Transferring mail at Howard is the biggest delay in the University mail system, with students complaining of late, or even lost, mail after switching dorms.
"If you switch your address your mail gets lost, and you never see it," said Adrienne Bolden, senior biology major.
Gregory Smith, sophomore mechanical engineering major, said he personally experienced a long delay in receiving a package.
"The change of address system is slow," said Gregory Smith, sophomore mechanical engineering major. "Because a package that I was supposed to get at Meridian went to Drew Hall but other than that the system is okay."
According to Mark Coleman, of the post office in the A-building, it is the responsibility of the dorm to get the information of who is leaving, but in the same respect, it is the students' responsibility to let the dorm know what their new address is going to be, in order to ensure a smooth transition.
According to Dean Charles Gibbs of Residence Life, the delays in transfers are because, whenever it comes to change of address, initially, the mail goes to the student's old address and then to the new one.
Slowe, Carver, Meridian, and the Towers are considered off-campus dorms, unlike Drew, the Quad, Annex, and Cook, which are considered on-campus. Slowe, Carver, Meridian, and the Towers have the zip code 20001, and the others have the zip code 20059, which is exclusively for Howard University.
The United States Postal Service will not transfer addresses from dorm to dorm, the dorms administration has to do that. Everything that goes to the on-campus dorms goes through the A-building's post office first and the off-campus dorms get everything sent directly to them.
Items for the Howard campus, such as Express mail, insured mail, delivery confirmation, and certified mail from the United States Postal Service only, go through the main post office before being distributed.
Another concern of students is the late hours of mail distribution.
"Last year, Meridian had horrible office hours," Bolden said. "If you couldn't get your mail between three and five, you did not get it until you came at that time."
Charles Gibbs, dean of Residence Life, said the mail is distributed as soon as it is sorted at the respective dorms.
Aswah Crowver, sophomore broadcast journalism major, said that the Howard mail transfer system is more efficient than other universities and colleges.
"I know people at other schools who have to call their credit card companies and cell phone companies during the summer to make sure all their mail goes to the right place, but at Howard all you have to do is fill out a change of address form and everything is straight," she said.
Whether a student is leaving for the summer or moving to another dormitory, he or she must fill out a change of address form and make sure to follow up with the University post office.
"Transferring of information has to be clear, the problem comes in between the two dorms that are not communicating about the transfer of mail," Coleman said.
is a member of the 
