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

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 over 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. 

Can mail be forwarded to an address out of state if the person is not physically living in a residence in that state, due to health issues. Secondly, would that affect the persons medical benefits or tax issues in any capacity when filing taxes, etc

Asked by JVITTO48 almost 10 years ago

I can answer your question in two parts. The first question you have is about whether or not mail can be forwarded to an address out of state even if the person isn't living in a residence in that state. Mail can be forwarded anywhere that the USPS delivers to as long as there is a proper change of addresss authorization/request submitted to the USPS. The easiest way to do this is at USPS.com .

As far as affecting and medical benefits and tax issues, I'm not qualified to give you an official answer. It probably depends on the source of the medical benefits. Some state public health assistance programs like Medicaid may require the recipient to live in that state. It doesn't necessarily mean their mail can't go somewhere else. I don't know about tax issues either. It shouldn't matter when filing a federal tax return, but I'm not sure about different state tax laws. There are probably 50 different answers to that.

I sent an easter card from Sacramento CA to Eatonton GA Monday April 3 and it has not arrived yet. Should I worry?

Asked by Camille over 9 years ago

A letter mailed on a Monday from CA to GA should be received in about 3 days. If there is severe weather or other transportation issues that keep the mail from moving, its possible it could take longer. I wouldn't be too concerned that the Easter Card hasn't arrived. I hope it will arrive in a couple of more days.

Thank you for your response! I already contacted the property manager and he told me to contact USPS, which I did over the 1-800... and they asked me to call the local Post office, I called and the lady just put me on hold and then hanged up.

Asked by Isaac over 10 years ago

You're welcome Isaac. I'm sorry you didn't have a good experience with your local PO. I would recommend trying again as it's possible that the call was accidentally disconnected. Some offices are quite shorthanded but that doesn't excuse them for not just taking down some info, talking to your letter carrier when they have a chance and then getting back to you. You have a right to get your mail at a secure location in the centralized mailbox unit and I'm not sure what the reason for this foul up is since I don't have all of the facts.

When a mail carrier oppts for a specific route does he get that routes day off? Or will hes day off keep rotating as usually scheduled?

Asked by joe almost 10 years ago

I don't know how this works in all offices, but I can tell you what happens in the office where I deliver mail in Long Island, NY. This may not be a nationwide policy. When a letter carrier (usually an unassigned regular or CCA) opts, or holds down, an assignment they get that assignments day off. Our office has mostly rotating days off so that won't change. What may change is the "days off" group that carrier falls into. This is usually a low impact issue when a carrier opts for a group since almost all of us have rotating days off. Only 2 assignments at the PO where I work has 2 assignments with fixed days off (Saturday). The remaining 40 (approximately) assignments have rotating days off. Thank you for the question.

I have had an issue with my mail carrier and filed a complaint against her, but she is still delivering mail. So I had my mail fwd to a PO Box. The carrier left a Vacant card in my home mailbox and now stops and checks it all the time. Why?

Asked by Jr over 10 years ago

I can't say why your letter carrier does what you are mentioning. It's unfortunate that you have an issue with her. By saying that she is still delivering mail, I assume you mean that she still is working for the USPS as a letter carrier but not physically delivering mail to your residence because your mail is being forwarded to a PO Box. A vacant card is appropriate to be put in your mailbox so that anybody who is delivering mail on a route that includes your address would know not to leave any mail in it. It's also unfortunate that you have to now go to a PO Box to retrieve your mail plus pay a rental fee. Is it possible that the letter carrier is checking the mailbox to make sure no mail has been accidentally left there by someone else? I doubt that is the case because it seems like you and her were in a conflict and that she probably isn't going out of her way to help you. While I'm only hearing one side of this conflict (yours), I can certainly say there are some bad workers for the USPS and nothing would surprise me about the actions of some letter carriers.

Yes,and there's also a lady in the neighborhood with same name as my mother,even middle initial,who's mail we received a couple times. With same last name maybe these two people are connected?Maybe I'll contact the man's unpaid bill collector.Thanks-

Asked by DwB44 over 10 years ago

You can certainly do as you feel is correct. The unpaid bill collector would probably appreciate that. It's hard to know who is connected to who espcially if fake/similar names and different addresses are used. One thing I can suggest is for your Mom and Dad to keep an eye on their own credit report to make sure any debt or credit card accts on there are correct. Most people probably wouldn't get too involved in someone else's business, but I commend you for trying to help someone root out possible fraud.