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.
No. The largest vehicle that I think we drive is referred to as a 2-Ton Truck. I don’t know if it’s the official name of it. We have to have a valid driver’s license to operate any USPS vehicle. Furthermore, we have to complete driver training on most of the types of vehicle that we drive. That training is handled internally. There is no special class of license required.
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No, no, a thousand times, no! I should clarify what I mean by that. If I see mail addressed to a house and I may not be sure that it is for a name at that address, I may query whoever answers the door to see if they will accept mail for a particular name. More often than not, I’ll just write a question mark next to the addressees name and leavethe letter in the mailbox. If the name isn’t accepted there, they would usually leave the letter back in the mailbox for me to return to sender. Under no circumstances would I ever ask a follow up question or anything more “nosy” than do you want to accept mail for this name at you’re address? Anything more than that is unethical and none of our business. I hope if that ever happens to you again, do not feel you have any obligation to answer. They should never ask you what’s in a letter unless it meets certain criteria for being suspicious which, for the most part, is rare.
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Lasha, I can relate to you experience. I try to communicate as best I can with coworkers the status of each possible delivery whether it is vacant or not. I use carrier alert cards. With respect to vacant apartments, may I recommend you either tape of the slot where you would deliver mail (if possible) or put a note or something obvious saying “apt ‘x’ is vacant—no delivery”. Some of the mgmt seem to not care about the quality of work as long as you show up for work and don’t get hurt and finish “on time”. I have found some coworkers don’t care either. It is disheartening but i don’t know what to do about it but clean out any boxes that should’ve been non-deliveries and discard/forward/return any of the mail. Please don’t change your attitude. We need more people who care about quality of work. Please keep in mind that we all make errors but you should be able to tell the difference between an error and ambivalence. Thanks for writing.
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Irrelevant comment/question.
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This is true to a point. There are no absolutes with regard to driving in inclement weather. I drive a Grumman LLV which is what the vast majority of our motorized fleet is comprised of. Most of them were manufactured in the 1990s. All of our vehicles have heaters and fans. They may not always operate optimally but they are equipped with them. I don’t know of any LLVs that have air conditioning. We do have some new Dodge ProMasters which have AC but they can’t be used on driving routes because they are left-hand drive vehicles. If there is any decent accumulation of snow or ice on the road, the LLVs are dangerous to operate as they don’t have much road traction. I’d be worried about driving on any incline or decline in a snow or ice-covered road. Our basic mantra is that if we feel it’s unsafe to deliver the mail for any reason we can bring it back to the PO and tell a supervisor about the reason for non-delivery. Within the next few years, we likely are getting fleet replacement vehicles. I’m pretty sure they will have air bags and AC, and hopefully a back-up camera. They will hopefully be safer than the vehicles we currently drive.
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It’s not likely that the PO it arrives at will be able or willing to help you. To my knowledge, any letters that would come to your house (if it’s important it would likely be first class or Priority Mail) only arrive at the delivery Post office the morning of the day it is delivered. Even if the letter arrived the same day it was to be delivered and you went to the PO they may not be able to find it or be willing to look for it. As a letter carrier it’s very often that the first time I see a letter or handle it is when I’m about to deliver it to an address. Most sorting is done by automation at a Processing and Distribution Center. You could always go to the PO and try to get the letter, but my guess is that there are very low odds you will be successful in doing so.
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All of our vehicles have heat. I don’t think we could survive in the colder climates without it. The LLVs (Long-life vehicle), which has been the majority of our delivery fleet since the mid-1990s, don’t have AC. The newer vehicles, which are likely to be coming on line in the next 2-5 years will have air conditioning. In office where I work, some carriers use Dodge Promasters which have AC as well.These trucks are left hand drive (like most vehicles in the US) so can only be used on walking routes where delivery is made to businesses or the front door of residences.
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