Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

MailmanDave

17 Years Experience

Long Island, NY

Male, 43

I am a City Letter Carrier for the US Postal Service in NY. I've been a city letter carrier for over 17 years and it is the best job I've ever had. I mostly work 5 days per week (sometimes includes a Saturday) and often have the opportunity for overtime, which is usually voluntary. The route I deliver has about 350 homes and I walk to each of their doors to deliver the mail. Please keep in mind that I don't have authority to speak for the USPS, so all opinions are solely mine, not my employer.

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Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

Hello I live in a townhouse and I'm receiving Registered Mail soon. where we live we have a common area where there are a bunch of postal boxes and I was wondering if I leave a note to authorize mailman to sign will they? I'm never home what do I do

Asked by Charles over 10 years ago

If it is truly a registered letter, a letter carrier will usually not sign for it even if you have given them written authorization because registered mail can sometimes be very valuable and individual custody is tracked along the way. If you mean a certified letter (which is often confused with registered mail) many letter carriers will deliver it and sign for you if you've given them authorization. I know that I would in this situation. Does your PO have Saturday retail hours? If so, you can pick up the item then unless that is also when you aren't home. Thanks for writing.

Hey, I applied for the usps as a city carrier , passed both assessments, n filled out a few job vacancies, I had just fixed my suspended license 2 weeks ago, it was suspended since last yr for a texting violation,think I could still be considered?

Asked by Quentin over 9 years ago

I don't know how much your license suspension will affect your job chances with the USPS. You do need a valid driver license to be a letter carrier as far as I know. You said you have fixed the suspension for texting while driving recently. I don't know if you need to provide this information to the USPS proactively or only if they ask. I would think somewhere along the application process they'd ask you questions about your past driving history and possibly request a motor vehicle department drivers abstract which has your history of suspensions convictions violations, etc. Please be sure to answer all questions honestly and possibly have proof available that your license is no longer suspended. Good luck to you and put that phone down while driving. I understand it's tempting.

Hi...I live in a town in Illinois, where the mailman walks from house to house. Towns around me use mailtrucks, which has to be more efficient.

Considering that the usps is looking to cut costs, why would they not transition everyone to curbside?

Asked by Jodi over 9 years ago

I agree that using postal delivery vehicles to deliver the mail curbside would be more efficient than door to door delivery by a walking letter carrier. There would be more gasoline consumed by these engines running for many hours per day but you would still probably save money versus the costs of a carrier walking door to door and not being able to deliver in the same number of houses in the same amount of time. I deliver mostly by walking from house to house and some neighborhoods in the town where I work have curbside delivery. Those routes do have more delivery points than the one I deliver. The two factors that I can think of for not transitioning everyone to curbside are as follows: 1) I've never heard of the USPS forcing anyone to move a mailbox from their house to the curbside. Who would incur that cost? There would probably be a lot of pushback from customers who have delivery to their front door. 2) Many neighborhoods don't have the streetscape to handle mounted (curbside) deliveries. If the houses are too close together you will have many cars parked on the street which make it difficult for the letter carrier to access the mailbox from the mail truck. In these cases, the letter carrier must perform a time-consuming dismount procedure if they want to deliver the mail to the house with a mailbox they can't access directly from the mail truck. It works fine in most suburban and rural areas but in a tighter density environment , the economics of it may not work. I, for one, love to walk from house to house and get exercise while delivering the mail, but understand your question about how curbside delivery could be more efficient. Thank you for the observant question.

Is it okay to finish a route and take the half hour lunch at the end then drive back to office

Asked by JVitto over 9 years ago

I used to do this but was then told that I really should take the 30 minute lunch within 6 hours of my BT (begin tour) time. I now take lunch from approximately 1300-1330. The new scanners that we have tells the mgmt where we are so they can see if we are sitting for 30 minutes at the end of the day instead of our approved lunch period. If the management doesn't give you a hard time about it, I don't see why not but the union and managers technically should be enforcing the 6-hour rule for taking a lunch break. I've become used to it so it's no big deal to take lunch when I'm supposed to and not at the end of the delivery route.

How long does it take for package to leave the international sorting center to be delivered

Asked by Christina over 9 years ago

I have just copied and pasted the answer I posted from a previous q with similar wording:

I don't know the answer to this. My guess is as long as it isn't being held in customs for further inspection, then it should clear in a couple of days. When I see items from overseas that is postmarked it seems that it took 7-10 days total from when it was mailed. I'm just going on observation here and don't have any inside knowledge on what the goal is to clear international packages for delivery.

Hi I think that I put in my mail in the mailbox without closing the envelope. What will happen to the papers inside the envelope?

Asked by mm over 10 years ago

It is possible that the contents of the envelope stayed in the envelope and the item will reach its destination. If the papers fall out and there is no address on them to either return the papers to you or continue on to the intended recipient, those papers would probably wind up at a "nixie" or "dead letter" area and disposed of eventually.

can you wear used post office shirts legally if you buy it in a thrift store?

Asked by klumac about 10 years ago

I didn't know that regulation approved USPS uniform shirts were available in thrift stores. I don't know the rules on whether or not they are allowed to be worn by non-USPS personnel.