When classes let out for the summer, many students leave town. Finals end, and some students seem to disappear.

They leave the apartments and duplexes they called home for two semesters. Some take internships in other states. Some move home with mom and dad. Some even leave the country.

Employees at the Ames Post Office said they have a hard time keeping track of them all, but they do their best to make sure students continue to receive their mail.

“As long as people come in and tell us where they’re moving to, [we can forward their mail],” said Ames Postmaster David Massarini.

Meghan Witthoeft, senior in finance, moved twice in the past semester.

“When I moved, [getting my mail] wasn’t really a problem,” she said.

Witthoeft said her name was removed from her apartment’s mailbox as soon as she moved, but she didn’t turn in a change of address form until a few days later. The post office held her mail until she turned in her form. Her mail was delivered to her new address shortly after that.

“Mail is usually delayed a day or two before it actually gets to me,” Witthoeft said.

While the post office receives the largest stack of change of address forms in August, said Massarini, the end of the spring semester is their second most chaotic time.

“At Frederiksen Court alone there are 1,500 to 1,700 address changes, all on one route,” he said.

If students fill out change of address forms at the post office when they move, forwarding is no problem, Massarini said. If students don’t inform the post office of their new address, mail is usually returned to the post office by the new tenants.

“According to the book, we hold it for ten days, and then return to sender,” Massarini said.

Often, he said, students come back in the fall and wonder why they haven’t been getting any mail.

“It’s really frustrating,” Massarini said.

The Ames Post Office does not actually forward the mail, he said. There is a site in Des Moines where all mail that needs to be forwarded is filtered out. Address changes are also updated there.

Massarini said this time of year, there’s no shortage of mail being handled at the forwarding site.

“It puts quite a bit of weight on our recording system [when all the students move] in a matter of days,” he said.

Mail is forwarded for up to 12 months, no charge, he said. Students can submit address changes as many times as necessary.

Massarini said he knew of one woman who moved 13 times in one year. Her mail was forwarded 13 times before she got it, he said.

Tim Webb, senior in zoology, moved out of the dorms and home to his parents for the summer in May. He said he plans to move back on-campus in the fall.

“I think the worst problem with the system is they ask for your mailing address right when you’re moving out [of university housing],” Webb said.

Since many students live in different places for only brief periods of time during the summer, he said he thinks it’s silly to have their mail forwarded to them.

He wonders if there would be some way that mail could be held, possibly by the university, for students who are planning to return to university housing.

“I still haven’t gotten a piece of mail here,” Webb said.

Massarini said he tries to let students know there could be anywhere from a three to ten day delay before their mail starts arriving at the new address.

However, Massarini said he is confident the system works, and overall, said they receive very few complaints.

“If [students] would just work with us, we’d get them their mail on time,” he said.