By Chantelle Tuitele
Many BYU students who are already strapped for cash are needlessly spending money on a free service.
Mailing letters through BYU Mail Services to on-campus locations is free.
A lot of people wasting stamps on campus mail live in the dorms, said Ben Krzeminski, a BYU mail driver.
“One morning I counted about $7 worth of stamps in just one pick up,” he said. “Those are stamps that students in Helaman Halls and Deseret Towers wasted on campus mail.”
The only exception to the rule is that mail sent to Heritage Halls must have postage because residents at those dorms are serviced by the U.S. Postal Department-not BYU Mail, said Brad Prescott, supervisor of campus mail.
Jenny Sanchez, 19, a freshman from Los Angeles, Calif., majoring in psychology, said in the past, she put stamps on campus mail because she didn”t know the postage was free.
“If I knew this before, I would have sent stuff more often,” she said. “I would do cute things for my friends, like send them a letter just to make them happy.”
During fall semester Sanchez lived in Desert Towers-now she lives off campus.
“It takes an effort to visit my friends at DT,” she said. “Now that I know about this policy, I”m going to write them more letters.”
Most BYU staff and administrative members know that postage is not needed for campus mail, Prescott said.
There are several reasons students continue to needlessly spend money on stamps.
Prescott said he thinks people are just accustomed to putting stamps on mail and don”t think they have the option to mail something without postage.
Amy Hallstrom, a BYU mail clerk, said another reason students don”t know about the free-postage policy might be because no one told them in the first place.
Hallstrom said the mailbox in the Abraham Smoot Building, where she works, doesn”t have a notice posted above the campus mail slot to let people know they don”t need to use a stamp.
“It just takes a while until students finally find out they don”t need postage for campus mail,” said BYU mail clerk, Jim Sinquefield. “It”s something that they gradually learn while they”re here.”
Sinquefield said he would suggest that students be informed about the campus mail policy during freshman orientation. He said that way they would know from the start that stamps aren”t necessary when mailing things to on-campus locations.
“Save your stamps,” Prescott said.
