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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1237 Questions

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Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

What would happen if a mailman got caught drinking and driving the mail truck?!

Asked by John almost 5 years ago

I don’t know for sure but they would likely put on emergency placement leave which means no more USPS vehicle driving privileges until the issue is resolved. I don’t personally know of it happening to anyone but I’m sure it has. If a court of law found them guilty of driving under the influence or intoxicated, I wouldn’t mind seeing the offender losing their job. I have no sympathy for somebody doing that on the job. I don’t know that they would lose their job and our union (the NALC) would likely file a grievance to have them keep their job. I do know if 2 situations where coworkers had DUI outside of work and temporarily lost their state driver license. They were not able to drive a postal vehicle so the USPS gave them alternate duties or had another coworker drive them on their route. Both workers eventually got their licenses restored and were back to full duty but I know it costs them a huge sum of money in fees, courses, increased insurance premium plus the possible loss of their vehicle.

169 Votes

So I know this video has been out there for a while but what do you think? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOCyzG4BktQ

Asked by Ryan almost 5 years ago

I have never seen that video before. Not knowing the background of the situation, I can’t make a judgment. I know that there are mentally ill and depraved people who work at USPS and in the public. Either this woman perceives she is being stalked by this letter carrier or she actually was being stalked and he is denying it.

168 Votes

What would you do if you had to deliver mail to Trump?

Asked by Kurt almost 5 years ago

I would deliver his mail as I would anybody else. Being the President, I’m sure the White House has their own procedure for receiving mail as it must get thousands of pieces of mail daily and has its own ZIP code.

168 Votes

What’s your opinion on the post master general

Asked by Billy over 4 years ago

I feel that Louis DeJoy, our newer Postmaster General is a political hack who was appointed due to his loyalty and fundraising support of President Trump. Most of our recent previous PMGs have been USPS employees, but that isn’t necessary to be able to do the job successfully. There is no doubt that our organization isn’t modern and doesn’t run that efficiently. Some changes are necessary, but the changes proposed not long before an election where a large amt of ballots will be submitted via mail bodes of a deliberate attempt to sow doubt in the USPS ability to handle the mailed ballots. Fortunately, there was a lot of pushback from the public and some courts about these changes. I don’t feel I was ever affected by them at my facility. After the 2020 election, DeJoy said he will again propose some major changes. If Trump loses the election, I’m not sure that DeJoy will even stay on the job. I don’t believe he can be fired so easily, but maybe he doesn’t even really want this job long term.

167 Votes

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Should someone have a degree to do this job?

Asked by Bobby almost 5 years ago

It is definitely not a requirement whatsoever to have any higher education for this job. No college degree is needed and won’t likely help or hinder your chances of being hired. I have a Bachelors degree (4-year) from s public university in NY. Most of my work colleagues don’t need have college degrees. The job as a letter carrier can be taught in a very short amount of time. You must be in reasonably good physical health and having good organizational skills and being a safe worker are important. I think having a degree helps me understand more about the USPS in general. I am curious by nature so I like to learn more than just how to do the job. Many of my coworkers aren’t that well educated and tend to believe things too easily they may hear through the rumor mill and spread it as fact. I really don’t like misinformation.

167 Votes

What do you think of mail in voting? This is a complicated issue. I figure someone who deals with the post office would know mail in voting and sorting through mail instead of Democraps and Repulsicans

Asked by I’m so sick of hearing it over 4 years ago

At least you were an equal opportunity basher of both major political parties. I believe there has been a lot of doubt purposely introduced into the voting-by-mail process by President Trump. My opinion is that voting by mail is very safe and reliable. There are a few important points I’d like to make. If you vote by mail, please follow the instructions given on the absentee/mail-in ballot regarding deadlines and signing your ballot. Also, voter fraud via mail or in person is quite rare. Several states have been doing almost full vote-by-mail for a number of years with minimal issues.

I plan to either vote by mail or vote early this year in NY State. If you are concerned about a mail-in ballot being received by your local election authority, I recommend dropping it off at a ballot collection box. I don’t believe there should be any issue as to how the USPS processes election mail. I think of it as just like having another couple of pieces of mail per address to deliver. We absolutely have the capacity to handle this in my opinion.

My bottom line—have confidence in the USPS in handling election mail for this coming 2020 General Election.

Thanks for your interest. This is a very important issue in the year of COVID-19 where mail voting will be utilized more than ever.

166 Votes

What would happen if a mailman or woman was caught stealing or at least snooping through someones mail?

Asked by Henry almost 5 years ago

I don’t know for sure what would happen if a letter carrier was caught stealing or snooping through someone’s mail. If the postal inspectors are involved, they could have the employee arrested and then have a prosecutor charge them with a crime. To me, this is the same as discarding mail that you don’t want to deliver. I would like to think that most of the time, the letter carrier would be fired from the USPS, but our union often fights a termination and the employee may keep their job. I do wish we were more punitive when a postal employee tampers with the mail at all, but they sometimes just get warnings and are back on the job.

166 Votes

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