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.
I wouldn't get too involved with this if I were you. I mean you wouldn't get in trouble as far as I know but you are correct in saying it's not your responsibility. Who advised you to throw out his junk mail? I would never do that as a USPS employee. No mail is junk to me. A mailer is paying my employer to deliver a service (mail) and I deliver it all. There are certain classes of mail which are non-forwardable and get a better speed of service, but it's all mail. I think the way I'd handle it is one of two ways. The first suggestion is to do nothing as it's truly not your responsibility to get involved with someone else's mail. The second suggestion would be to periodically take all of his mail, rubber band it and leave it by his front door if you feel that is a safe and secure place to leave it. I don't now how your residences are situated. Thank you for this interesting question.
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I don't think I've ever had as detailed a question as yours Isabella. Unfortunately I don't have an answer for you and am not going to research your question as interesting as it is. I don't know postal delivery regulations and I find that when they exist they are adhered to arbitrarily. I understand your concern about leaving outgoing mail (including valuable checks) in an unsecured mailbox outside your office. For the most part we go in to businesses to deliver their mail and take any outgoing mail. There are some offices that have curbside boxes or multi-unit cluster boxes. I don't know that your office qualifies for indoor delivery (though I don't now what those requirements would be). You could call USPS consumer affairs but I don't know how much they can help. It'd be nice if you could at least find out the regulations and know if you are being fed misinformation or you truly don't "qualify" for delivery into your building.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=The%20mail%20at%20the%20company%20where%20I%20work%20is%20delivered%20to%20a%20curbside%20mailbox.%20%20It%20is%20a%20free-standing%20building%3B%20not%20a%20complex%20or%20high-rise%2C%20nor%20do%20we%20share%20the%20building%20with%20anyone%20else.%20%20I%20requested%20that%20our%20mail%20be%20picked%20up%20and%20delivered%20inside%20the%20business%2C%20but%20was%20told%20that%20can%20only%20happen%20if%20I%20have%20a%20physical%20disability%20that%20prevents%20me%20from%20retrieving%20mail%20from%20the%20mailbox.%20%20In%20my%2030%2B%20years%20of%20working%2C%20I%20have%20never%20known%20this%20to%20happen.%20%20It%20has%20always%20been%20delivered%20inside%20the%20building.%20%20We%20had%20a%20temporary%20carrier%20%28while%20our%20usual%20carrier%20was%20out%20sick%29%20that%20DID%20bring%20the%20mail%20inside.%20%20She%20stated%20that%20she%20documented%20our%20request%20at%20the%20post%20office%20and%20that%20our%20regular%20carrier%20would%20continue%20to%20deliver%20inside%20the%20business%20when%20he%20returned.%20%20This%20did%20not%20happen%2C%20and%20after%20speaking%20with%20him%2C%20he%20is%20unwilling%20to%20deliver%20the%20mail%20inside%2C%20citing%20the%20disability%20reason.%20%20We%20send%20and%20receive%20millions%20of%20dollars%20in%20checks%20each%20month.%20%20The%20mail%20is%20delivered%20to%20a%20locked%20portion%20of%20the%20mailbox%2C%20but%20the%20outgoing%20mail%20portion%20does%20not%20lock.%20%20Leaving%20the%20checks%20in%20the%20mailbox%20for%20pickup%20makes%20us%20very%20uncomfortable%20and%20yet%20at%20the%20moment%2C%20our%20only%20alternative%20seems%20to%20be%20to%20drive%20to%20the%20post%20office%20every%20day.%20%20What%20are%20the%20actual%20USPS%20regulations%20about%20delivering%20mail%20to%20businesses%2C%20and%20if%20it%20CAN%20be%20delivered%20inside%2C%20who%20do%20I%20contact%20since%20I%E2%80%99ve%20had%20no%20luck%20with%20the%20local%20post%20office%20or%20our%20mail%20carrier%3F%20%20Thank%20you%21&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/16964)
I have never come across this situation as far as I can recall. I'm pretty sure if there is a suspicious package or letter, I'd notify a supervisor who would then decide whether or not to call the USPS Potsal Inspection Service or local law enforcement. They also may want to segregate the item from other mail or people in case it is potentially hazardous material. I don't know how the notification process works with reference to the sender or recipient. This may be more common in a larger mail processing facility where the mail for many offices passes through to or from the local post offices. We aren't often taught about suspicious or potentially hazardous mail, though it is covered sometimes in service and safety talks.
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Dee, it has been so many years since I was hired so I can't say for sure what the drug testing policy is. I can, however, give you my experience. As far as I've ever heard or seen, you are drug tested once and that is pre-hiring. I have never heard of a random drug test being administered to letter carriers during their career. I'll just state the obvious and say keep clean and you'll have nothing to be concerned about. Good luck to you in your job/career with USPS.
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I believe it's allowed for a letter carrier to take home the mail vehicle to your own residence as long as it's within a reasonable distance of where you deliver the mail, I delivered mail to a letter carrier's home who delivered mail on a nearby route. He'd bring his vehicle home daily (I could set my watch by him) and eat lunch. Our normal lunch break is 30 minutes and that includes the time it takes to get to and from your postal route. If the carrier was there for more than 30 minutes, that may not be appropriate but I can't really speak for anything that I don't personally know since the rules are so often enforced arbitrarily.
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I'd say that it is untrue that it's a law that one must pick up their mail daily. If it is a law I've never heard of it and it wouldn't make any sense to me. I believe the carrier is just being not nice and telling you an untruth. The issue a letter carrier may have if someone doesn't pick up their mail daily is that depending on the size of the mailbox it may get too difficult to fit in subsequent mail deliveries. If this were the case it's possible that mail could be returned to the sender. Most mailboxes that I see can handle quite a few days worth of mail and it is common for people to not pick up their mail daily. If you are concerned about your mail being returned, please contact a delivery supervisor or postmaster to get clarification on the matter. Again, I don't see any issue or problem with mail not being collected daily by the recipient unless the mailbox capacity is pretty small.
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If you dropped the letter at the PO at 3:45 PM, there is an excellent chance that the letter would be collected out of the box the same day (assuming it was M-F) and then sent to a local mail processing facility to be sorted and then sent to its destination. This usually takes two days if it's in the same city to get from the origin to destination. It used to be a one-day delivery standard but I think many places now operate on a two-day standard for First-Class mail in the same city.
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