Though actual letters are fewer (and mostly from Mom), the Post Office downstairs in Chase Hall still bustles, thanks to the steady flow of incoming packages. Assisted by a cadre of students, Dave Moore has overseen the operation for a dozen years. He and the crew chatted with Jay Burns.

Q Would you introduce the students?

Dave: That’s Megan Germscheid, Box 213; this is Melissa Lue Yen, Box 588; and this is Dana Trafton. Well, she never gets any mail, so I don’t know. Really, hers is 514.

Megan: Dave can tell you anyone’s box number from the past 10 years. When mail comes in misaddressed, you just shout out the name and he gives you the number.

Q How about Matt Arsenault ’96?

Dave: Box 35. Just pops into my head.

Dana: Look at that! I bet a friend that Dave knew his box number. I won 10 bucks.

Dave: And my cut was zero. I’m just a novelty act.

Q What do students most like to get?

All: Care packages.

Dave: The best ones are the unexpected ones. Most of the time students know they’re getting a package and they’ve tracked it online.

Q What’s the oddest package?

Dave: An unwrapped coconut with just an address written on it.

Q Any changes in what students receive?

Melissa: More books. A lot of students buy their books online.

Q Do students get letters?

Dana: My mom sends me letters.

Dave: Dana gets one a semester, and then leaves it out for us to read because she’s so proud of it.

Q Biggest day?

Melissa: Valentine’s Day. Packages get stacked everywhere: counter, shelves, floor. Mostly care packages, chocolates, and deliveries from local florists.

Q Do students still push back mail they don’t want?

Megan: Not as much, since the volume of paper has decreased. Instead, students tend to leave paper for ages, like those orange memos you see about the College confiscating stuff left in residence hallways.

Dave: So we’ve confiscated the memos.

Q What are the most popular magazines?

Dave: Us, Newsweek, People, Time, Sports Illustrated.

Q What’s the most popular newspaper?

Dana: The Wall Street Journal because some econ classes assign it. A lot of those stay in the boxes a long time, too.

Q Ever find old mail?

Dave: When we pulled out the old mailboxes we found a bunch of mail from 1986 that had dropped between the boxes.

Q What do you listen to?

Melissa: Frank FM [a Portland classic rock station]. It’s the only thing he lets us listen to.

Dave: Now that’s a bald-faced lie. You can listen to WBLM [a Portland classic rock station].

Two more student workers arrive after delivering campus mail.

Q When you hire students, what qualities do you look for?

Dave: Ability to drive a golf cart.