By Hannah Gonzalez
Amazon Lockers have been installed in three locations on the Rose Hill campus. The green-painted lockers are located near the Ram Van offices, Loschert Hall and Finlay Hall, titled respectively Cova, Rose and Aquino.
These lockers are spread out in locations accessible to the student population, according to Marco Valera, vice president for Facilities Management. The intent of the lockers is to serve students who have trouble accessing the post office during normal hours.
“The goal was for better service to our students who might not have time to go to the post office,” said Valera. “The lockers provide 24-hour access to medium-to-small packages.”
Ashley Qamar, GSB ’20, agreed that waiting in line for the post office during the day does not always fit into her schedule. With this in mind, she ordered multiple Amazon packages to the Cova Locker last week.
“I decided to give them a try because I have a non-traditional schedule,” said Qamar. “In the past, it has been difficult for me to stand on line at the post office during the day. The lockers make it possible for me to pick up packages at night when I have more free time.”
According to the Amazon website, in order to use the Amazon Lockers, one needs to select their preferred Locker location at checkout. The package dimensions cannot exceed 19 x 12 x 14 inches or 20 pounds. Once delivered, the buyer then goes to the Locker, enters the pickup code or scans the barcode sent to their email and retrieves their package. If not picked up within three days, the package is returned to Amazon.
Anyone with access to campus also has access to the lockers, according to Valera.
“They’re available not just for students, but faculty and administrators on campus as well,” said Valera.
Valera hopes to promote use of the Lockers now that all three are fully operational. The Finlay, or Aquino, lockers took longer to activate than the Rose and Cova. However, they are currently operational as of late last week.
“There were some system issues that Amazon worked out,” said Valera.
In most cases, issues with package delivery must be brought to Amazon’s attention rather than that of Fordham Facilities. The phone number displayed on the Lockers is an Amazon help line. However, according to Valera, issues with the machine itself can be reported to Facilities staff.
“We are available if there is a problem with the way the system is supposed to work,” said Valera. “However, the packages themselves are through Amazon.”
Going forward, Qamar said her usage of the post office would decrease as a result of the convenience of the Lockers.
“In the future, I will not be using the post office for any Amazon packages,” said Qamar. “It has just been an inconvenience to find time to go to the post office in between classes, and the lockers now give me an alternative option.”
Kaylee Kurkierewicz, FCRH ’20, said that she will use them for her next Amazon purchase as an alternative to lengthy post office lines.
“I have not used them yet, but would be interested,” said Kurkierewicz. “I think it is a great idea to help with the constant traffic flow at the post office.”
