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.
It's very common for people not to check their mailbox daily (me included). If there is mail in there from previous days I generally wouldn't look for any outgoing mail. Outgoing mail should have uncanceled postage and be clearly visible when you open the mailbox. Sometimes people leave the lid open or place the letters vertically to show that they have outgoing mail. If the item has no postage I just leave it there. Other people or companies aren't supposed to leave items in a mailbox but it's common and I just ignore it. Landscapers or oil delivery companies sometimes leave an invoice in the mailbox. Every now and again I forget to take someone's outgoing mail, but not often. Some mailboxes may have a red plastic flag that is put in the "up" position to notify the letter carrier that there may be outgoing mail. Upon collection of the mail, the letter carrier should put the flag in the "down" position. These flags are more common in a rural or suburban delivery environment.
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I don’t know what could’ve happened in that situation to make the carrier leave the route. I hope that I fit into the attractive category but as I said before I’m not the flirty type. It’s also possible that you are attractive as well. I wouldn’t tell you or anyone else what to do, but if I were a letter carrier I’d proceed with caution when flirting with patrons. By no means is it forbidden as far as I know, just that it could lead to problems if it got out of control or a customer felt uncomfortable.
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I can't give you any definitive advice for how retirement works after you've retired from the military and then work for USPS. Our retirement benefits are mainly determined by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). My recommendation is to go to to www.opm.gov and look under the "retirememt" tab and then there is a section for "Military Retired Pay" which should give you some helpful information. Congratulations on the upcoming retirement from the US military.
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It should be a very straightforward process as to who is awarded an assignment. Seniority is usually the main determining factor. In your case I don't know why they would say you won the bid and then later say someone higher in seniority bid for it. I would ask to see evidence of the bid and that it was submitted in time by the person with more seniority than you. I've never seen this conflict happen before where I work. If you can bid for other offices in your city I thought the process was fully automated. I am not sure what advice to give you. A union shop steward may be able to help you but maybe they are involved in person with higher seniority get assigned to the route that you got.
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Definitely not, KDS4444. Restricted Delivery service is very specific that the signator be the addressee and nobody else. We may not release the letter unless we have positively identified that the named addressee is the person signing for the letter. This is the service that the mailer has specifically requested. In my entire career, I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve had a restricted delivery item to attempt. I don’t know if it’s more common for you. I recommend not fabricating anything when attempting to deliver a Restricted Delivery item. I’d leave a PS3849 if the named addressee isn’t available to sign for the item. Thank you for your question.
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Letter carriers sometimes have a choice to move to other neighborhoods/assignments based on a seniority-based bidding process. As other carriers retire or move on to other assignments this creates vacancies to be filled, often by lesser-seniority personnel. Sometimes there are newer employees who may be on the same route for awhile just filling in for someone who may be on Long-term leave for illness or injury or military leave. I have been on the same route for 15 years and can stay on it indefinitely unless there is an office reorganization. I can also bid to another route (if I prefer to) if a vacancy is available to be filled and my seniority is enough to move to that route.
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I wish. LOL. I’m sure there are some that do get hit on often and some carriers may be the ones doing the flirting. I think it’s inappropriate to do if it’s excessive or the person being hit on feels uncomfortable and if it’s unwanted. I rarely have been hit on or flirted with. I mostly just do my job and try to stay professional. There are certainly cases of carriers meeting their future mates either at work or on the postal route. It’s all good when the relationship is getting on well. I’m sure it can be uncomfortable or ugly if it doesn’t end well. Good question by the way.
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