The Press-Enterprise

College mailrooms are groaning under the weight of packages these days as more students are buying and selling items online.

The buying habits of today's students are nothing like they were several years ago, said Sandi Taylor, purchasing and mail services manager at the University of Redlands, where the volume of packages has increased 30 percent since 2004.

"Students today are so tech-savvy and they have more money," Taylor said.

Surges in online book-buying, cell phone purchasing and eBay ordering are forcing some colleges to expand their mail centers and to invest in high-tech devices to track the packages.

The University of Redlands mail center has expanded twice in the past three years to accommodate enrollment growth and the car tires, plasma TVs, futons and coconuts that pass through.

Neil Gerard, associate dean of students and director of the Smith Campus Center at Pomona College in Claremont, said the campus mail center expanded in 2006.

"We went from 1,680 to 1,920 mailboxes and we probably went up by 50 to 60 percent in parcel storage space," Gerard said.

Frank Kinard, president of the Western Association of University and College Mailers, said mail centers across the nation are installing high-tech package tracking systems to increase efficiency and reduce the amount of storage space required by speeding delivery.

At Pomona and Redlands, where most undergraduates live on campus, packages are scanned into the system that generates an internal bar code for each one. The software automatically generates an e-mail notifying students of the delivery.

Students come to the mail room window, show their IDs and sign an electronic key pad that tracks receipt and delivery.

Books are among the hottest online items on today's college campuses.

"The volume has increased tremendously, especially at the beginning of the semester," Taylor said.

A 2006 survey for the National Association of College Stores found that students are purchasing 23 percent of their textbooks online compared with 16 percent in 2004.

Gina Merola, a freshman from Seattle, waited Monday afternoon for the mailroom at Redlands to open so she could collect a package from her mother.

Merola said she ordered all of her textbooks online because it was cheaper and more reliable than the campus bookstore. She saved $30 on three philosophy books by buying them online.

Because she doesn't have a car, Merola said it's easier to shop for clothes online, too. Her favorite retailers are American Eagle, Urban Outfitters and Nordstrom.

Jo Ann Burton, lead mail clerk, said she sees a lot of packages from Victoria's Secret, Land's End, Abercrombie and Fitch and Old Navy.

Although the numbers for college students aren't specified, a survey of online retailing by shop.org found that Americans spent more on clothing online than they did on computers in 2006, a first. Ten percent of all clothing sales are expected to occur online in 2007.

According to the report, online sales in 2006 grew 25 percent to $219.9 billion and are expected to rise another 18 percent to $259.1 billion this year. Shop.org is a division of the National Retail Federation.

Taylor and Burton said other popular items are cell phones, movies from NetFlix and anything from Amazon, Target and Wal-Mart.

The average volume of about 100 packages per day jumps at the beginning of the semester, when students are shipping belongings, and a couple of weeks later when books start arriving.

Burton said one day at the beginning of the semester the mail center logged in 549 packages and about 300 per day for a week.

Other busy times are Valentine's Day and Easter, when families and friends send gifts, and Halloween, when costumes are delivered.

Students are discouraged from running their own mail-order businesses but a lot are trading on eBay.

"One student brings in a couple of packages a day," said Jo Ann Burton, lead mail clerk at University of Redlands.

Because Redlands contracts with the U.S. Postal Service, students can mail packages from the mail center as well, which only adds to the volume.

"We're getting it at both ends," said Taylor, who predicted the eBay traffic will only get worse.

"It's the tip of the iceberg."

-Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service