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

Is it possible for a mail carrier to overlook mail that is supposed to be delivered to you?

Asked by Ariel about 10 years ago

Definitely. Most of the time we deliver the mail that you are supposed to receive, but it's possible that the mail for you has been missorted and will show up later on the delivery route and the letter carrier doesn't backtrack the same day to bring it to you. You should get the mail the next delivery day. If the mail was misdelivered to another address it could be days (if at all) for you to receive the mail you are supposed to. The reason is because if mail is misdelivered its up to the errant recipient to put the mail back in a mailbox to be correctly delivered. They may do it right away, in a few days, or not at all.

546 Votes

What do you do if the mail does not fit in the mailbox
Example: there is a box to go into the mailbox but it doesn't fit for whatever reason, what do you do?

Asked by Roy potter about 10 years ago

I'll tell you what I do in this situation (which is common) but I can't say what each carrier will do and I'm sure it also varies by location. We deliver many parcels that won't fit into a mailbox. I bring the item to the front door of the house and leave it on the side of the door. I rarely ring a door bell since I don't need to see anybody to give the mail to. I also work in a neighborhood where mail/package theft is close to non-existent. If you live an apartment building or an area where mail can't just be left near a front door then the letter carrier might leave a PS 3849 Delivery Notice/Reminder/Receipt to notify the recipient that we have mail for you to retrieve from the PO or allow you to authorize delivery and leave mail at a specified location.

546 Votes

Can a unassigned regular with a hold down bump a comp person off his tour on a route that is vacant until it goes up for bid.. Not fair and where does the comp person go if no open route on comp tour

Asked by JVITTO48 about 10 years ago

I am going to have to pass on answering this question with any authority because I don't know the union contract when it comes to this subject. It's also possible that a local agreement governs what is done. It makes sense to me that an unassigned regular can hold down a vacant route until it is put up for bid. They also shouldn't be bumped off that route unless it's the non-scheduled day for that route. In that situation the comp person would usually do the route on the day they are supposed to. If there is no available routes to do on a comp persons group of 5 routes there is usually another route for them to cover. The above is just based on what I've seen done at the PO where I work. I can't even say that my info is accurate. We usually treat hold downs to mean that the carrier holding it down has many of the rights as the regular carrier on the route, but not necessarily all. This is where it gets confusing to me about bumping rights.

546 Votes

Can I stop receiving letters from a particular sender?

Asked by Lois about 10 years ago

I am not sure if you can. An option is to contact the sender by phone or another means and request to not be sent any mail. If the mail is First class you can write "refused" on the envelope and it will be returned to the sender. Generally any mail that is sent as Presorted Standard (bulk mail) will just get discarded at the local PO if you write "refused" on the mail. The sender would never know you didn't want that mail. I'd just recommend that you discard/recycle any mail you don't want. For the most part customers I deliver mail to don't refuse many letters and probably just throw away anything they don't want. If they give it back to me I handle it as above (either discard the PO where I work or return it to the sender).

546 Votes

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A certified letter was sent out to me on Jan 13 and it's the 21st. Still have not received it and when I try to track it all it says it's in transit. Desnt say where it is. I called local post office and all they say is its on the truck. What do I d

Asked by Ann about 10 years ago

It's odd for someone to say "it's on the truck" when the tracking seems very non-specific and sounds like it hasn't been updated. 8 days is too long for a certified letter to reach you unless the item was missorted en route and was either misdelivered or is sitting at a PO and nothing is being done with it. I don't know what to tell you to do except to wait a few more days. After that, you could contact the sender and say you never received the letter though they would have the same information as the online tracking.

546 Votes

With you having longevity as a carrier your service is appreciated! With your expertise do you think it would be hard to carry a 7hr route for a rookie carrier?

Asked by PK about 10 years ago

Thanks for the compliment PK. I've been delivering mail for more than 16 years now. I've had a lot of personal ups and downs, mostly off the job, but glad to have continued to work and have the job security of the USPS. If you mean delivering mail for 7 hours, I think that would be hard for most people. But if you mean 7 hours street time that is a bit different because then you'd factor in loading time,lunch and breaks and travel time to/from your route. The route I deliver is approximately 6:40 total but only 5:20 Apprx is actually delivering mail. It's not too exhausting except if the mail load is heavy. My hints are to try to be as organized as you can, don't engage in too much small talk with the customers, and get a good nights rest and have a healthy breakfast. That all works for me. Everybody is different plus the difficulty of the route may vary between cities. I deliver on a flat terrain besides walking up steps to the mailboxes. If you have to walk a lot of hills that could make you more tired. Good luck to you and what might be a 7-hour route could take you longer or shorter based on the above factors.

545 Votes

if someone moves and don't put a fwd what should i do with there mail

Asked by china about 10 years ago

I'd recommend that if you received the mail for someone who previously lived at your residence but didn't put in a forward for you to put the mail back in your mailbox and you can write on it "moved" or "doesn't live here anymore". The letter carrier should take it and not redeliver it to you. You also have the option to discard since nobody would really know but I feel that is the wrong thing to do. By putting the mail back in the mailbox you alert the letter carrier that the person has moved from that address.

545 Votes

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