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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1237 Questions

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Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

Can my mailman hand my package to my neighbor for her to give to me, without my permission ?

Asked by sunnywithachanceofrain over 10 years ago

I generally wouldn't do that unless I knew the neighbors were friends with each other and could be trusted to give the package to the correct recipient. I've never been in this situation since I can leave packages at a customers house without someone home to receive it. I don't know technically what we are allowed to do without your permission but we are trusted to protect the US mail and deliver it safely to the correct address.

602 Votes

If the mail man doesn't find the address does he keep the mail at post office?

Asked by Tenzin chonyi almost 11 years ago

Maybe for a day or so to see if anybody in the PO knows where that address is. Being that I deliver mail to the same neighborhood each day I know if a piece of mail has a valid address on it or not. It's possible if there is a replacement letter carrier delivering mail on a certain day and they can't find an address they will bring back the mail and then possibly the regular letter carrier on the route or somebody else would know where the address is. More often than not when mail has an address that can't be found (or the address doesn't even exist), we will endorse the mail as "NSN" which means "No Such Number" and it will be returned to the sender. The USPS has a national database of all valid addresses so we usually know at the PO if an address exists or not.

601 Votes

Hi. Though my apt # says REAR, the mail carrier throws my packages over the front gate, that I don't have a key to open, vs the rear gate. I've discussed this with him in person before. No change. How can I get him to deliver the packages correctly?

Asked by B. over 10 years ago

I'm not really sure how to answer this question because I would have suggested speaking with the letter carrier or delivery supervisor to make it clear where your apt. is and that you have no access to the packages in the front of the house as the gate is locked and you have no key. You have already done that according to your question. Is the rear apt. accessible to the letter carrier without the key? Where does the mail get delivered to? is it safe to go to the rear of the house? I agree that it's lousy that the carrier just throws the parcels to the front. Possibly a replacement letter carrier delivering the route doesn't realize they can go to the rear even though the packages say so. I would contact the PO and say that situation hasn't been resolved. I'm not sure how much help they will be but you deserve a clear answer and good service from us.

600 Votes

On mail box cluster Iw do know which solt each person's mail goes in

Asked by Mark almost 10 years ago

If a neighborhood has cluster boxes, it's usually a group of 6-30 addresses per cluster box. I actually made up that number. Where I deliver to cluster boxes, they range from 4-16 addresses per cluster box. As the letter carrier, I have a key which opens up the cluster box fully and then i can sort all of the mail for those addresses at one time. The boxes are usually well labeled inside (with the cluster panel open) to know where to put the mail. It's important for the letter carrier to know whether to put the mail either above or below the address if the slots are stacked vertically. I have seen my fellow letter carriers, and I'm sure myself make errors in deliveries to cluster boxes. I also live in an apartment building where mail is delivered into cluster boxes near the elevators. It can get more tedious than walking from door to door delivering mail but it is more efficient to deliver mail to cluster box units.

600 Votes

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if you are a us postal service worker can you solicit your own business while delivering your route?

Asked by Pepito over 10 years ago

I think it is inappropriate to solicit your own business while delivering a route for the USPS. I haven't heard of anyone being disciplined for doing this, but I would think that it is technically not allowed. I know of a couple of co-workers who do home improvements, landscaping, or sprinkler work as side jobs but don't know if they actually try to get business while delivering mail. If they want to do a postcard mailing to try and get business I suppose that would be fine as long as proper postage was paid for the mailing and they didn't just put their own postcards in mailboxes while delivering the mail and not affixing postage to it.

600 Votes

I had my bank mail a check to someone but it was sent to an incorrect address. The check was cashed/stolen. Would the carrier leave it at an address even though the name was not someone who lived there? Should it have been returned to the sender?

Asked by Nonni5 almost 11 years ago

I can't say for sure what should have happened with the check that was mailed to the wrong address. It is bad that the check was cashed by an unintended party. A letter carrier doesn't always know who lives at each address and there are many days where a replacement carrier or CCA (City Carrier Assistant) is delivering the mail. If I'm not sure that piece of mail should go the address on the envelope, I will likely deliver it anyway with a "?" written next to the name. Hopefully the resident at the address would put the envelope back in the mail if it doesn't belong to them and write "doesn't live here" on the outside.

600 Votes

I need to leave a payment for a company and she is not home. ..can I leave the payment in an envelope in her mailbox

Asked by louann over 10 years ago

I wouldn't recommend it unless you put a stamp on the envelope. The reason I say this is because the mailbox is only supposed to be used for US Mail with proper postage. That being said, if you leave the envelope in the mailbox clearly marked for the recipient company or resident with no postage it's possible the letter carrier would notice it and just leave it in the mailbox. That is what I would do but I can't speak for another letter carrier who isn't paying attention and just takes an envelope that looks like it could be outgoing mail. If you put the payment envelope in the mailbox with the address and postage it could be taken as outgoing mail but you can rest assured it will get to the recipient within a couple of days as a regular piece of mail. If possible, could you find an alternate place to put the payment or pay electronically?

599 Votes

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