First Class Service

.

Campus Conversion

Since Mailing Services was automated back in 1995, the University of Washington has invested $800,000 in state-of-the-art technology. But it took more than just equipment to update the operation. Hundreds of out-of-date campus addresses had to be changed.

"Mailing Services was using alpha-numeric addresses that weren't recognized by the USPS," says Frank Davis, associate director of Publications Services. "We spent a year-plus working with the post office converting the old addresses to six-digit box numbers that are recognized by the USPS international data base. When we changed the [600 campus box numbers], we worked closely with 50 pilot groups. These pilot groups were the first departments to be converted to new addresses.