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

When being converted to a "Career" employee, what are the requirements? Is there going to be another probationary period?

Asked by Dee over 8 years ago

As long as you've passed the 90-day probationary period, you'd be eligible to become a career employee once a position becomes available. They usually convert CCA to Regular "career" employees in the order which the CCAs were hired. Depending on how quickly older workers retire or other workers transfer or leave the USPS will often decide how long it takes to be converted. Where I work, it has been usually less than 18 months to be converted but your mileage may vary greatly. It is very good to become a career employee because you have guaranteed number of hours you'll work each week, plus you get health insurance coverage.

332 Votes

What draws the line with that I can and can't ask the mail-carrier? More specifically, I wanted to ask them about potential lawn-care leads on their route. Im a college student starting small-time gig in a competitive market.Is this Exploitation?

Asked by Dr. Ninja_Cowboy over 8 years ago

In my opinion you can ask a letter carrier anything you want but you may get a whole variety of replies that run the gamut from helpful to not being interested. I don't know any rules on what they can and can't help you with but the letter carrier should always protect the confidentiality of the customer and any mail they receive. That is pretty sacred. To give you a personal answer, nobody has ever approached me about getting leads about anything except maybe real estate agents. To be fair, I wouldn't be interested in helping anybody get potential leads for anything. I feel it is entirely unprofessional to do. A real estate agent may say to me I'll give you a referral commission if I know of anybody selling their house. I may accept their business card but not do anything else. To sum up, I don't know what you can and can't ask a letter carrier, but I feel it's unprofessional and possibly unethical to assist salespeople working in the area.

331 Votes

I would like to write a letter to a mailman in anothet city. I know which office he works in...If I address it to him with the office address will he receive it? Or is there a certain way I can address it so they know it's for an employee?

Asked by EG over 8 years ago

I think there's an excellent chance that he will receive a letter if you adress it to the post office in the city where that letter carrier works, saying "Attention: (Letter Carrier ______)" on the top line of the address. Either the clerk or the supervisor/postmaster that handles internal mail should give the letter to the letter carrier. It's possible that an office my frown on having personal mail sent to a letter carrier in an office but I don't think it should be an issue as long as it's not a frequent occurrence. I've never come across this situation so I can't say for sure it will work, but I think it should. Thank you for your question.

331 Votes

why don't postal delivery persons wear uniforms anymore> I live in Philadelphia and I have not seen a uniformed postal person in years?

Asked by john over 8 years ago

Great question John. There are 2 main answers I can think of as to why you don't see letter carriers in uniform anymore. 1) There are many CCAs hired. These are non-career employees who generally don't get uniforms or a uniform allowance during the first few months of employment. CCA stands for City Carrier Assistant and are very common in urban areas that may have more turnover than suburban offices. 2) Some regular full-time letter carriers don't choose to wear a proper uniform (or any uniform at all) and the management doesn't enforce the uniform policy. In my opinion, everyone who is eligible to wear a uniform should do so and do it proudly. I wear my proper uniform daily where the one flaw would be is that they aren't too clean because it's hard to get some of the shoulder stains out from wearing a mail satchel and sweating a lot. I guess some workers don't care about looking professional and the management does nothing about it, my office included. Thanks for bringing up a good point.

330 Votes

Also on Jobstr...

Bodybuilder

BodybuilderHow prevalent is steroid use in pro bodybuilding?

Navy Officer (Former)

Navy Officer (Former)Just how educated is the typical US military serviceman?

Geek Squad Agent/Supervisor

Geek Squad Agent/SupervisorWhat's the biggest scene a customer's ever made in the store?

How does one qualify for retirement? Do you need 20 years or 30 years? Or its dependent on age?

Asked by Dee over 8 years ago

Dee, hello again! This is a question that I can't answer directly, but can suggest some websites to look at. The one I looked at is opm.gov and click on the tab "retirement" and "FERS Information" once you are converted to a career letter carrier you'll be employed under the Federal Employees Retirement System. Your age and years of service determine when you are eligible to retire and how much of an annuity you will receive. Trust me when I say it's not a terribly generous system when it comes to receiving a monthly payment. You would, however, qualify to receive Social Security and 401(k) type funds at certain ages. The key is to put as much of your income as you can into the Thrift Savings Plan, which is similar to a private employers 401(k) . Some people can retire with just 20 years of service at a certain age but the FERS annuity may be quite paltry.

330 Votes

i m a letter carrier in new york and submit a reassign to puerto rico .i was considerd .6 month later got a letter saying not ACCEPTED DUE TO SAFETY RECORD & ATTENDENCE.i haven't been a accident nor attendence (no more the 5 days in 3 years. why ?

Asked by roman almost 9 years ago

I am not familiar with the eReassign process and what to do if you feel you were unfairly denied a transfer to PR. That is wrong for the USPS to give you a letter which is inaccurate. Missing 5 days in 3 years seems like pretty good attendance. I don't know that the NALC or your local management or anyone in PR can assist you. I think our organization like many others has bureaucratic issues that are sometimes difficult to figure out. You could try to contact someone in Human Resources, but I don't know how to go about doing that either. Good luck to you and I hope you get your transfer.

329 Votes

Can postman have rounds that include their own address?

Asked by Keri over 8 years ago

I don't know of any rule against this. I haven't seen it in my office much (or at all) but several letter carriers (4 I think) live in the towns where we service.

329 Votes

Home Browse Jobs Host a Q&A Search Blog FAQ Terms Contact

Copyright Jobstr 2014