by Lee Conell ’09 (English) Public Affairs intern
On a busy campus such as New Paltz, the Receiving Department, is always on the move. In 2007, the department received more than 29,000 packages.
“It’s like Christmas everyday,” said Bill Sumnick, supervisor and Stores Clerk in Receiving, which operates under Administrative Services. “There are always boxes to open up.”
Supervisor Bill Sumnick (l-r) and student employees Michael Singh ’08 (Accounting) and Rahul Kandimalla ’08 (Electrical Engineering) process all incoming packages in the Service Building on campus. Photo by Lee Conell
Every package coming to the college and purchased on a New York state or Research Foundation purchase order must pass through the Receiving Department before being delivered to the appropriate places on campus.
“All the supplies that the campus needs come through us,” said Sumnick.
The department serves as an important checkpoint. Items purchased on New York state or Research Foundation purchase orders are opened by the Receiving staff so that the package’s contents may be
verified. “Then we bring the packing slip over to the computer and verify it again on the Receiving database,”
Sumnick said. “This way any mistake in the items delivered can be spotted as soon as possible.”
If there are no errors in the received items, Sumnick and his staff deliver the package. Except for packages to the residence halls, which are handled by Mail Services, Receiving delivers to all campus departments. Daily box deliveries average about 45 a day. Sumnick works with Receiving’s other stores clerk, Bruce MacElrath, who transports most of the packages to the appropriate departments. While Moving and Trucking works out of Receiving’s warehouse one day a week to deliver bulkier items, such as desks, Sumnick and MacElrath physically delivered 11,357 smaller packages last year in the department van.
“The biggest hurdle is to keep things moving,” Sumnick said.
The Receiving staff has developed a system to get every package to its appropriate destination on campus assoon as possible. “There are so many buildings on campus that we can’t go to all of them in a day,” said Sumnick.
Therefore, incoming packages are divided into five groups based on their destination, and delivered by the day of the week. For example, Monday deliveries are made to the Lecture Center and Humanities, and Tuesday deliveries to the arts and science buildings.
While most packages that reach Receiving are delivered within the week, expedited items, such as laboratory
equipment, often for the Biology department, the Chemistry department or the Health Center, are usually
delivered within the day.
Receiving also works with Accounts Payable, sending the signed receipts from packages so that they may check that the vendor’s invoice corresponds to the receipt.
“It’s a full day, every day,” Sumnick said.
For more information, contact Sumnick at x3331.