What is the written rule on receiving personal deliveries at a work address? What is the unwritten custom?
The written rule on receiving personal deliveries is detailed in full at the indicated link. Put simply, “the campus mail system, as a part of the university’s facilities is a restricted service… It is not available for the personal use by university…” You can access this policy by clicking here.
The unwritten custom is not a whole lot less restrictive. I know that other universities make allowances for faculty and staff (especially when they are in the process of relocating for their job) to use the campus address as a segway while they settle affairs, but our campus is set up differently than others. Universities such as University of Oregon and Oregon State University have larger campuses, and academic and administrative buildings have individual mailing addresses, facilitating multiple stops for the Post Office and FedEx/UPS deliveries. Western has only one mailing address which leaves the responsibility of delivery to the university alone and it would be considered a conflict of interest and a misuse of public funds to use these resources to deliver personal mail on a regular basis. Western should never be given as your permanent mailing address, and should never be used for car registration, personal license renewal or personal (non-work related) purchases.
There are times, however, when the sending party doesn’t get the memo. Students often send graduation or wedding announcements to faculty or staff on campus because they do not have any other address available to them. Contractors and other business contacts often send small gifts to individuals and departments because the only contact they have is through Western. This mail does not pose an excessive burden to our resources, and is acceptable.
