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.
That is a very timely question. I have a lot of faith in the Postal Service able to handle the volume of absentee ballot applications as well as completed ballots. Due to the coronavirus pandemic I believe it is much safer for people who prefer to vote by mail be given an equal opportunity as those who want to physically go to a polling site. In June, 2020, the area where I work had 2 elections. One was a Democratic Party primary. The other was a school budget vote. Both seemed to go smoothly with respect to sending out and retrieving and processing election mail. Several states have been conducting VBM elections for years and I don’t believe there are any major issues that have arisen with respect to voter fraud or ballots being counted.
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Kara, the unofficial motto of the USPS is: Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
It isn’t true at all. For the most part, we strive to get all of the mail routes delivered each day. Due to bad weather or staffing shortages or maybe some other reasons, we don’t always deliver the mail. The LLVs are infamously poor to drive in when there is snow on the roadway. They don’t get much traction and fishtail easily. Add an incline or decline and it becomes that much more difficult.
There was a snowstorm recently in the NY Metropolitan Area where I work. The storm increased in intensity during the morning while I was out delivering the mail. At around 1130 I received a text message on my scanning device which said “all carriers return to the post office”. We didn’t finish delivering our mail routes that day. We aren’t superheroes and I think it’s smarter for us to suspend delivery when it isn’t safe to continue so we may get home and safely return to work the next day to deliver the mail.
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NIcole, I don’t know for sure about how to guarantee that next time any live perishables are delivered to your door. I do have a suggestion which could work if your letter carrier is conscientious. When you place the order for the caterpillars (or any other live animals), place a visible note (maybe on an index card) and clearly write your request. You could even note that last time the caterpillars were dead likely due to the extreme heat. If I saw that note, I’d pay attention to it and oblige. Unfortunately, i don’t have the same faith in many coworkers. I hope this helps. Thank you for your question.
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I’d heard about our LLV’s catching fire in the last few years. I suppose it has to do with parts maybe rusting and wiring becoming frayed. They also mentioned possibly fuel leaking out which could ignite the fire. The only thing I know about the fires from social media or the news. It would definitely be scary since you can see how thoroughly the vehicles were damaged or incinerated. Fortunately, if all goes to plan we should start to get fleet replacement vehicles in 2022 (according to the link you sent me). I’m not sure how many years it would take to manufacture 180k vehicles or whatever the contract is for. Our current fleet of LLVs were manufactured between 1987-1994. Thanks for bringing this video to my attention.
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I drive an LLV (Long Life Vehicle). There is no radio. Some of our newer vehicles do have radios. The ProMaster has a radio and I believe the stopgap fleet replacement vehicle made by Mercedes Benz also has a radio. I believe when we get the new massive fleet replacement vehicle it may have a radio. It’s not a big deal to me. I can listen to podcasts or music on my personal electronic device or bring a portable radio. I am not in my vehicle too much anyway as most of my delivery route is walking from house to house or getting in and out of the postal vehicle every few hours (known as dismount or scouting delivery).
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I don’t really understand this question. Do you want to know if I asked someone in the “mailman-city etter carrier” forum a question or another profession on jobstr? The answer to both is no. It’s difficult to have a back and forth conversation here. It’s mostly someone asks me a question and I answer it. It’s not easy to have follow up here.
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If an item needs a signature (usually it’s a certified letter or registered mail), I knock on the door to obtain the signature of the resident if they want to accept the item. If they aren’t home or don’t want to come to the door, I leave a PS Form 3849 (Notice Of Attempted Delivery) which advises the customer that we had an item that may have needed a signature and the form gives them options to either pick up the item at a specific PO or they can request a redelivery. During the Covid19 pandemic, the procedure has changed slightly. As long as the customer is home and acknowledges that they want to “sign” for the item, we can print their name on the electronic scanner that they usually sign. This eliminates them from having to get too close to you or to touch the scanner. It seems to have worked well so far. Stay safe and thank you for your question.
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