Ask a Mailman (City Letter Carrier) anything

Can my landlord put a stamp on an envelope and post it to my residential / home mail box?

Asked by Joel S almost 11 years ago

I think what you are asking me is if your landlord can put a stamp on an envelope and put it directly in your mailbox. I don't know the answer to that but mail should probably be processed through our mail delivery system. By putting postage on the envelope they are paying to have something put in a mailbox so I'm not sure that it's technically wrong. There is a possibility that if its in your mailbox with uncanceled postage on it, a letter carrier may assume it's outgoing mail and take it with them as we usually don't look at the destination address for outgoing mail. Thank you for writing.

624 Votes

Can a mail carrier talk for hours on the job(2–3) with just one person,give people rides in her mail truck, and take car rides with neighbors while still in uniform? This is the worst mail carrier I've had. Everyone in my apartment also gets few mail

Asked by Caroline almost 11 years ago

I am appalled at these observations of a mail carrier. If they are a city letter carrier, they aren't allowed to do any of the as far as I know. The actions seem completely unprofessional and probably against postal regulations. I would never give someone a ride in my mail truck or even have enough time to talk to one person on the route. If I talk to someone for even a few minutes I start to get anxious that I'll be late returning to the PO from my delivery route. I don't think it is against the rules to take a ride with someone while you are in uniform as long as the mail is secured in the postal delivery vehicle. We are authorized a 30 minute lunch break, two 10-minute breaks, plus whatever bathroom breaks are necessary. I have heard stories like you have told while reading some Facebook Forums or message boards. They are definitely working somewhere I'm not familiar with and with a management who doesn't care to do anything about this. I believe in an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. People like you have observed have probably been ripping off the USPS and the ratepayers for years. There are definitely other USPS workers who would disagree strongly with my comments, but this is how I see it. If you know for sure you aren't getting all of your mail, you could bring it to the attention of the delivery supervisor of your local PO. I would question how you would know you are missing anything. It's possible that your apartment complex residents don't receive a lot of mail. Thanks for writing.

624 Votes

I have an interview Thursday to be a city carrier, is it possible for me to carrier four days and go to school the other two?

Asked by N ADAMS over 10 years ago

I don't know this answer since I don't work in the hiring area and don't know what the conversations are like. My guess from what I've seen is that it's not likely that a 4-day schedule will be allowed and then 2 days at school. The CCAs in our office have to sometimes work on Sunday delivering Amazon.com packages. I think that CCAs are supposed to be available on a very dynamic schedule so I don't know if you could get an agreement from the USPS to guarantee no work on the days you'd like to go to school. It doesn't hurt to ask and just because I haven't seen it done doesn't mean it's not possible. Good luck.

624 Votes

Do you guys deliver mail on christmas eve?

Asked by Mike over 10 years ago

Yes, we deliver on 12/24/15 Thursday. At the office where I work, we will try to be done by 1600. After that, we will next deliver mail on Saturday 12/26/15. Christmas Eve is a regular work day except that our retail window may close earlier than usual.

623 Votes

Postal Carrier delivered over 150 postcards to ONE hotel that I paid to deliver to every home and business. What are my rights for damage caused to my 15 businesses I represent that depend on revenue from it?

Asked by Phil almost 11 years ago

Phil, it sounds like you were using our EDDM Retail service which allows mailers to target an area of the town with a simplified (unaddressed) mailing which would go to each address on a route or group of routes. EDDM stands for Every Door Direct Mail. It has been very popular since it was introduced by the USPS several years ago. It is very bad that a postal carrier would deliver it to just one address though I have heard this complaint before. I don't know what your rights are re: a refund of the mailing costs. I'd contact your local postmaster or escalate to our consumer affairs department (which I think we have) to try and make sure it doesn't happen again. I don't believe you are eligible for any damage beyond the cost of the postage, but I could be wrong about this. Hearing a complaint like this doesn't surprise me as I get the impression that these mailings (EDDM) aren't treated as well as addressed mail but absolutely should be. We are paid to deliver the mail accordingly. I'm sorry that you had this bad experience with the USPS and hope you would give us another chance.

