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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Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

Hello I have a question for you, if I played for the flat rate overnight shipping with usps, why does the tracking number tell me that I won't get it for two days? I sent it out on Friday they said it won't get there until Monday.

Asked by Rashelle thompson over 9 years ago

I was looking at the USPS website about Priority Mail Express and it says that there is a guaranteed delivery date but it's not available in all areas to be exactly the next day. We used to deliver Express Mail on Sunday but that may be only available in certain places. If you sent the item out on Friday it was possibly past the deadline for Saturday delivery and the destination PO may not offer Sunday Priority Mail express delivery. In this case the item you mailed will be delivered Monday. There is a decent amount of information about Priority Mail Express on USPS.com. Be sure to read the disclaimers as it pertains to service being available 365 days per year.

I got a voicemail saying "This is your mailman, I've got certified mail for. Are you home?" I live in an apartment complex. How did the mailman get my phone number?

Asked by Asmabone1 over 9 years ago

It's pretty rare but sometimes a phone number is printed on the outside of the envelope. I've never heard of a mailman calling a customer to tell him about a certified letter but that doesn't mean it can't happen. If we can't deliver a certified letter the normal procedure is to leave a form called a PS 3849 in your mail receptacle informing you of our delivery attempt and how to go about receiving the certified letter. If I were you I'd ignore the VM unless they were very specific and it's something you were expecting. They also could have looked up your phone number but it's not part of our normal procedure and if it was a mobile # it wouldn't show up on any directory.

They give my returned letters back asking me why i am returning it. Isnt that a breach of privacy rightt; flagging my mai? Do i have to explain harrassement to themnand why i am returning it?

Asked by donna faulkner over 9 years ago

You don't need to explain to any USPS employee why you are returning the mail. It is none of our business. As long as it is an unopened, first-class letter, you should be able to just write "refused" on it and have it returned. Personally I would just discard any unwanted mail. I've received debt collection letters in the past and have just ignored them and not returned them. There are certain classes of mail where we won't return to the sender because the sender has paid a pre-sorted standard rate (which is lower than the first-class rate). In that case, we just recycle any unwanted mail.

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 9 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.

My boyfriend is just started working for the USPS and has only been by himself for 2 days and they are complaining that he isn't going fast enough. It's a 14 mile walking round and the want him to start at 8.30 and be done by 12.30 is this realistic?

Asked by aallee over 9 years ago

It doesn't sound reasonable to me to even have a 14-mile walking route to begin with. That is walking more than a half-marathon daily. If you had zero mail to deliver and walked 14 miles you may be able to cover the route in 4 hours if walk at 3.5 MPH. That is faster than most people walk or at least about the average walking speed. Please tell your boyfriend to do the best he can, walk safely, and that the rate he is being asked to walk at is unrealistic. I just did a quick internet search for "average walking speed" and it is 3.1 MPH. This doesn't include delivering mail or any weight added if your boyfriend is carrying a satchel of mail. USPS management is known for being unreasonable at times.

On the topic of keeping dry, have you come across a good brand of gloves that keep your hands dry and warm during these colder months of rain and chills?

Asked by Kruesser about 9 years ago

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.

The mailman just knocked on our door and asked my name and I said yes that's me. He did not give me anything he only said the form he was holding was for him to report something and he left. Now I'm worried what it was he needed to report?

Asked by Michael Peterson over 9 years ago

Thanks for your question. We do sometimes get requests from attorneys or collection agencies or process servers which ask us to verify if a certain name received mail at a certain address. I don't know what the form is called but I believe this is legal as long as the proper procedures are followed by the requesting party. They will also ask if they have moved and, if so, what is the new address for the person in question. I receive these forms not too often. If I do get this written request, I just tell the registry clerk or supervisor what the status is of that name because I pretty much know all the names of people who receive mail on my postal route. As far as I know it's usually for a legal matter or debt recovery issue.