<p>Timely Education article examines the logistical implications of online shopping habits and the college mailroom:</p>
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Dealing with the increased mailroom activity is also costing colleges money. Pomona College whose mailroom handled the ant farm, air-conditioner and barbecue grill spent thousands on a system to scan bar codes, which sends students e-mail messages notifying them when they have packages in the mailroom. Pomona has also expanded its mailroom, making room for more packages.</p>
<p>At SUNY Binghamton, where the number of packages received increased to 57,000 last year, from 33,000 in 2002, officials invested about $25,000 in a bar code scanning system to track packages from the moment of arrival to the time students sign for them.</p>
<p>Were hoping that weve seen the worst of it, said Larry Roma, associate vice president for facilities management at the university.</p>
<p>SUNYs Purchase College has also invested in such a system, at a cost of $37,000...</p>
<p>The ease of ordering items online may be just one more way that the gap between the college experience and the rest of the world has closed, said Fred Turner, an assistant professor in the communication department at Stanford University.</p>
<p>Universities used to be thought of as isolated places, places that you would go away from the world to learn and contemplate, Professor Turner said. Today, he continued, College doesnt actually work that way for most students.
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