Mail Services General Information

LOCATION
The University of Maryland, Baltimore Mail Center is located in the basement of Howard Hall, 660 West Redwood Street, Baltimore Maryland 21201-1596.

HOURS OF OPERATION
The Mail Center is fully operational Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. through 4:30 p.m.

SERVICES
The Mail Center provides pickup and delivery service two times each day to approximately 175 campus locations. The morning service is between 10:30 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. The afternoon service is between 2:30 p.m. and 3:45 p.m.

The Mail Center will meter departmental mail on a reimbursable basis, provided the originating department has a valid postage account. (See Memorandum of Agreement).

First Class Metering Service Available:
Certified Mail
Certification of Mailing
Express Mail, Domestic/International
First Class Presort
First Class Insured Mail, Domestic/International
International /Global Priority Mail
Standard Class Mail (A)
Standard Class Mail (B)

Courier:
The Mail Center provides daily courier service to University of Maryland System Administration Office Building; University of Maryland, Baltimore County; and University of Maryland, College Park.  The courier departs the Mail Center at 10:00 a.m. daily and returns at 2:00 p.m.

The Mail Center will provide additional courier service on a reimbursable basis, provided the requesting department has a valid postage account.

The Mail Center provides a daily pickup and delivery service between University of Maryland, Baltimore and UMMS Mail Room.

Interdepartment Priority Mail is delivered by University of Maryland, Baltimore Mail Services Personnel.  Deliveries will be made during the regularly scheduled times on a next run basis with a signature obtained.  This service is designed to document delivery of important time dated material. (See Priority Mail Interdepartment)

INQUIRIES
The Mail Center is committed to customer service. If you have general questions or concerns, please call  ext. 6-6709 or fax 6-0759. For complex postal questions, please contact the Mail Center Postal Manager Aaron Molock at 6-3700.

MAILING GUIDELINES
Interdepartmental mail is restricted to official University of Maryland, Baltimore business. If you are not certain if your mail qualifies as University business, contact the Mail Center Postal Manager for clarification on extension 6-3700. The examples listed below are considered to be misuse of campus mail:

• Chain letters
• Hate Mail
• Mail with obscene content
• Information promoting business to gain profit
• Political endorsements
• Any correspondence that is not official University of Maryland, Baltimore business

To expedite handling of mail, the Mail Services employees color sort items to separate interdepartmental mail from First Class Mail. Items mailed in white First Class envelopes are metered and sent to the USPS as quickly as possible without proofing the address. It is assumed the individual initiating the mail item has placed it in the proper envelope, interdepartmental vs. first class, and used the appropriate addressing format.

• Use only the manila or blue campus mail envelope for interdepartmental mail.
• All interdepartmental mail must be separated from USPS First Class Mail.
• Use white letterhead envelopes for USPS First Class Mail requiring postage.

When addressing campus mail, use the following format:
FULL NAME
DEPARTMENT
BUILDING NAME
ROOM NUMBER

When addressing outgoing U.S. First Class Mail, use the following format:
MR. JOHN DOE
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
737 WEST LOMBARD STREET
BALTIMORE MD 21201-1041

• Type all outgoing U.S. Mail when possible. The U.S. Postal Service is utilizing automation. The envelope you mail will most likely be read by a multi-line Optical Character Reader (OCR). Your mail has a greater chance of reaching its destination with more speed and accuracy when read by an OCR than if it is handwritten and must be read by the human eye. The time allowed to process mail is so minimal that it is nearly impossible for the human eye to read and sort with the speed and accuracy of the OCR equipment.
• All campus mailings that have address labels and consist of one single piece (single sheet of paper) must be folded & tabbed or placed in interoffice envelopes and sorted as stated above.
• The address should be typed in all capital letters. Do not use any punctuation in the address except for the hyphen in the Zip + 4.
• All lines of an address should have uniform left margins.
• The "attention" line should be placed above the name of the firm. No printing should be placed below the City/State/Zip Code line.
• Use only the delivery address. If delivery is made to a street address, there is no need to include a post office box. Including both post office box number and a street address is called "dual addressing" and should be avoided whenever possible.
• City names should be spelled out completely (i.e., BALTIMORE).
• Additional address information such as apartment, room, building, etc., should be placed on the same line as the street address with one space separating each word. Words such as apartment, building, floor, suite, room and department should be abbreviated to the following: APT, BLDG, FLR, STE, RM, and DEPT.
• Do not use the name of a building in place of a street address. A substitute carrier may not know where the "Landmark" building is.
• When addressing mail to a postmaster, include the post office name and delivery address.
• Leave one character space between words and the state abbreviation and Zip Code.

When possible, use black ink on white paper. The U.S. Post Office Optical Character Reader (OCR) needs clean contrasting copy to read. Script-type style and other styles where the characters touch cannot be read by the OCR. (The OCR cannot tell where one ends and another begins.)

• Campus bulk mailings must be broken down by department, school and building. Departments should notify the University of Maryland, Baltimore Mail Center at least two days prior to a bulk mailing.
• All forms for Certified, Express, Priority and Registered Mail must be completed by the campus department. Should a department require assistance to complete the forms, please contact the Mail Center.
• It is the responsibility of the department’s mail contact person to advise the Mail Center of any change of address information. This includes movement of employees to other campus departments as well as new employees or employees leaving the University System.
• Call the University of Maryland, Baltimore Mail Center on extension 6-6619, 6-5695, or Fax 6-0759 with inquiries related to forms and/or mailing supplies.