With hundreds of thousands of packages arriving on campus each year, MSU’s Residence Education and Housing Services (REHS) is reimagining how students receive their deliveries with a focus on convenience, efficiency and evolving student needs.
What began as a logistical challenge has grown into a multi-phase initiative aimed at improving both the student and REHS team experience.
A Growing Challenge
The shift began with a simple but pressing issue: volume that outgrew available space.
“Last year, we received around 375,000 packages systemwide,” says Assistant Director for Residence Hall Operations Jay Makowski. “Space quickly became a limitation.”
Traditionally, residence halls operated individual package centers, each responsible for storing, logging and distributing deliveries. However, as online shopping surged, the system became increasingly difficult to manage. Limited storage space, high staffing demands and inconsistent pickup times created friction for both students and employees.
At the same time, staffing challenges made it harder to maintain consistent service across dozens of locations. The rapid increase in deliveries in recent years has also required REHS to rethink how existing spaces are used.
“As deliveries have surged since 2022, we have had to adapt fixed spaces to new consumer trends,” said Associate Director for Business Operations Christopher Stone-Sewalish. “Brody 122, and in fall Campbell Hall, will help us realize a centralized vision in spaces designed for our new reality. We will carefully review student and staff feedback throughout the cycle to ensure we are adapting.
To address this, a cross-functional team across REHS was brought together to evaluate the system and identify opportunities for improvement.
These factors prompted REHS to take a step back and evaluate the system through an Integrative Practice Organization (IPO) study, with a focus on improving efficiency and enhancing the overall experience.
IPO is REHS’ collective and collaborative effort to act on customer expectations using Lean Thinking and a whole-system practice culture.
Testing a New Approach
One of the most visible changes has been the introduction of package lockers across campus.
Amazon lockers, now installed in locations like Holden, Brody and Owen halls, offer students 24/7-access to their packages. Instead of waiting for service center business hours, students receive instant notifications and can pick up deliveries whenever it’s convenient.
The positive impact has been immediate.
“Amazon packages make up about 50% of what we receive,” Makowski shares. “So, redirecting those into lockers significantly reduces the volume we need to store in Service Centers.”
The lockers also provide added security and faster access, while freeing up space and reducing workload for REHS team members. Early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
“Students really love the lockers,” Makowski says. “They want to see more of them.”
Consolidating for Efficiency
Alongside lockers, REHS has also begun consolidating Service Centers — transitioning from multiple small locations to centralized hubs within each neighborhood. For example, Brody Neighborhood now operates from a single Service Center in Brody Hall, while Case Hall serves multiple nearby residence halls. The goal is to streamline operations while ensuring consistent service.
“We have worked to cultivate a deeper relationship with our partners in logistics, as well as our delivery services such as Amazon, USPS, UPS and FedEx,” said Stone-Sewalish. “Cultivating those relationships has resulted in more reliable services for students and a better staff experience. It is our One Team approach to ensuring students get what they need — if we do it well, they won’t even notice.”
Makowski says this collaborative approach also supports broader operational improvements, particularly as REHS works to streamline service across campus. Managing more than 30 service desks has presented ongoing challenges, and centralizing operations allows for more consistent staffing and reliability.
“Managing 30-plus desks across campus is challenging,” Makowski says. “If we can reduce that number and centralize services, we can better staff those locations and provide more reliable hours.”
However, consolidation comes with its own set of challenges. Campus geography, building layouts and student habits all play a role in determining where services should be located.
“Students might cross neighborhoods for dining,” Makowski says, “but will they carry large packages across campus? That’s something we have to consider.”
Process Improvement in Action
A diverse group of not just REHS members but also others from throughout the Division of Residential and Hospitality Services as well as MSU’s Infrastructure Planning and Facilities, to diligently review how packages are received for all students, faculty and team members across the university.
Together, they observed the current condition of how packages were received across campus. The team approached this in several ways, including going to see where the work is done and mapping out the value stream — an end-to-end collection of steps that create or achieve a result for the customer.
Through this process, the team identified gaps and opportunities for improvement. They then established target conditions to improve performance, including reducing the time between package receipt and delivery to the customer, whether a student, faculty member, staff member or guest.
Using a Choosing By Advantages model for transparent decision-making, the team determined introducing package lockers would be the most effective first step. Initial implementation focused on select neighborhoods to evaluate how well the lockers addressed the identified gaps.
Each step of this work is documented through an A3, the primary tool used to tell the story of improvement. The A3 outlines the problem the team is working to solve and captures each experiment along the way. This ensures that the process remains transparent and can be understood and built upon by others contributing to continuous improvement within REHS and across the division.
“We’re constantly checking in with students and staff,” Makowski says. “It’s not a one-time study — it’s ongoing.”
Future plans include expanding locker locations, testing outdoor locker systems that use cellular connectivity and even introducing locker-based systems for borrowing items like vacuums and cleaning supplies.
“We are currently working to overcome challenges presented by the surge in ‘gig’ and ‘last mile’ delivery services that have no centralized management structure,” says Stone-Sewlish. “Students are purchasing items, sometimes expensive, unaware that the delivery service is not affiliated with a major carrier and that tracking and delivery are less structured.”
As REHS continues to adapt to these evolving delivery trends, the team is also exploring new ways to expand services beyond packages.
“It’s like an automated Service Center,” Makowski says. “You’d use your ID, take what you need and return it later — no cost.”
Meeting Students Where They Are
Ultimately, the initiative reflects a broader shift in how REHS approaches student services. Today’s students operate on flexible, often unpredictable schedules. A traditional 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. model no longer aligns with their needs.
“Students don’t run on a standard schedule,” Makowski says. “They might want to pick something up at midnight, or even 3 a.m., and we want to meet them where they are.”
By combining technology, centralized services and continuous feedback, REHS is building a system that adapts alongside students.
“We’ll never reach perfection,” Makowski says. “But we can keep improving — step by step.”
Students are encouraged to share their feedback through service center and locker surveys, as their input continues to shape how package services evolve across campus.
Author: Daniela Del Castillo