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 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 about 10 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.

My son ordered some items from amazon and forgot to change the address to our new address. We just moved out of our house on June 30th. The new owner refuses to give it directly to me and says legally he has to give it only to the mail person. True?

Asked by Inger almost 9 years ago

I don't know what the answer is to your question with respect to legality. Do you even know if the item was delivered by the USPS? There are several companies thar deliver Amazon packages in the area where I work. The new owner would make things a lot easier if they directly gave you the items. If the items are given back to the mail person, the packages may be sent back to Amazon or forwarded to your new address (possibly postage due). I am not sure what the USPS would do with it because consistency within our organization is poor in my opinion. I'm not sure who you could get involved with this to resolve this situation.

Can you enter an open garage to deliver a package

Asked by Debbie almost 9 years ago

I don't know the rule about this Debbie. I would guess that for the safety of the letter carrier it is recommended not to enter an open garage or backyard. I almost always will leave any packages at the front door. If the garage is open and the package can be left there I may consider doing that as well. We have never been told not to deliver a package through and open garage.

I have been a CCA for 60 days now. I love the job. What do you recommend for me to keep myself hydrated during the summer when it's hot. I've been drinking Powerade but I've read drinking too many of those aren't good for you.

Asked by Toni almost 9 years ago

Congratulations and good luck to you in your postal career. I'm glad you love it so far. Despite some personal hurdles I've had along the way, I absolutely love it most days and feel very fortunate to have this career. I don't know Powerade but I'm assuming it's an energy drink. I see Gatorade is the main competitor. The main criticism of those types of drinks is the high sugar content. My advice (with no scientific background) is to just drink 1-2 day at most and then hydrate with water. I mostly d non-sugar naturally flavored sparkling water beverages. I drink it quite a bit on hot days and it seems to help so much. I've avoided the Powerade type drinks mainly because I don't want to ingest so much sugar that could hurt my teeth and body. Moderation is my advice. Thanks for writing.

It now looks like the carrier signed for the letter him/ herself, using a single letter, days after failing to complete the restricted delivery. I need to file some sort of claim now against the post office, and it breaks my heart to do so. how?

Asked by KDS4444 over 8 years ago

I don’t know anything about the claims process and what type of compensation you’d be entitled to beyond the cost of mailing the item unless you purchased insurance or if the type of mailing has insurance associated with it. The carrier shouldn’t have signed for a restricted delivery item. It shouldn’t break your heart to do this. I’d be more aggravated by not getting a service you paid for. To be honest, I often sign for customers when they have certified letters or packages that ask for a signature confirmation. This is mainly because I know most of the people who I deliver mail to. It hasn’t come back to haunt me, yet. I wouldn’t sign for a domestic registered item or for a Restricted Delivery item. As far as how to file a claim, you could go to a Post Office and inquire about the process or perhaps look at www.usps.com for guidance.

Is there a place for me to leave feedback for my mailman? She is awesome and went "above and beyond" for me today. I'd like her superiors to know.

Asked by JC over 9 years ago

JC, I'm so glad you had a great experience with your letter carrier today. Too often I hear of the opposite happening. I don't know exactly how you'd leave feedback for your letter carrier, but I have 2 suggestions. First, you could go to www.usps.com and look for info on how to contact the USPS. It may just be a general call center but hopefully they'll give you the number or some way to contact your local PO. Another option is to write a letter (I know it's not too common these days) to your local PO, attention: Delivery Supervisor or Postmaster giving praise to your letter carrier and describing what she did to go above and beyond. You don't necessarily need the street address for the PO, just the correct ZIP code for your PO. Using the USPS mobile app or the website you can find the address of your local PO. Thanks for taking the time to give positive feedback.

What is the amount of time a carrier for parcels over the base amount. Or what is my base parcel amount for a route. Had 100 “scanner hits” went over 40 minutes street, took lunch and 10 minute break, doing route inspections next month in Massapequa

Asked by jvitto48 over 8 years ago

Jvitto48, thanks for your question but I’m sorry that I can’t give you any assistance in this matter. I don’t know if your local shop steward or area representative can help with this. I’ve never been too involved with any rte inspections, or if I have, it was so many years ago and I don’t remember. NALC has a 2012 “guide to route inspections” available online as a PDF but it’s 188 pages long and may not even address your question about base parcel amount. I don’t know how the base parcel amount is arrived at. I also don’t know if it includes every scannable parcel. My generic advice is to take all authorized lunches and breaks, as well as one or two bathroom breaks if needed. I know route inspections can make people anxious but my attitude has always been that whatever time it takes is valid as long as you aren’t obviously extending your street time. I’ve received between 1-5 sampling requests daily and I know that is a valid use of time while scanning the flats and letters. Good luck on the inspection. I know that’s easy for me to say not being involved. Thanks for writing.