In January, a postal kiosk was installed in the Don Taft University Center, off the west side of the main walkway, between the Flight Deck and the Card Services office. It will be accessible to the NSU community during usual UC hours. Parcel pick-ups are scheduled Monday through Friday, at 4 p.m. and will be subject to NSU’s calendar and holiday schedule.
Marc Crocquet, vice president of business services, said NSU Mail Services, in cooperation with the Office of Facilities Management, arranged for the installation. NSU Mail Services will be responsible for collecting all packages and securely transferring them to the parcel and letter courier/mail services.
“The university’s provider of mail equipment developed the postal kiosk concept and presented it to NSU Mail Services,” said Crocquet. “After review, this was deemed a viable idea as the postal kiosk provides additional access to United States Postal Service letter and parcel shipping for the NSU community, including students, faculty, and staff.”
The kiosk is similar to the automated kiosks found in traditional post offices. Postal transactions can be done with the use of a touch-screen including: purchasing postage in the form of books of stamps as well as metered labels; weighing letters and packages; accessing all available class rates; choosing the rate and method of service depending upon letter; documenting the package to be mailed; mailing domestically or internationally (letters only); and accessing delivery confirmation and signature confirmation services.
The postal kiosk drop box can only accept UPS and FedEx parcels with an active Shipping Label. USPS rates apply for all products and services. Accepted methods of payment are credit card based only (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover) and Pin-less debit (Visa, MasterCard).
Crocquet said there is no plan to integrate the kiosk with the Sharkcard platform.
“This kiosk has been rolled out on a trial basis, and its utilization by students and staff will determine if a permanent deployment is warranted,” he said. “Because of this, and due to the complexity of integrating the kiosk with the Sharkcard platform, we are not planning for Sharkcard transactions at this time. We plan to partner with Student Affairs to leverage their student communication channels (SharkFins, Res Life, etc.) and help get the word out to students.”
Jenna Morales, sophomore biology major, said the placement of the kiosk will be most beneficial to international students who live on campus.
“Many of the students in my program are international students and they’re always looking for ways to communicate with family back home. I think [the kiosk] will make life easier for them,” said Morales.
Collin Schneider, senior business major, said the kiosk is a good idea and will make students’ lives easier and hassle-free.
“That’s actually a really great idea to add [the kiosk] to such a high traffic area. It’s kind of a pain to leave campus to go to the post office and lose a good parking spot,” said Schneider.
Crocquet said the kiosk is for personal use only and should not be used for official NSU letter or parcel services. He said those types of mailings should be routed by departments and staff via the usual mail service process.
Crocquet said there are no plans to install another one at this time. He said that they will evaluate usage and patron traffic on this unit first. However, there is no deadline or established timetable for this evaluation period.
For more information contact Paul Kestler, Mail Services Manager, at mailmgr@nova.edu.
