This post was updated Oct. 25 at 12:00 a.m.

Residents of Gayley Heights have complained of problems with receiving their mail.

Gayley Heights – which opened in fall 2022 – is a 17-story high-rise that houses 1,167 residents in a variety of apartment configurations. However, several students have reported issues receiving their mail because the building does not have a central mailroom.

Ani Gokul, a fourth-year computer science student, said he ordered a textbook on Amazon prior to his first day of classes that was delivered on time. He added that when the textbook arrived, he was unable to find it among the piles of mail in the Gayley Heights lobby and had to order another copy of the textbook to an on-campus Amazon locker after classes had already begun.

“It’s a very difficult class I’m taking, … and that had cost me extra money to order another version of the textbook to come to the Amazon locker,” Gokul said.

Asher Charno, a second-year architectural studies student, said the lack of a mailroom at Gayley Heights has also forced him to order his packages to Amazon lockers and letters to the UCLA Housing Mail Center in Delta Terrace. He added that he feels uncertain that mail delivered to Gayley Heights will not be stolen.

“There’s nowhere to store it (my mail at Gayley Heights), so everything just goes into a pile,” he said. “Anyone can take anything.”

Charno added that despite each room having access to a mailbox, most mail is not delivered directly to residents but on open shelves, which are labeled with pieces of lined paper indicating which vendor delivered them.

Jieun Warner, a second-year undeclared student, said she feels there are currently no existing ways of preventing mail from being stolen. No system exists in Gayley Heights to notify residents about a package being delivered to them like the one in place for residents on the Hill and in the Laurel apartment building, she said.

“It gets frustrating when you have important stuff coming in the mail, and then you have to keep sorting through stuff and looking for something,” Warner said.

Charno also said Gayley Heights residents are often walking to Amazon lockers in Westwood despite mail lockers already existing at Gayley Heights.

Gokul said there were also issues with mail disorganization when he lived in the Tipuana university apartment, which also opened fall 2022.

“It was the exact same situation. … I was unable to get my packages on time,” Gokul said.

Warner, who continues to use the mail system at Gayley Heights despite its problems, said she tells her family to not send expensive items to her via the Gayley Heights Mail Center.

UCLA Housing said in an emailed statement that it is not planning to create a central mailroom at Gayley Heights and intends to operate only the Laurel central mailroom for the off-campus apartment complexes to receive mail.

UCLA Housing added in the statement that it does not sort through any parcels delivered to Gayley Heights.

Gokul said he moved into Gayley Heights in part to escape the mail system at his former apartment. He added that he has a lesson for other students.

“I have realized that the best solution is to just not use the mail system,” Gokul said.