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.

SubscribeGet emails when new questions are answered. Ask Me Anything!Show Bio +

Share:

Ask me anything!

Submit Your Question

1237 Questions

Share:

Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

While driving the vehicle to make a delivery, another motorist points towards the back of your vehicle as if something is wrong. What do you do?

Asked by kirk about 9 years ago

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.

What brand winter. It's do you wear?

Asked by Hobbz over 9 years ago

During the winter I wear whatever brand clothing makes the USPS uniforms that I purchased. We have only a few choices about the brand of clothing we buy from authorized uniform vendors. I wear whatever will keep me warm and dry from head to toe. I've found that it's best to dress in layers and bring more warm clothes than you may need so you're not caught outside freezing or wet.

If there is delivered mail in a mailbox when an official change of address/forwarding request is filed, does the mailman retrieve the previously delivered mail and forward it to the new address?

Asked by Caroline over 10 years ago

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.

If the post office is close, does that mean the mailman stops running?

Asked by Aracely over 10 years ago

Generally that would be correct. If the PO is closed due to poor weather conditions it would usually mean our whole retail and delivery operations have been suspended. I don't know if there are still processing operations going on at the mail plants. It isn't too common for us to suspend delivery for an entire day, but in blizzards or states of emergency, it could be necessary for us to do so.

I was wondering if you would know how I would go about trying to find the last name of a letter carrier from 1967 in Brooklyn, NY.

Asked by Barbara about 9 years ago

Barbara, I have no idea how that information would be found with the USPS. I also don't know If those type of HR/Personnel records are public. Before 1971, the USPS was the Post Office Department, an executive branch of the US Government. Even if the information was available I don't know who would be helpful enough in the current USPS HQ or Human Resources Department to look this up. It would seem like a needle in a haystack and I don't have confidence you'd get anywhere in your search. This is based on my personal observations of my employer, not through any knowledge of your specific question.

Welcome to Massapequa, anything goes, leave it at that

Asked by jvitto48 over 10 years ago

Okay, I believe it. The contract is only as good as the mgmt and the workforce and shop stewards agree to enforce it. I see things that happen in my office which may not be the correct thing if the contract were followed to the letter, but they seem like rational solutions. It's a tricky balance in our office due to chronic short staffing and incompetence of both supervisors and coworkers. Some workers are very dedicated and do the job well. They don't need to be superstars. Others seem to purposefully work against the system and try to make everything as difficult and slow and crappy as possible. They often tend to the loudest, least mature, and least educated.

My neighbor's moved and did not forward their mail. Now that their mailbox is full the postman delivers it to my mailbox. Is this wrong? The mail is piling up and spilling out all over the street. The mailbox won't even close anymore.

Asked by Regina Reyna almost 10 years ago

The letter carrier shouldn't be putting your former neighbors mail in your mailbox just because they moved out without putting in a forwarding request. After all, it's not your mail and you have nothing to do with it. After awhile, the letter carrier should empty the mailbox, discard any standard mail (advertising mail of a certain class) and return any first and second class mail as "unable to forward" to the sender. At the PO, that address or unit should be marked as "vacant" so no mail is left there unless a new tenant or homeowner moves in. We shouldn't be delivering mail to addresses known to be vacant. You may leave a note note mailbox saying something to the effect "please don't leave any mail for (insert your neighbors name and/or address) in my mailbox. Thank you." If that doesn't work, you may contact your post office and mention this to a manager or delivery supervisor. From what you've described , the letter carrier(s) serving your area is quite unprofessional and doesn't care to address the issue of the mailbox overflowing.