Posted By Laken Franchetti on Apr 20, 2023 | 1 comment

By Laken Franchetti, News Editor

Last week, the mailroom experienced staffing cuts which removed all student workers.

Executive Director of Auxiliary Services Mike Bishop said that this decision was made due to the decrease in mail and packages that students receive at the end of the semester.

“As the finals approach and the semester comes to an end, the volume of mail and packages delivered to the post office significantly decreases. As this happens the post office begins to decrease the amount of student labor needed to provide this mail and packages to students,” Bishop said.

He also said that this gives students the opportunity to focus on their schoolwork and preparing for finals.

However, mailroom student worker Hannah Rinehart ’23 detailed how the staff was told that the budget for student workers’ pay was the reasoning behind the loss of jobs.

“On Tuesday night we were basically told by our manager in the mailroom that the budget for student workers’ pay was depleted and Gettysburg College rejected their request to provide more funding for the student workers for the rest of the semester,” Rinehart said.

Rinehart noted the irony behind losing her campus position during Student Worker Appreciation Week.

“All this comes at a pretty funny time, because apparently the school has been advertising for Student Worker Appreciation Week, and seeing Nick, our manager, express his sadness about not being able to give us any more hours, doesn’t really make us feel appreciated by the school,” said Rinehart.

Rinehart feels that the mailroom still needs the help that student workers provide, as there are only one full-time and one part-time worker in the mailroom. While Rinehart was not seriously impacted by the loss of the job, she worries for some of her coworkers.

“I wouldn’t say this terribly impacted me, because I wasn’t making much money anyway; my job in the mailroom was more of a fun thing than a reliable income. But I do worry about other underclassmen students who might have needed their work-study money more than I do,” Rinehart said.

Bishop stated that student workers would eventually be welcomed back to the mailroom.

“This in no way is the end of students working at the post office in the future, but at this time the need is not as great,” Bishop said.