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.
Yes, stamps are required. I believe what is printed in the upper right hand corner of the postcard is known as an indicia. That is to indicate to the USPS has been paid for the postage but only after being brought to. Business Mail Entry Unit (a BMEU). In that case no additional postage is required. To answer your question you aren't using EDDM so after you affix the address label, you would need to put a .49 Forever stamp on each card since I believe the card exceeds the dimensions for a .35 postcard. I believe I'm correct about all of this but it wouldn't hurt to physically go into a Post Office and see if any of the retail clerks or supervisors can give you a more definitive answer. Good luck with the mailing and your business.
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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.
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Congratulations on sticking with the job as the CCAs really get the brunt of a lot of the work and have unpredictable schedules at times. With regard to making your shoes last longer, I don't know if I have a good answer. My shoes get wet in the rain as well and I didn't realize that the water sometimes accelerates the breakdown of the shoe, but I do notice it as of late. My main suggestion for making the shoes last with regard to not getting them wet is to wear rubber overshoes which can be purchased with the uniform allowance. Tingley is a well known brand for these products. They keep your shoes dry but when it's not wet out you wouldn't want to wear them as the rubber may wear out easier walking on dry ground. When wearing these be careful to get them on with a tight fit with regards to your toes and heel because you may trip easier with loose fitting rubber overshoes.
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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.
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I see on a map you are referring to towns in MN that are about 55 miles apart. That's the mileage from Chaska, MN to Zimmerman, MN. I'd say it's approximately 2 days to get from the origin to the destination. For example, if the letter was mailed on a Tuesday before the collection deadline it should be delivered by Thursday. I hope this answers your question. It's also not a good idea to send actual cash through the mail if you can avoid it.
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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.
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I generally don't wear winter boots but I wear rubber overshoes if there is snow on the ground. These are the same thing I'd wear if it were raining outside. The brand I use is Tingley and they come in at least 3 dfferent height overshoes. They aren't really warm so I wear thermal socks in the winter so my feet and toes don't freeze.
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