The National Association of College and University Mail Services (NACUMS) recently recognized Cal Poly’s Distribution Services with the Mail Center of the Year Award. Team member Mark Reyes was also honored with the Outstanding Staff Member Award.
The Mail Center of Year Award acknowledges mail centers for outstanding contributions to their campus as well as the profession as a whole. It considers mail centers’ accomplishments throughout the year and recognition from peers who deem them worthy of being honored.
Over the past few years, Scott Coffman and his team have implemented a number of programs including the LuxerOne package lockers, iPhone hand scanners and an on-site mail meter that have created more efficient processes and enhanced the customer experience.
“We were truly honored and humbled by this award from NACUMS,” Coffman said. “It’s a testament to a lot of fortunate things we encounter here at Cal Poly: Great support from our administrators and university partners, especially University Housing. Our campus community; staff, faculty and students alike. And, most importantly, the buy-in and hard work by the folks who comprise Distribution Services to make all of our new programs and advances a reality. I couldn’t be more proud of our team.”
The team’s commitment to the campus community was brought to the spotlight with the launch of the Summer Storage program and the Fall ship-to-room program that allowed students to have items shipped to their rooms before their move-in day.
A heavy focus was also paid to Distribution Services staff which exercised employee engagement through attending regular NACUMS and University Logistics and Supply Chain Association (ULSCA) conferences, welcoming opportunities or new ideas to create campus impact and consistently updating and implementing new technology in business practices. Distribution Services will be hosting the ULSCA conference in October. The team is cross-trained in multiple areas and connects through employee morale events.
The team did all this while receiving just under 200,000 student resident packages, not including letter mail, and ensuring that every item was delivered to the correct student and moving roughly 50,000 packages to specific departments throughout campus.
Outstanding Staff Member
Reyes helped develop a partnership and personally maintained a program with and in support of the Cal Poly Food Pantry. Four days a week, he volunteers to pick up weekly food donations from local grocery stores for the pantry. Within the first three months of this effort, Reyes was able to move more than 8,000 pounds of food to the food pantry. It was this work and dedication that earned him the NACUMS Outstanding Staff Member Award.
Reyes has been a vital part of the department since 2008, primarily working with campus package delivery and purchase order processing. He also participates in daily mail runs, customer service and the university’s storage program which he helped establish. Reyes also helps maintain a clean environment by consistently keeping the workplace tidy.
Additionally, Reyes is well-regarded by his co-workers and Cal Poly faculty and staff. He radiates kindness, positivity and a can-do attitude.
“Mark is as selfless as they come and a great person to work with,” Coffman said. “He is truly deserving of being recognized on a national level and I’m so glad he won this award. The oohs and ahhs he got at the awards ceremony when they listed his contributions were a testament to his achievement.”
To learn more about Distribution Services, visit https://afd.calpoly.edu/distribution/ (https://afd.calpoly.edu/distribution/).