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

Is it possible to deliver a letter to a retail store,like Wal-mart, to an individual working there. I realize you would have to drop it off at customer service desk, if that is even possible? Or are there other options?

Asked by DavidB over 6 years ago

We deliver mail to retail stores all of the time. For the most part, the USPS delivers mail to every address in the country. I understand your question is about having it sent to an individual at the store. The letter would be delivered with all of the other mail for the day for that business. It’d be up to the business itself to get the letter to the intended recipient and that may be difficult especially in a large store

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 almost 7 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.

Can you send a wooden spoon with the address burn into it and the message on the back without having to mess with package. With a spot left for the stamp or stamps? It would be USA to USA.
Asking from AL.

Asked by Curious Penpal about 7 years ago

Interesting Q. I don’t see why not. The coconuts mailed from Hawaii are popular I think and they aren’t packaged. You’d probably need the first class parcel rate. The best answer would be from your local post office. I can’t say I see non-packages items mailed often but I don’t know a rule that it has to be boxed in anyway. The important things are sufficient postage and a legible address and not a prohibited item.

Is there a rule that mail without a street address such as Postal/Residential Customer does not have 2 be delivered if I have no other mail the same day? This happened to me 3 days this past month. Neighbors received this mail and I got no mail.

Asked by Just Me over 7 years ago

I don't claim to know the rules that are written but I can tell you that I have a very clear opinion on this. The piece of mail you are referring to is sometimes called a saturation mailing or third bundle which basically means each address gets the piece of mail regardless of whether or not there is any mail for that address that day. I highly doubt that the letter carrier is making note of the addresses which had no other mail and would deliver that "postal/residential customer" item on a future date. There are definitely letter carriers who have a poor attitude when it comes to delivering these types of mailings. As far as I'm concerned they are stealing from the mailer by not delivering an item that was paid for. As to what can actually be done about this, you could complain or comment about this to the letter carrier or the delivery supervisor at your PO. I don't know if it will have any effect. When I get back to the PO at the end of delivery day there are often many pieces of these types of mailings put into the recycle bin. I can't imagine that the mailer has given us that many extra pieces of saturation mailings because it's known how many deliveries are on each route. You've definitely touched a nerve with me that gave me a chance to vent about this subject. It's true that many customers aren't interested in receiving so much advertising "junk mail" but it's not up to the letter carrier to decide what a customer gets and doesn't get. The mailer has paid for the item to be delivered so we should deliver it. That's our job. Thanks for the question.

Hey Dave! Remember me? Well I've been working as a letter carrier on long island for just over 3 months now. I have two questions for you.
1. Is it legal to be scheduled to work 7+ days with no days off? I've worked a total of 26 days straight.

Asked by Dee about 8 years ago

Hello Dee. I guess you are a CCA. I see from your post that you are working quite a bit. 26 days straight does seem excessive even though it's Christmas month and it's busy with parcel deliveries and more. I don't know the rules as to how many days in a row a CCA can be scheduled to work. In my office it seems they max out at about 13 days in a row, but I don't know if it's a rule or not. If there is an NALC steward in your office, you may ask them. Furthermore, the nalc.org website should have some q and a for CCA which may address your question.

Well he flirts with and says he likes me blah blah blah! I was just curious because all of a sudden theres this other guy and It does happen from time to time but not 2 days in a row lol. ALOT of MAILMEN are attractive.

Asked by Jessica about 7 years ago

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.

do letter carriers get hit on a lot? like flirting?

Asked by ashley about 7 years ago

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.