Katya Agrawal, Contributing Photographer

When Sydney Wong ’26 picked up her parcel from the student package center this fall, it was a month later than the retailer told her it had been delivered to the package center.

Wong said that at the center she was told the package was not there and that it was most likely stolen. After looking around, she discovered that the package had been mislabeled and sorted into the “problem packages” area. 

Wong is one of several students who told the News they have had issues with the Barnes & Noble Student Package Center. 

As the central hub for incoming deliveries, the package center takes in over 100,000 packages each year, according to Yale’s website. 

Students spoke to the News about long wait times at the package center, slow processing of parcels and notifications that their packages were finally ready for pickup weeks after the companies they ordered from reported that they have been delivered.

Willa Jackson ’27 said that especially at the beginning of the year, the package center’s delay in processing made the transition to college more difficult. 

“The package center would be really behind on processing,” Jackson told the News. “As I was getting settled into college, [it] made the moving process a bit more stressful.”

Jackson recalled one incident when she was notified that her package was delivered and ready for pickup from the package center; however, when she arrived at the facility, the box she was notified about was for a different student. 

She described the center as “confusing” and “inconsistent.” After dealing with the center a few initial times, she said she decided to rent a P.O. Box to avoid the stress. 

“Because there are just so many delays and so many instances where packages are expected to arrive but don’t actually arrive until three to four days later than expected, I thought the P.O. Box would be more practical,” Jackson said. 

At the USPS office, Jackson said, there are never “crazy lines” like she saw at the package center. 

Jackson said she initially tried to use the package center when she first arrived at Yale because of the cost of P.O. boxes. The USPS office, located right below Lanman Wright Hall on Elm Street, has P.O. boxes for rent that begin at $4.67 a month, according to the USPS website. 

Sharif Hassen ’26 also noted a lack of communication as an issue with the center. After being notified that his package was overweight and could not be delivered, he said he wrote three emails to the package center. None of these emails were answered, according to Hassen.

Hassan speculated that the issues he said he encountered at the package center could be due to poor training for package center employees.

“It seems like all the employees are new this year,” Hassen told the News. “I’ve heard that they only hire graduate students so maybe that’s why. All this being said I appreciate what they do heavily and I’ve never had a bad experience with any of them personally; I think it’s more the way the hiring process and maybe training process are set up.”

The package center’s management did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The Yale Student Package Center is located at 77 Broadway.