Gregor is right.

But with many students unfamiliar with the post office since the Union’s reopening, the total business has been cut in half.

At the old location, the post office would average $800 to $1,000 in profit per day, with the new numbers clocking in at $300 on a good day, Post Office Student Supervisor Devon Edgerton said.

As part of the Union’s reconstruction, the only official post office on campus was moved from its old location to be conjoined with the Welcome Center — the green desk next to Sparty’s.

But as Gregor said, students are unaware of the new location and sometimes stumble into the old location where Biggby Coffee is located, Edgerton said.

“I think it’s definitely because people don’t know that we exist, or that they were used to going to the old post office,” Edgerton said.

While the new location has been the major reason behind lower profits, Edgerton also pointed to not being able to accept credit or debit cards as another cause to the loss of business.

“Another thing that affects our business is that we only accept cash and checks, but that’s obviously been a big thing that we’re working on,” she said. “Luckily, the Union has an ATM.”

The post office hopes to accept both credit and debit cards, as well as Spartan Cash, by April, Interim Director of the Union Tami Kuhn said.

Jerry Arnold, a post office clerk at the Union, has worked during both the pre- and post-reconstruction period and said the major difference between the two locations is the lack of knowledge about whether it’s open or not.

“What we have found out is that a lot of people didn’t know that we were open,” Arnold said. “Before, when we were at the old location, we had post office boxes to rent, so there was a lot more traffic before.”

Although business has been down, there are no intentions to move or remove the post office from the welcome desk, Kuhn said.

“Nope, there’s no reason to move it. The Welcome Center was designed to include the post office,” Kuhn said. “We have a lot of students and staff who have needs for postal services that aren’t available in residence halls, and that needs to be conducted with the U.S. Postal Service, so the best location for that is at the Union.”

Gregor agrees with Kuhn’s reasoning about the need for a postal service on campus, but believes they need to improve the advertising and increase awareness of the services provided.
“Maybe send out an email or tell residence assistants to inform kids on their floors about it,” Kuhn said.