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

Ive heard that mailmen have to park at the end of the street and walk the route instead of driving from house to house..Is that true?

Asked by patty almost 10 years ago

Now you're speaking my language Patty. This is exactly how I deliver much of my postal route. The mailboxes where I deliver mail are at the door as opposed to at the street. If the mailboxes are at the street, the letter carrier can usually remain in their vehicle and go house to house. That is called a mounted or curbside delivery method. When the houses aren't too far apart and are on both sides of the street, I'll park at the end of a block, walk down one side delivering the mail, cross over to the other side and return to my vehicle after delivering both sides of the street. That is called a relay. From the same parking spot, I can sometimes deliver up to 3 relays of mail. The method described is called the 'park and loop' method. It is efficient because you can often cross lawns without having to continuously walk to the street and move the vehicle. The relays on the route I deliver range in length from 14-28 houses.

486 Votes

Has the mail already been delivered on Stonesboro Rd Ft Washington Maryland today 4/8/2016

Asked by Sophia Woodland over 9 years ago

As I'm writing this reply on April 12, I'm pretty sure that the mail has been delivered on stonesboro rd in ft Washington, MD by now for April 8. ???? This q and a isn't for USPS customer service or any real-time questions. I mostly answer questions about being a letter carrier and possibly make suggestions if someone has a customer service problem that doesn't need immediate attention. With regards to your question, I think that only your local PO would know when and if mail was delivered to your street.

486 Votes

Today I accidently dropped a bunch of mail in the Express Priority Blue Box. This was mail for my job so it is important documents. Will this mail be sorted correctly and reach its destination in a timely manner? Or will this be severely delayed?

Asked by Lisa Needs help please! over 9 years ago

Lisa, in my experience your mail should be processed normally so you need not worry. I don't often collect mail from the blue boxes as part of my assignment but if I saw regular mail in the Express Priority Blue Box I'd just put it with other outgoing mail in my postal vehicle and it'd be treated normally. I've never heard of outgoing mail being delayed by this. Thank you for your question.

486 Votes

put my company's mail in the Priority Express blue box instead of the regular one. Will these important documents be sorted correctly and reach their destination> Also will they be delayed severely because of this or arrive in a reasonable time? TNX

Asked by Lisa is going to be in trouble! over 9 years ago

I don't think you will be in trouble. Lisa, in my experience your mail should be processed normally so you need not worry. I don't often collect mail from the blue boxes as part of my assignment but if I saw regular mail in the Express Priority Blue Box I'd just put it with other outgoing mail in my postal vehicle and it'd be treated normally. I've never heard of outgoing mail being delayed by this. Thank you for your question.

486 Votes

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Makes sense to start on a Saturday, but bid states 02/19. Thanks for the insight

Asked by jvitto48 almost 10 years ago

You're welcome. I just always like to state here that I have never read the National Agreement between the USPS and the National Association of Letter Carriers so a lot of what I say is based on what I've seen at my particular PO as well and by attending some local union meetings. I do a little research online but I'm not lawyer and am not dedicated enough to research deeply to see if there are rules on certain issue mentioned in the National Agreement. Congratulations on getting a route assignment.

485 Votes

I was just hired as a CCA. Are the horror stories about literally never getting a day off true?

Asked by Thekraken almost 10 years ago

Congratulations on being hired as a CCA for the USPS. I can't say for sure that it's true that you won't get a day off. From what I've seen, the CCAs where I work often work 7 days a week but it seems after a couple of weeks they are given a day off. I don't know if there are any rules that you must be given a day off after working a certain amount of consecutive days. It may depend on the staffing level of your facility. I hope that you have chosen to join the NALC. Whether you have or not, a shop steward may have a better answer than I've given you on whether or not you are required to work unlimited days in a row. I'm also on a Facebook group for postal workers. One is NALC and the other is Postal Maniacs. If you join them, you could post this same question and get answers from actual CCAs. Good luck to you. Please work safely and deliver the mail accurately. Sunday delivery usually consists of Amazon.com package delivery, not regular mail.

485 Votes

this morning I asked our letter carrier what was the last name of a neighbor. is that illegal to give out that info ??

Asked by John over 8 years ago

John, I would say it breaks a code of confidentiality that we are expected to maintain as letter carriers. We are rarely reminded of this but I'm pretty sure we shouldn't give out that information. As to whether it's illegal or not I can't comment on that. In the past I have given out little bits of information about some neighbors to others but it's rare and I shouldn't have done that. I do realize that some neighbors are friends with each other and others aren't. It's always better to be on the safe side as a letter carrier not to give out information about anyone else. One can't get in trouble that way. On another note, I rarely would comment to a customer as to what I'm delivering them when I see them. For example,I wouldn't say "your phone bill is here or looks like your wife was ordering from Kohl's again". As much as those comments may seem benign I try to be mostly professional when speaking with customers.

485 Votes

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