A new move-in service was tested for early move-in students in Park District on Saturday, August 11. Instead of carrying their belongings up staircases and down halls, the company, University and Student Services, did all the heavy lifting. 

The trademarked service, Cruise Ship Move-in, provided USS workers to help move everything from students’ cars directly into their dorm room. Dana Robbins-Murray, director of administrative services for Housing and Residential Life, said Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University both use this service.

Robbins-Murray said the UA decided to test the service due to the increased number of students moving in early and the decreased number of volunteers on weekends. 

“Saturday is Greek Life move-in, and that day has gotten a lot bigger,” Robbins-Murray said. “It used to be that just sorority women would move in on Saturday, but now fraternity men do as well.”

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Hall Involvement Team is the UA’s student move-in group that acts as the welcoming team for the rest of campus, and the UA also organizes hundreds of volunteers from around campus, but those volunteers are concentrated on weekdays.

“We get lots of volunteers to help with move-in, but on Saturday we don’t get as many because it’s a weekend,” Robbins-Murray said. “This [USS service] could help supplement that.” 

USS also provides other services to UA, like laundry, summer storage, ship-to-school, water and microfridge rentals. 

“It’s a company we used for a number of different services. We know the company and work with them well,” Robbins-Murray said. 

The test was confined to the Park District, which includes Árbol de la Vida, Coronado, Kaibab-Huachuca, and Arizona-Sonora residence halls. Robbins-Murray said on the day the service was used, she heard many positive reactions. 

“We think it went well. We made sure that every student was still greeted by our staff so they still get that ‘Wildcat Welcome,’” Robbins-Murray said. 

However, Robbins-Murray said it was too soon to say if this service would be continued in just Park District or expanded to other districts or days. 

“There are a lot of factors to look at, like how it was perceived,” Robbins-Murray said. “There are a lot of things we need to find out first. We have to weigh all the input we get from staff, students and families.”

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The main question to be asked, Robbins-Murray said, is did using USS’s Cruise Ship Move-in improve the UA’s level of service? In a few weeks, a survey will be sent out to assess how the move-in week went, according to Robbins-Murray.

“We don’t know if [Cruise Ship Move-in] is worth continuing but it was definitely worth testing,” Robbins-Murray said. “We have a great relationship with the company, they’re very service-orientated.” 

While Robbins-Murray did not have exact figures, she said the Cruise Ship Move-in service is not cheap, but is an amazing service that could help fill a gap in move-in volunteers.

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