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.
You virtually answered your own question with the "but do you". Every morning we are given 5 minutes before our break to inspect our postal delivery vehicles. Most of us at least turn on the engine to make sure it will start. We are supposed to do a walk around and look for any body damage, flat/low tires, leaks, and more. I mostly just turn the engine on and look at the fuel gauge to see if I need to stop at a gas station on the way to the route. At the end of the day, I empty out all of the contents of the vehicle and park and lock it. I don't do any further inspection at the end of the day. I know I don't do the full inspection walk around that we are supposed to, but so far it hasn't come back to hurt me. I use the same vehicle almost every day. If I were to use a different vehicle I may do a more thorough check to see if all of the signals and lights work.
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Pattie, I don't know what to tell you to do. If your mail is being forwarded from your physical address to the PO Box, you usually can't "catch any mail in between" before its forwarded. I'm not sure why any mail wouldn't be forwarded and why it was returned stating you don't live there anymore. You can call your credit card company and ask them to send a replacement card though they could be leary about sending credit cards to a PO Box address. Mail is usually forwarded to your new address for 1 year. I'm not sure how long ago you submitted the address change.
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It's hard to say whether or not the job will be too physical or not for you. In the office where I work, there are a few heavier women who have recently been hired and are doing well. They sometimes come back from delivering and look wiped out but can still do the job. It also may depend on how much walking the job entails. In some offices the letter carriers drive a delivery vehicle all day and don't have to carry a satchel with mail on their shoulders. I recommend getting as much rest as possible the night before work and eat properly. When starting out, however, don't overdo it in terms of physical exertion. If you start to feel ill, slow down stay hydrated. I don't want to mislead you and say that everyone can handle this job physically, but I've seen many people who look out of shape so just fine as letter carriers. Good luck to you!
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Generally, if we had a postal route where we drive a USPS vehicle (as opposed to urban routes where carriers may just walk out from the local post office and pick up mail from relay boxes along the way), we should have no problem handling multiple packages in one day even if they are different sizes. It's common for a recipient to get large and small items in the same day. I generally put them all together and leave them on the ground near the front door or mailbox. I would treat this situation just like I would getting lots of packages domestically. The items may have a tracking bar code that I'd scan as delivered once I delivered the items. I hope your experience is just as I've described.
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This question has been asked verbatim before. I don't know if this is a joke or a trick. I may safely pull aside when I can if it's believable. At that point I may get out of the vehicle and investigate what is being pointed out. At all times I'd be keeping my personal safety as a priority. There are times when my rear liftgate has popped open. It'd make sense if someone pointed that to me but it's never happened yet.
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It depends on the letter carrier if that happens or not. If I were delivering mail to an address and the mail was just sitting there not being retrieved by anyone and then I received a change of address/forwarding order I would go back and retrieve any forwardable mail and submit it through our forwarding system. I don't know if other letter carriers would be as diligent but I hope they would be. For this reason it's best to put in a forwarding request ahead of the date you want it to be effective because it could take a week or so before the mail begins to be forwarded to the new address.
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It has been many years since I've had orientation so I can't tell you exactly what it's about. If I remember correctly, it was 3 days long (usually not at the office where you will be a CCA) which included a carrier academy where you "practice" sorted some mail and learn a lot about working safely including how to avoid dog confrontations. You also learn about the different classes of mail and how to forward mail and how to handle express mail and certified mail. Once you report to an office you may be assigned a trainer who may take you around for 3 days with them to deliver a route. Also please remember that as a CCA you may be required to work Sundays and Holidays to deliver Amazon parcels if your office/area participates in that program. You really need to be flexible in the number of hours and which hours you will be asked to work. Thanks for your questions and keep them coming if you think of anything else. Please remember that I'm just basing these answers at my experience at my Post Office. As they say online, YMMV (your mileage may vary).
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