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.
I only wish I had the problem of being asked out on dates! Just kidding, and I don't mean to make light of your question. You shouldn't have to feel uncomfortable when the letter carrier comes into your office. They shouldn't be flirting with you or asking you out on dates unless it somehow seems that the feeling would be mutual. It's not a bad idea to make it clear that you aren't interested in going out with him. I know that is easier said than done. You could call the delivery supervisor or postmaster to report this but I have a feeling that might make things worse. His behavior seems quite unprofessional. I don't think it's forbidden to ask a customer to go out socially, but they shouldn't push the issue or make the customer feel awkward if they aren't interested. To answer your question about locating your home address, we don't have access to any better resources than one would have doing an Internet search. If he ever showed up at your house unexpectedly, I think I'd alert law enforcement that you may have a stalker and to let them know where he knows you from. Maybe they could tell this letter carrier to knock off that inappropriate behavior. Furthermore, we shouldn't be using information we see on mail to get information for our personal use. That is also unethical and may violate some privacy regulations. I wish you well and that the creepiness will cease.
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A CCA shouldn't have to memorize a delivery route as far as I know. I believe as long as you can read a map or use a smart phone GPS, you should be okay. Hopefully the postal management or a fellow letter carrier can give you written instructions and/or a map to help you. I know that if I give away part of my route for a CCA to deliver, I am expected to write down the delivery instructions including park points, vacant houses, certified mail, and Managed Service Points (which need to be scanned). I will admit that not every office or carrier is that well organized so there may be a level of "baptism by fire". The key for me is organization and reading a map if you are unfamiliar with an area.
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Based on the office where I work, there are about 25% female carriers. I can't say at all what it is at other locations. Lately, the CCAs who have been hired are more like 50% female. Some of them are quite petite so I don't know how they do the job lifting heavy parcels and walking with loaded mail satchels. I give them a lot of credit. I believe you should be able to lift up to 70 lbs, but I don't think that is tested and I see some carriers give their heavier parcels to a parcel post driver to deliver. I don't think that is necessarily fair that they don't have to carry the same load as I do, but I don't care enough to speak up or cause an unnecessary conflict.
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I don't have the answer because it differs from person to person. If the substitute carrier is conscientious and verifies the address on the mail the mailbox that he's leaving the mail in then it would probably be a low difference between the two. Some regular carriers make plenty of mistakes because they are in a hurry or maybe don't care. I am very conscientious but still make mistakes. When a substitute delivers my route, the results vary. Some days you think "great job" and other days it's "why don't they read the address and be more careful". Misdeliveries are a big pet peeve of mine. One reason is that you don't know if the errant recipient will put the mailpiece back for correct delivery or may just ignore or discard it. I don't feel enough education is put to our employees how important proper mail delivery is. I am fortunate now to have the same substitute carrier each week if I'm off and not asked to work overtime. He is very conscientious and reads all of the carrier alert cards I give him. Other substitute carriers have been good and bad.
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I don't have any insight on how to transfer to other offices besides eReassign or asking for a mutual exchange transfer (which are advertised in The Postal Record). One suggestion I have is to call any office directly that you may be interested in to see if there are openings. I don't know how this would be any different from eReassign. Mutual transfers aren't so easy because you have to find someone from the area you want to transfer to who wants to go to your area. Also, there is an issue with the seniority dates that are assumed by the transferees which I don't know about. Good luck, be patient, and I predict you eventually get a transfer. What's wrong with Long Island? I love working here but know it's not for everyone partially due to the cost of living.
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Another good question that I'll fail miserably at. It's hard to find good gloves that will keep your ha ss warm and dry plus allow you to easily finger the mail. While I walk I wear a pretty regular glove on the hand where I hold the mail and then may leave the hand I use to finger the mail exposed but put it in my pocket between houses to keep it somewhat warm. You may also purchase single use hand warmers which you can keep in your pocket and they should last you the whole work day. Some carriers wear sealskin type gloves. I've never tried some so I can't comment on how good they are. Basically I own many pairs of gloves and just do a lot of experimenting to get it right. If it's raining try and bring multiple pair so you can exchange out wet gloves for dry gloves.
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Hello GrannyBlu72! It was fine to drop the letter to your granddaughter in the Priority Express Blue Box on the street. That probably happens all of the time and the letter carrier who collects it would just put that envelope into the regular mail processing stream. As long as you used proper postage for what you mailed and put the correct address on the envelope, the letter will get to your granddaughter. When she receives it, however, is a different story. The letter would likely be collected from that blue collection box on Monday and if sent to the regional mail processing facility (which most mail is sent to even if addressed to the same town that it is mailed in), the turnaround time is usually 2 days. It is likely your granddaughter will receive the letter Wednesday. Until recently, mail within a certain processing area would take just 1-day to reach it's destination.
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