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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1235 Questions

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Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

We live in the country and my husband planted lilies around our mailbox. The mailman is alergic to bees so he sprayed the flowers and killed them. Now there are weeds he wants us to cut. Can he stop delivering our mail if we don't? He can spray.

Asked by Kate Tonnies over 8 years ago

I am not familiar with this situation on what the mailman is allowed to do or not with respect to spraying an area for bees and killing flowers and demanding weeds can be cut. I can tell you that the mailman does need to have unobstructed access to your mailbox with low/no risk of being stung by a bee that could affect his health. I'd say that he could suspend delivery to your house until the situation is fixed to his satisfaction. I just hope both parties will be reasonable and you won't worry about him being vindictive if you call the PO to discuss this issue with a delivery supervisor/manager/postmaster. I'm not sure what you mean by "he can spray". If you are asking, "can be spray?" I don't know this answer.

335 Votes

If a package was inadvertently RTS on a Saturday. Can it be picked up that same day once the mail carrier brings it back at the end of his shift?

Asked by Victoria over 8 years ago

I am not sure how to answer this correctly. If you can find the letter carrier who inadvertently RTS the package and positively ID that the package belongs to you, I don't see why not. I just don't have a lot of faith in some of my co-workers how helpful they would be if asked to find a package that they hadn't been in possession of. Actually it would be more of a supervisor issue to try and find the package. Either way I hope it worked out for you or whomever you wrote this for. We probably shouldn't have made the mistake in the first place unless the package was addressed improperly.

333 Votes

If I work for the Postal service can I have a 2 door car to deliver Mail. its a 2006 Honda Civic and I plan to put the steering in the right side but I want to make sure that a 2 door car is ok to Deliver mail in a personal car, and not a 4 door.

Asked by Vianey over 8 years ago

I don't know at all about the requirements for what vehicles are allowed for delivering US Mail. We use Postal-owned vehicles where I work. When I was first hired we sometimes used our own vehicles for mail delivery and didn't know of any requirements. We were only doing park and loop and foot routes with our own vehicles. The rural route carriers had privately owned right hand drive vehicles for mail delivery. I would recommend looking at the website or contacting the NRLCA, the National Rural Letter Carriers Association. I know that city carriers (which I am) would sign a CDOA which was a Carrier Drive Out Agreement that would stipulate what is required and what the compensation would be for using your own vehicle.

333 Votes

Is it against the law to mail a letter from a business outgoing box? I went on a run thinking that I would find a Blue box and all I found was an outgoing business gray box. I put it in there not thinking anything of it, now I'm worried.

Asked by Zach about 8 years ago

I am not too familiar with the outgoing mail gray business boxes. Was it inside a business that was on your run? It's not against any laws to mail a letter from an outgoing business gray box. As long as there is sufficient postage on the letter I don't see why you can't mail that from anywhere. It should be no problem at all. I just wouldn't know the schedule as to when the mail was picked up. If the letter carrier had already taken the mail for the day from the business gray box, it will likely get picked up the following delivery day.

332 Votes

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can a postman retrieve mail i sent if it's still in the recievers mailbox if i request it?

Asked by Danny Boy over 8 years ago

I don't think so. The request has never been made of me but generally once mail has been delivered it would seem to be in the possession of the recipient even if they haven't actually retrieved the item from their mailbox. I've also never heard of anybody else having this requested so my advice for the future is be careful what you mail because it is almost definitely a one-way trip.

331 Votes

Why would a "government official" (or someone driving a gov't use only vehicle) be following my mailman on his route?

Asked by JP almost 9 years ago

Supervisors or Postal Inspectors sometimes monitor carrier activities while they are delivering mail. Approximately 1x per year, a supervisor will spend much of the day going around your route with you and filling out a P Form 3999 (which describes the time and activities a route takes to complete). Sometimes they will be in a Gov't use vehicle or sometimes they can ride along in the delivery vehicle. Postal Inspectors have a law enforcement function so they may watch a carrier activities if they suspect something illegal. I have seen postal inspectors at the PO where I work just a couple of times in my many years of employment. When we are followed during the day by a supervisor, it's just a bit of annoyance and know it's part of their job. As long as the letter carrier is doing their job properly there is nothing to worry about.

331 Votes

what iare the percentages of mail delivered to the wrong address by the regular mail person versus a substitute carrier?

Asked by Marilyn over 7 years ago

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.

330 Votes

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