With a strong commitment to empowering its students and staff, Life University’s mail center is constantly evaluating how to improve the services it provides across campus. Driving that mindset is Mel Burton, Procurement Officer. Starting as a mail clerk and working his way into leadership, Mel has seen firsthand how operational systems either strengthen performance, or quietly slow them down.
Mel’s forward-thinking approach ultimately led the university to re-evaluate its mailroom technology and adopt Received Digital. The result was streamlined intake processing, reduced hardware dependency, and seamless integration with its smart locker system, positioning the department for long-term success.
Challenge
Before switching to Received Digital, Life University was using Notifii to manage inbound mail and packages. It worked, but “working” wasn’t enough.
Mel’s philosophy is simple: Even when systems appear to function adequately, stagnation is a warning sign. For Mel, especially in a world where AI and automation are rapidly advancing, standing still is not acceptable.
If you’ve been dealing with one vendor for a long time … and you haven’t heard from them in eight months to a year and nothing’s changed, then something’s wrong. … Technology is changing. AI is here to stay. There’s all sorts of things that every business should be looking to improve upon.
One significant inefficiency Life University experienced with Notifii involved the process for receiving letters. To track mail pieces, the team had to print barcode labels and physically apply them to envelopes to scan them into the system. The workflow added friction to what should have been a simple task, and the added time compounded quickly across hundreds or thousands of mail pieces.
As for processing packages, one limitation of Notifii was that only a single barcode could be associated with a package when scanning it in. Many shipping labels include multiple 1D barcodes, which created confusion when an operator would go to scan the item into the smart locker system. Only one of the barcodes would properly scan the item into the system, and there was no clear indication of which barcode was the correct one. This added unnecessary guesswork and slowed down the workflow at the lockers.
Overall, Mel made it clear the challenge wasn’t that the old system was failing. The challenge was that it wasn’t evolving, resulting in inconveniences and unnecessary workarounds.
Solution
Mel had a few specific requirements when evaluating new solutions. First, it had to integrate with their Parcel Pending locker system. Their smart lockers are integral to how they distribute packages on campus.
Second, it had to perform just as efficiently in the real world as it did in a demo.
And finally, it needed to operate on any handheld device. Mel had plenty of experience with solutions that required dedicated scanning hardware that was expensive to purchase and repair. Shared devices tend to get treated much more harshly. Scanners break. Screens crack. Investing in fragile, high-cost equipment simply didn’t make sense.
If I have to buy a $3,000 handheld and replace a $1,200 screen, I’m not doing it. I said, ‘If you don't have a product that I can use on my phone, we're not getting it.’ Plain and simple.
When Mel began testing Received Digital, he immediately saw meaningful differences.
Once we looked at Received Digital, the first thing that caught me was how quickly you could input packages or letters—not relying on a barcode, just an image of the item itself.
For Mel, Received Digital’s image-based tracking method was a breath of fresh air, and he immediately saw the opportunity this provided. The days of printing and sticking labels to envelopes were over. A simple image is all it takes to log a mail piece.
Image-based capture benefits the package logging process as well. While their previous system could only associate one barcode with an item, Received Digital automatically detects every barcode on the package label. This way, when an operator goes to scan the item into their Parcel Pending locker system, any one of the barcodes works.
Beyond those features and improvements, what ultimately solidified Mel’s decision was the mindset behind the platform. In evaluating Received Digital, he saw a product actively maintained and continuously improved with a focus on where mail operations are headed, not where they’ve been. The emphasis on modern technology and practical real-world performance reflected the same forward-thinking philosophy Mel brings to Life University’s mail center. With that alignment in vision and approach, switching to Received Digital was an easy choice.
Benefits
1. Operational efficiency gains saving $10,000+ annually
Eliminating the print-and-stick label process significantly streamlined letter mail intake.
If you factor in label print, label peel, label stick … it probably saves 15 to 30 seconds per item.
Saving 15–30 seconds per mail piece created measurable time savings over the course of a day, and even more over an academic year. Plus, fewer supplies were required, fewer steps were involved, and staff could move faster without sacrificing accuracy.
Received Digital’s image-based capture method has also reduced package processing time. Over the years, Mel has worked with a variety of tracking systems and has become familiar with the processing time required for each. He estimates that logging a package with older, hardware-dependent systems averaged around 60 seconds per item. A slightly more modern platform reduced that time to approximately 25 seconds per package.
With Received Digital, processing time has dropped to just 6 seconds per package, according to Mel.
And this speed improvement extends beyond initial intake. Because Received Digital recognizes every barcode on a shipping label, packages move seamlessly into Life University’s Parcel Pending locker system. When an operator scans a package at the locker, any barcode works, so no guesswork is required.
After conducting his own analysis, Mel determined that the processing efficiency gain amounts to around 540 hours of labor saved annually, equivalent to more than $10,000 in yearly cost savings.
2. Hardware cost reduction of $1,400 annually
Since Received Digital is accessible from any modern smartphone, tablet, or computer, Life University was able to completely eliminate the expensive, proprietary scanners that were previously required.
Leveraging devices that employees already own reduces expenditures and minimizes repair risks. Mel discovered early on that employees tend to take better care of their own devices than shared equipment.
When factoring in both the lower cost of the platform itself and the elimination of hardware, Mel estimates an additional $1,400 in annual savings with Received Digital.
3. Empowering recipients with interactivity
Perhaps the most transformative benefit Life University has experienced is the shift in recipient engagement.
Rather than receiving a simple text-based notification that would often get ignored, students are now empowered with more information and control over the items they receive. With images embedded right in the email notification, recipients can see exactly what they received.
Because it is an image, they know exactly what it is. They can tell us, ‘It's a blue envelope and a yellow envelope,’ so we know what we're looking for as well. So it speeds up things on our end.
In addition to greater visibility, recipients now have meaningful control over their mail. Through their virtual mailbox, students and faculty can submit requests, such as shredding unwanted mail, forwarding items to another recipient, or requesting that something be mailed, all without needing to visit the mail center in person.
From their side, it allows them to feel empowered about what’s going on with their mail, and it allows them to save time.
This capability has reduced back-and-forth communication, minimized ignored notifications, and saved time for both recipients and staff.
Conclusion
While Life University had a system that technically functioned, Mel saw that it wasn’t evolving with the pace of modern technology or campus expectations. It required more training, more supplies, more constraints, and more workarounds.
When asked what would happen if Life University had to revert to Notifii now, Mel responded:
We'd be taking a step backwards—in technology and in efficiency, and our overall cost would increase.
Received Digital aligned with Life University’s forward-thinking culture. It integrated with critical systems, reduced friction in daily operations, lowered hardware risk, and gave students and faculty meaningful control over their mail.
Most importantly, it reflects Mel’s core belief:
Technology should evolve. Vendors should innovate. And organizations should never settle for “good enough” when better performance and service are within reach.
That’s why we are not satisfied with maintaining the status quo, as we are constantly evaluating and making improvements to our pedagogy, technology and facilities to provide our students with all they need for success.
Learn more about Life University here.