623 Votes

Hi again i got everything figured out with my postcard and am going to be sending out 10,000 at once. Would i be able to get a bulk discount for this? or would it be wiser to pay for first class postage? and will they be delivered the same either way

Asked by Andrew over 10 years ago

I didn't realize you'd be doing such a large mailing. I believe that amt of postcards would qualify for a discount but sometimes it depends on the quantity of pieces for a certain area, how the mailing is prepared, and where you enter it into the system (some large mailings are cheaper to drop off at a mail plant vs. a local PO). The name for a bulk mailing discount is usually called presort standard and presort first class Mail. The standard doesn't get handled as quickly as first class mail which is why it's cheaper. I am sure the answer is quite a bit more complex than what I've told you. Some resources that I'd look for are the Direct Marketing Association or search for "USPS bulk mailing discounts" or "basics of bulk mailing USPS". If stamps or meters are not affixed to your postcards you can't just drop them in a mailbox. The mailing would need to be processed through the BMEU (business mail entry unit). You may also need to get a bulk mailing permit to use an indicia and get a discount. I don't know these details at all. You ask good questions but my area of knowledge has more to do with the job of a city letter carrier. That is why I'm not being any more specific. Anything I've typed here is what I've learned over the years by asking my associates similar questions that you have asked. None of this knowledge is necessary to be a letter carrier.

623 Votes

On parcels/spurs that have the insured blue label and/or signature confirmations, does the customer have to sign in person at post office, same true for domestic registered? Some carriers check item at P.O. cust signs 3849, what is policy on that

Asked by jrv about 11 years ago

I think I understand your question. You are asking if an item that is insured or signature confirmation can be signed for on a 3849 and left out by the customer for the item to be delivered without the customer present or do they have to sign for it at a PO. In the area where I deliver mail, it is sufficient for a signed 3849 to be an authorization to leave an item at the address even if nobody is present. For domestic registered mail, I'd advise against this because the items may contain very valuable items so I might be uncomfortable just leaving them without a recipient available. I rarely get domestic registered (red label) mail to deliver so I can't say for sure what I do in each situation. To me, domestic registered mail is the most secure service we offer and needs to be treated accordingly.

623 Votes

Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

Can my landlord put a stamp on an envelope and post it to my residential / home mail box?

Can a mail carrier talk for hours on the job(2–3) with just one person,give people rides in her mail truck, and take car rides with neighbors while still in uniform? This is the worst mail carrier I've had. Everyone in my apartment also gets few mail

I have an interview Thursday to be a city carrier, is it possible for me to carrier four days and go to school the other two?

Do you guys deliver mail on christmas eve?

Also on Jobstr...

Postal Carrier delivered over 150 postcards to ONE hotel that I paid to deliver to every home and business. What are my rights for damage caused to my 15 businesses I represent that depend on revenue from it?

Hi again i got everything figured out with my postcard and am going to be sending out 10,000 at once. Would i be able to get a bulk discount for this? or would it be wiser to pay for first class postage? and will they be delivered the same either way

On parcels/spurs that have the insured blue label and/or signature confirmations, does the customer have to sign in person at post office, same true for domestic registered? Some carriers check item at P.O. cust signs 3849, what is policy on that

Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

Can my landlord put a stamp on an envelope and post it to my residential / home mail box?

Can a mail carrier talk for hours on the job(2–3) with just one person,give people rides in her mail truck, and take car rides with neighbors while still in uniform? This is the worst mail carrier I've had. Everyone in my apartment also gets few mail

I have an interview Thursday to be a city carrier, is it possible for me to carrier four days and go to school the other two?

Do you guys deliver mail on christmas eve?

Also on Jobstr...

Postal Carrier delivered over 150 postcards to ONE hotel that I paid to deliver to every home and business. What are my rights for damage caused to my 15 businesses I represent that depend on revenue from it?

Hi again i got everything figured out with my postcard and am going to be sending out 10,000 at once. Would i be able to get a bulk discount for this? or would it be wiser to pay for first class postage? and will they be delivered the same either way

On parcels/spurs that have the insured blue label and/or signature confirmations, does the customer have to sign in person at post office, same true for domestic registered? Some carriers check item at P.O. cust signs 3849, what is policy on that

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