Finance and Business Services

Postal Services

The University’s on-campus post office provides, for the campus community, the majority of the postal services available at any United States Postal office.

• Stamps are available at our service window, as well as express, registered, certified, and insured mail. Please remember that this is a cash only operation. At this time the University Post Office can’t accept the Ram card or credit cards. The Post Office is located at 887 Matlack Street. The hours of operation are Monday – Friday 8:00 am to 3:30 pm. Please note the University Post Office is closed daily from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm.
• Campus Delivery Services - Postal Services also provides on-campus delivery of University internal mail, making drops at over 40 locations. Please contact the Postal Services Supervisor with any questions.

Post Office Shuttle Service

The East Campus Loop includes the Post Office at 887 S. Matlack.

The shuttle will come every 10 minutes (route map ). The bus runs from 7:30 AM – 10:30 AM, takes a mid-day break, and runs again from 2 PM – 5 PM.

Bulk Mail

All users of Bulk Mailings or Nonprofit Standard Mail must use West Chester University of Pennsylvania on the return address. The US Post Office will not accept bulk mail that does not have West Chester University of Pennsylvania on the return address. All departments that use WCU 309 Permit need to let the printing vendors know of the change when envelopes are printed and/or if departments have envelopes that are currently used for Bulk Mailing already printed with West Chester University they need to be stamped with West Chester University of Pennsylvania. A return address of West Chester University or West Chester University of PA will NOT be accepted.

• 703 1.5 Identification of Nonprofit Organization
  All matter mailed at the Nonprofit Standard Mail prices must identify the authorized nonprofit organization. The name and return address of the authorized nonprofit organization must be either on the outside of the mail piece or in a prominent location on the material being mailed. Pseudonyms or bogus names of persons or organizations may not be used. If the piece bears any name and return address, it must be that of the authorized nonprofit organization. A well-recognized alternative designation (e.g., “The March of Dimes”) or abbreviation (e.g., “AFL-CIO”) may be used rather than the full organization name.

West Chester University currently has a decentralized method of handling bulk mailings. There are several vendors that are being utilized depending on the extent of the services needed. Although our internal post office is not directly involved with the bulk mailing process through third-party vendors, our post office needs to be made aware of all bulk mailings being done within the University in order to properly chargeback the costs. Therefore, BEFORE initiating a bulk mailing through any vendor, the following should occur:

• Contact West Chester University’s post office. You will need to provide the number of pieces, the vendor to be used, the anticipated date of the mailing, and department cost center.
• Postal Staff will provide you with a four-digit tracing number which should, in turn, be provided to the vendor so that they can include on their invoice to us.
• When the vendor invoices the University for their services, please send a copy of the invoice to the Accounting Department in Finance and Business Services to ensure that the department who initiated a bulk mailing based is properly charged.
• If you initiate a bulk mailing and do not see the expense being charged to your department by the end of the following month, please contact Postal Staff.
• By notifying the Post Office of bulk mailings ahead of time, the chargebacks to your department should occur more frequently therefore making your budget reports more accurate.

Expediting Your Mail Delivery

The West Chester University Post Office is constantly striving to expedite the daily process of mail delivery. We seek your assistance in achieving this goal. The following is a list of suggestions, that if followed, will assist us and the United States Postal Service in delivering your outgoing mail as rapidly as possible.

• Addresses should be clear and complete. Acceptable fonts are Courier or New Courier, 10-12 pt. (Italics and script type fonts can not be read by the automatic, optical, address scanning equipment). Addresses should not be skewed on the envelope, i.e., text lines should be parallel to the edge of the envelope.
• Multiple pieces of mail should be secured in a bundle using rubber bands or paper clips.
• Mail should be separated into the following bundles:
  • Flats (any envelope larger than 6 1/8” x 11½“)
  • Letters
    • Handwritten Addresses
      • Sealed Envelopes
      • Unsealed Envelopes
  • Typed Addresses
    • Sealed Envelopes
    • Unsealed Envelopes
  • Postcards
  • Foreign Mail
  • Accountable Mail (Express, Certified, Insured, Registered).

All mail bundles must have a mailing request form attached. The mailing request form must have an authorized signature and clearly state the date, class of mail (special mailing instructions), and number of pieces to process.

Flats should always be sealed. Letters (unsealed) should always have the envelope flaps folded down individually. The reason for this is that our postage meter will not properly seal the envelope unless the flaps are down.

Your assistance in accurately preparing your outgoing mail will significantly contribute to our efforts to process and expedite its delivery. We thank you for your cooperation. Should you have any questions about the services provided by the West Chester University Postal Services unit, please contact us at 436-2744.