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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1235 Questions

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Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

What time do mailmen deliver mail in the summer ?

Asked by Jessie almost 9 years ago

It depends on each Post Office and how soon their mail is sorted and the letter carriers can load their delivery vehicles and start delivery. At the PO where I work mail is delivered as early as 9:15 AM and as late as 6:30 PM. The evening time can be even later if we are short-staffed. I've heard stories about letter carriers at other offices delivering later than that due to staffing shortages. If I were to work a regular schedule and everything went according to plan, I'd be delivering between 09:40 AM and 3:30 PM.

Without having to invest in an online testing course how and where does one apply and take the exam for USPS?

Asked by jlynn over 9 years ago

Please go to www.usps.com for information on how to apply for a job with the USPS. On the main USPS website, there is a section on the right hand side regarding employment and careers with the USPS. I don't recommend any online sites that ask you to pay for applying. If they are providing material for how to succeed or prepare for the exam, that may be valuable, but the USPS doesn't charge to take the exam as far as I know.

I accidentally opened neighbors mail that was put in my box. Took to post office and they were closed. What should I do?

Asked by Rene over 9 years ago

You could try again at your next available convenience when the PO is open and give it to a sales and service associate at the retail window. There are 2 other options I can think of: 1)Put the mail directly in the mailbox of the correct recipient. 2) Re-seal or tape the mail and put it in a blue collection box. If you want, you could put a note on the mail (like a post-it note) saying "opened by accident". Finally, you could put the mail back in your mailbox with a note saying "misdelivered" on top of the mail. Again, you could use a post-it note if you want. All in all, I'd say it's no big deal. We make errors in deliveries all the time. Many times the recipients may just discard the mail, so you are doing the correct thing by putting the mail back in the system to get correctly delivered.

to continue on the signature confirmations, its a hassle to have to deliver the package after the customer signs the 3849, sign in person or not sign in person is the question, now we have key in the 3849 on certifieds

Asked by jrv about 9 years ago

You should be able to scan the 3849 if you choose the attempted function. At least this is how it works on the older scanners. If the "delivered" function is chosen then the 3849 (reverse) is scanned. The only change I noticed recently was having to put the 3849 bar coded # in the scanner on the "attempted" function. This allows the recipient to just type in the 3849 # when requesting re delivery. It is an extra step but if you are a city carrier, time=money.

I buy and sell tickets for a living. If I had tickets shipped to several of my neighbors in random people's names would you be able to retrieve them for me if I gave you advance warning of their delivery or is that illegal?

Asked by mandm over 9 years ago

I am not sure of the legality of this, but I know I would never get involved in such a situation. I wouldn't get mail from one address and give the mail to another person especially if it had a random name. It all sounds too fishy to me. When I'm delivering the mail if I see a name that I'm familiar with but the address is not right I will sometimes deliver it to the correct address. An example that I see but am not comfortable with is one customer gets what looks like beer purchase rebate checks sent to his neighbor's house with a slightly altered last name. If I recognize this mail I will deliver to the person whose name is on the envelope. The customer has never approached me to do this and I would never have any apologies if the rebate check was delivered as addressed (to a neighbor) and disappeared. Again, it's something I would never want to be involved with because it sounds fishy and if I am not working I can't control what happens to an intentionallay misaddrressed or misnamed piece of mail. If you work something out with your neighbor that's another story which I don't need to know about. Thanks for writing.

RECENTLY A CLOSING OF ALL OF NASSAU AND SUFFOLK WAS DUE TO BAD WEATHER! MY ? WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THIS HAPPENED HERE IN LONGISLAND? AND OR WHERE CAN I FIND A HISTORY OF INCLEMENT WEATHER CLOSINGS FOR NASSAU AND SUFFOLK. THANKS DAVE!!

Asked by ROGER over 9 years ago

Yes, we were closed in Nassau and Suffolk for Tuesday Jan 27 due to a pending snowstorm. I believe NY city POs were closed as well. I think it was a good move based on what actually fell where I deliver the mail. The roads were at least passable and most customers had shoveled their walkways to their doors and driveways. Otherwise, delivery of mail may have been extremely difficult. Now to answer your question. I don't remember a time where we were fully closed due to a snow forecast. There have been times where we have come to work and found the road conditions too difficult or unsafe to deliver the mail. I know of no database that has information about the history of when we were closed for an entire day. On Monday, I delievered apprx 80% of my possible deliveries before we were told to return to the Post Office and not report back to work until the morning of today 01/28/15. I'm not a fan of delivering in snow and ice, but we make do the best we can.

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

Asked by klumac about 9 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.