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

Why would I have 3 different mail carriers that deliver to my residence. Sometimes one will deliver to my neighbor and not me. Then diffrent carrier comes to me later that day. Its like they randomly deliver in my area.

Asked by Brent over 9 years ago

This happens sometimes if a route is divided up for the day and perhaps the "dividing line" is near your house. This happens a lot when we are shorthanded, so other carriers may deliver their own route and then a part of another route. I know it may look inefficient and random, but that's what happens when people do "pieces" on other routes. It is sometimes inefficient and random due to poor management or short staffing. Some POs face this issue more than others. It is especially common in the summer months when many co-workers go on vacation but it certainly can be an issue year round.

I didnt see any letter come still from 10 days ago. and i miss my payment. so whats wrong?

Asked by zexing cen almost 10 years ago

I am not sure what you mean by your question but it sounds like a letter you sent or are expecting to receive for 10 days hasn't arrived. Maybe it was a payment you were looking to have credited. It is likely the item has been lost or misdelivered in the mail stream. I'd give it a few more days to see if the letter shows up, but no guarantee it will. It is important that the letter had proper postage and the correct address whether it was coming to you or wherever you were mailing it to. I can't be sure what is wrong.

I was a floater who just got a route. Does my salary go down with getting a route in office as opposed to 5 different routes

Asked by jvitto48 almost 10 years ago

I think you would like having your own route. It's a lot more relaxing than having to deal with 5 different carriers and their personalities.  As far as pay goes, you are correct. It does decrease when you have your own route. It's not a significant decrease IMO. If you do a web search for City Carrier Pay Chart or Pay Scale, that should help. Also, you may go to www.nalc.org where the pay chart is available. You would look at City Carrier Level 1 and the table based on when you were hired. The yearly difference between a floater and someone with their own route probably never gets to be more than $1600, but the pay chart would show it more clearly. 

Thanks for the reply! And as far as anything illegal,I have been getting there mail every now and then,with a name similar to my dad's?? This person was living in neighborhood, but background indicates another current address,also very close by??

Asked by DwB44 almost 10 years ago

That certainly sounds fishy, especially with mail of a similar name to your Dad, and also nearby addresses. I suppose you could alert local law enforcement or USPS Postal Inspection Service but have no idea what their response would be. If mail arrives at your address with dad's name a little bit "off", he could open it and if it's anything like an unpaid bill he could either do nothing about or call the creditor and say that it's not him.

if my supervisor ask me to drive a vehicle, can I tell him that I prefer to do some work that doesn't require me to drive?

Asked by David almost 10 years ago

David, you certainly may say you prefer a non-driving delivery assignment, but I don't know if that will be honored. Quite honestly driving a postal vehicle is sometimes a fundamental part of the job, I know you were hired in Manhattan so that driving a postal vehicle may not be as vital. If you don't want to drive a vehicle, you are of more limited use to the organization which relies on the flexibility of the CCA workforce. I don't want to get your hopes up that it will be fine to avoid driving s postal vehicle all of the time. The truth is I don't know how it works in Manhattan, but most communities around the US would likely need you to drive.

Is there turth in the fact that a mailman needs to deliver the man no matter what (bad weather, disaster, difficult mailboxes, etc.). If so why do mailman sometimes refuse to deliver mail? Why do they request for you to pick it up, if delivery is job

Asked by Curious mail questioner over 9 years ago

It's not true that we deliver in all conditions no matter what. If a letter carrier thinks it is too dangerous to deliver mail to an address they can refuse to do so no just need to tell the supervisor when they return to the post office. It's rare that I'd not deliver mail, but some of my co-workers may not try as hard to deliver the mail. It's usually better to try and get the mail delivered. This way we don't have to bring it back another day with even more mail. I'm not sure why they request mail to be picked up. If there is road construction it is sometimes difficult to get to houses, or roads could be flooded, or snowed out. We are supposed to attempt delivery each day to each address. Our unofficial motto has to do with delivering mail in all comditions, but that is a bit more folklore than reality.

Hi I wanted to know, if I placed a letter with just a name and no stamp into someone's mailbox would the mailman take it, or leave it?

Asked by Gina kennard almost 10 years ago

I think many letter carriers would just leave it because they may notice right away that there is no address on it or stamp. I can't speak for all letter carriers because there are many of us who don't pay attention and just take what's in the mailbox as outgoing mail. I don't think this good for them to do but some of my co-workers are clueless or are possibly paying attention to their smart phone vs. paying attention to the task at hand. To be honest, the mailbox should only be used for US Mail. My advice would be to not leave this letter in someone's mailbox to guard against the above scenario happening. To sum up my answer in one word: maybe.