The season of giving gifts is upon us.

With Christmas now just a few weeks away, UW-Whitewater students shipping or receiving gifts and packages has become commonplace.

Jillian Wielgat works as a university services associate. She said the holiday season can be a busy time for university housing with packages and mail.

“We do take a lot of packages from UPS, and then we email students to let them know,” Wielgat said.

“Last week we were really busy with packages, but this week it’s not so bad. We generally don’t see that many packages the week before the halls close for the holiday break, but we see a big increase for this time of year overall.”

Wielgat was unsure of the exact number of packages the university received for students last week, but she said they have had extra staff members around to keep up with the holiday influx. Last year, University Housing received about 4,100 packages between Thanksgiving and Christmas break.

Off-campus students have been getting gifts as well. UW-Whitewater senior Jordan Baierl received a package to his apartment from his aunt last week.

He said the only frustrating part of mailing around the holidays is having to sign for some packages with FedEx.

“It’s a little more complicated with FedEx because sometimes people have to sign, and if it doesn’t get signed they take it back to their facility, and one time it took me like two weeks to get my package,” Baierl said.

“But I like being able to just go to the post office and pick things up there if I need to,” Baierl said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had any issues with UPS or USPS.”

With the holiday break right around the corner, University Housing will stop accepting packages Dec. 18.

Any packages not picked up by students will either be sent to his/her home address or will be sent back to the sender. The solution to that problem is easy, Wielgat said.

“If a student does have a package here and we’ve sent an email, they need to come get it before break to be sure they get it,” Wielgat said.

University Housing will begin accepting packages again the week of Jan. 14.