At Bates College, Student Mailboxes Are Shutting for Good

It was as much a part of daily life at Bates College as eating lunch, a ritual as predictable as the trek to class — but more anticipated.  On the way to the cafeteria and perhaps again on the way out, students descended on the campus post office, spun their mailbox dial left, right, left, and then right again, and peered to see if there was a letter, or better yet, a yellow package slip.  Today, the mailboxes sit largely untouched, and the post office is little more than a hushed hallway. That is why at the end of the summer, the boxes will click shut for the last time, a sign of how the Internet is changing college campuses.