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.
Not often. I deliver the same route each day, so I pretty much know when residents move in or out. I deliver mail in an upper middle class community and there aren't many rentals and most houses are occupied. If mail begins to accumulate for awhile and I don't see any activity at the house and the grounds start to look more unkempt I may suspect a house is vacant. When most people move, they submit a change of address/forwarding order. This also gives me an indication that if I don't see a new residents name that the house could be vacant. At present, about 1% of the houses on my route are considered vacant and don't receive mail delivery. I'm sure in many other communities that aren't as well off economically there could be more vacant homes.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=do%20you%20come%20across%20a%20lot%20of%20vacant%20houses%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/17161)
I don't know about the law with regards to your question. It is certainly wrong for your roommate to be tampering with your mail and marking it "return to sender". I'd suggest asking him/her to stop doing it but it sounds like you don't have a good relationship if they are doing that to your mail. I can't say that this comes under the category of mail theft either. If you brought this question up to your local PO, I have no idea what they'd tell you. I could recommend that you rent a PO Box, but that costs money and isn't too convenient either when compared to home delivery. It's also not fair that you should have to get a PO Box because a roommate is not giving you your mail and sending it back. Another suggestion would be to call the US Postal Inspection Service, but this may not be in their jurisdiction as it's an internal matter in your residence.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Can%20charges%20be%20brought%20against%20my%20roommate%20for%20intercepting%20my%20mail%20and%20putting%20%22return%20to%20sender%22%20and%20sending%20it%20back%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/16463)
Most, if not all, letter carriers are now equipped with mobile scanning devices that transmit delivery data more or less in real time (I'm guessing a few minutes delay but not much more). With our previous scanning devices our delivery data was also transmitted but we had to have it paired with an older flip phone to transmit the data to our main computer system delivery database. Thanks for your question.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=If%20I%27m%20tracking%20priority%20mail%20will%20it%20show%20the%20package%20was%20delivered%20after%20delivery%20or%20when%20the%20mail%20carrier%20returns%20to%20the%20post%20office&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/16797)
Your mail shouldn't be returned because you don't pick it up daily. I've never heard of any obligation one has to pick up their mail at any specific interval. If the mailbox fills up, I know mail can be returned but I'm not sure if that means the overflow mail or the mail in the box already. In my experience it's very common for mail to be left in the mailbox for days. It doesn't bother me one bit and it's rare that the mailbox gets so full that action must be taken. Without knowing any further details, it sounds like your letter carrier is being a jerk and looking for conflict rather than providing quality service.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Can%20the%20mailman%20return%20my%20mail%20because%20I%20don%27t%20pick%20it%20up%20everyday%20as%20he%20says%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/16827)
Casino Marketer
What's the most unethical thing you've seen casinos do to "part you from your dollars?"
Hotel Travel Blog Active 2019
Can hotels see what I look at when connected to their in-room wifi?
School Teacher
Do you think teachers are underpaid? Why?
1) The PO that I work in has a lot of space inside. There are high ceilings and the main areas in the back are the carrier section, mail distribution, and parcel distribution. I work in the carrier section mostly. This area has sorting cases where we prepare any mail that has to be manually sorted into delivery order. The cases have individual dividers that hold the mail for one or two addresses. We stand up to work at these cases although a stool is provided should we need it. The mail clerks sort mail into cases based on the address on the mailpiece. The clerks are scheme-trained which means they know which route delivers the mail for that address. The parcels are sorted the same way but it's a large area because we receive so many parcels to deliver. The letter carriers take a hamper on wheels and "sweep" the mail from the clerk distribution case and then bring the mail to our own assigned carrier sorting case and sort the mail there. We mainly organize the parcels as we load our delivery vehicle. The bulk mailing/dispatch clerk has his own office and the postmaster has an office. The registry clerk has an office also because that is where the registered and accountable mail is secured. Besides that everyone else mainly works on an open floor of sorting equipment and desks. The sorting equipment is all manual. Any mail automation is done at a more central processing facility and trucked to our PO.
2) I don't deliver to many packages that need signatures. When I do attempt delivery of such a package and the person isn't home to receive it, I complete.PS Form 3849 and leave it in the customer's mailbox. This notifies them that we have attempted delivery of an item requiring a signature and they may pick it up at the PO or we can redeliver it on a future date. If the form is signed by the recipient, we can generally leave the package without the person being home. I work in a very safe community so it's unlikely a package would go missing due to theft. I think it's more common for us to misdeliver a package than for one to actually get stolen.
I hope this answers both of your questions.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Two%20questions%21%20%0A1.%20What%20is%20the%20office%20like%20on%20the%20inside%3F%20Who%20gets%20an%20office%3F%20How%2Fwhere%20do%20you%20pick%20up%20the%20mail%20YOU%20have%20to%20deliver%3F%0A2.%20When%20delivering%20packages%20that%20need%20signature%2C%20what%20would%20happen%20if%20the%20person%20is%20not%20home%3F%0A%28Thank%20you%21%20%29&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/16375)
I doubt that mail is picked up from the blue outside mailboxes on a federal holiday (02/15/16 Washington's Birthday, for example). I can only speak for where I work but I think there are no trucks with collection box mail going from most POs to a mail processing facility. At the PO where I work in Long Island, NY the building is shut on Sundays and Holidays (except for most of December when we deliver parcels from our PO) and nobody is emptying the blue outside collection boxes. In summary, whether you mail the letter this Monday (02/15/16) or Tuesday, (02/17/16) it shouldn't make a difference on the speed of processing it.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Wondering%20if%20mail%20is%20picked%20up%20from%20the%20blue%20outside%20mailboxes%20at%20the%20post%20office%20on%20a%20federal%20holiday%20%28like%202-15-2016%29%3F%20I%20figured%20I%20could%20drop%20it%20off%20tomorrow%20and%20it%20would%20be%20in%20the%20mail%20system%20and%20on%20its%20way%20one%20day%20earlier.%20It%27s%20a%20stamped%20envelope&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/16471)
From CA to FL it should take 4 days maximum for a letter to be received as long as it was addressed properly and had sufficient postage. I don't know what can be done since first class letters aren't trackable. It's possible for letters to get lost, misdelivered, or damaged in our machinery but that is all a pretty low percentage of mail. I would say be patient and hope it arrives soon at the FL destination.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=How%20long%20does%20it%20take%20to%20send%20a%20letter%20from%20Cali%20to%20Florida%20b%2Fc%20I%20already%20sent%20a%20letter%20from%20my%20place%28which%20is%20Cali%29to%20my%20friend%20in%20FL%20a%20week%20ago%20and%20up%20till%20now%20has%20been%208-9%20days%20and%20yet%20she%20still%20hasn%27t%20received%20any%20letter%20from%20me.What%20should%20I%20do%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/16286)
-OR-
Login with Facebook (max 20 characters - letters, numbers, and underscores only. Note that your username is private, and you have the option to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
(A valid e-mail address is required. Your e-mail will not be shared with anyone.)
(min 5 characters)
By checking this box, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to Jobstr.com’s Terms and Privacy Policy.
-OR-
Register with Facebook(Don't worry: you'll be able to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
Browse Jobs
Host a Q&A
Search
Submit Your Question
Host a Q&A
Last 7
