this system to one building in a remote area of campus seems like an unwise decision that inconveniences both GVSU students and the staff of the Ravines Center.

The distance isn’t so bad for freshmen who live on the north side of campus, but for other students who live in South Campus housing such as myself, it’s quite the hike. Now, instead of walking a few minutes down the hall to pick up a package, I have to set aside at least half an hour of my day just to get a package. This doesn’t even include the amount of time that’s spent waiting in line, which adds another several minutes to the process. The email system is also quite delayed – often, I won’t get notifications that my package has been received by the Ravines Center until after it has closed for the day.

At first, the system was incredibly disorganized and slow, given that the influx of packages at the beginning of the semester was high and the inexperienced staff was just learning how to run the system. At one point, I waited 20 minutes in line just for the supervisor to tell me they had misplaced my package. The staff does have a more efficient organization system under its belt now, including renovations to the Ravines Center and more working hands to shorten the wait time, but that doesn’t make up for the lengthy commute pedestrians have to make.

I’m not upset with the individual employees of the Ravines Mail/Package Center. After all, most of them are students who I know are working diligently. I’m upset with whoever thought this change was a good idea.

So, what are some solutions to resolve this unpopular change? One is to simply locate the package centers back into the housing front desks. Not only would this be extremely convenient for students, there would be less confusion and fewer packages to deal with in one location. Another solution could be to have one mail/package center in a more centralized place, like the basement of the Laker Store, which is also where one of the package centers was formerly located.

Although I am unsure of the reason for the merging of the mail and package centers to one building – perhaps it was for financial reasons or for the convenience of the package deliverers – I do know that most students are not happy about this change.