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.
It depends when you drop the letter in the blue collection box. If it is before the daily pickup time (which is usually posted on a label somewhere on the box) then it is likely going to be on the same dispatch truck as if you put the letter in a box at the PO. The truck then goes to a centralized mail processing facility. If you put the letter in a blue collection mailbox after the daily cutoff time posted on the mailbox, but the local PO is still open, you'd probably be better off bringing the letter there for mailing. At most POs you can probably bring in letter up until 1700 for same-day processing.
The mail will still likely make it to your address in the USA, but the proper addressing format would be to have the bottom line read the country of destination. The ZIP should go on the same line as City and State. The Street (or PO Box) should go on the line above City, State, and ZIP code.
Amy, it's been awhile since I've worked in extreme heat (mid-90s and above would be my unscientific definition), but I'll just give you some generic advice. The suggestions I have are: 1) Keep hydrated. Even if you aren't thirsty just keep drinking. Many liquids are lost through perspiration, and if you need to take more bathroom breaks, you just do so. It is rare I get a headache from the extreme heat and I credit that to drinking water or other non-diuretic liquids. 2) Wear as light as clothing as possible. 3) Keep your head covered with a wide-brimmed hat to protect from the sunlight. I've found this to be more comfortable then not wearing a hat. 4) Don't exert yourself too much. The pressures of the job have some letter carriers rushing through their routes, but that could tire you out quickly if it is very hot outside. I keep a moderate, rational, pace, and if anyone ever questioned why it took longer to deliver a mail route (not common to be questioned especially in weather extremes), I'd just say it was for health and safety reasons. As an aside, the heat never bothered me compared to very cold conditions. I realize that you can cover yourself sufficiently when it's extremely cold, but my extremities still hurt when exposed. It's difficult for me to feel the mail if my fingers aren't touching the mail directly. I hope this helps. Basically, it comes down to preparation and hydration.
It depends on who your letter carrier is. Some will give it to you ahead of time and others will want to place it in the mailbox so they know you have legitimate access to your mailbox. As long as I knew the individual resided at the address associated with the package or they could prove it with identification, I would hand them the package. In my career I've never had a problem. Please remember that not every letter carrier behaves the same way. Thank you for the question.
Birthday Party Clown
Investment Banker
Veterinarian
I think it should be 2-3 days for First Class Mail from California to Arizona. Our mail transportation is pretty reliable when it comes to meeting our delivery service goals as long as the mail isn't missorted or misdelivered.
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.
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.
-OR-
(max 20 characters - letters, numbers, and underscores only. Note that your username is private, and you have the option to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
(A valid e-mail address is required. Your e-mail will not be shared with anyone.)
(min 5 characters)
By checking this box, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to Jobstr.com’s Terms and Privacy Policy.
-OR-
(Don't worry: you'll be able to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)