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.
I have no idea why a carrier would avoid an entire street. Did you see them do it and inquire why? Unless there was a serious safety hazard that precluded the carrier safely getting to the street I don't know why there was no delivery. There are times wheN we are severely short staffed but I think we still make an effort to get to each house each delivery day.
As a regular city carrier, your work day is 8 hours plus 30 min. Or 1 hr. lunch. You can't go home if you finish your route early. Rural carriers can get off as soon as they finish their route. For some that may be as little as 5 hrs/day. they are paid on a different pay schedule which is based more on mail volume than time on the clock.
I don't know of any way to stop a delivery once it has been sent out by the sender. You could always refuse the item and leave it back out for the letter carrier with a note saying "refused..return to sender" and that should work.
I would think if the package could be left in a safe place (discretion of the carrier) then it should be. If they were not able to leave it, they should at least have knocked on your door to see if someone was home to accept the package. In our office, all packages are definitely taken out for delivery each day. As to whether they are all actually delivered (or attempted) I can't say. If you happen to see the carrier, maybe you could ask why he has stopped delivering the packageS and only leaving notices.
Mailman (City Letter Carrier)
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I am sure this is done sometimes and possibly even without a stamp (which I think is very wrong to do). I sometimes see a card or letter being mailed from one customer on the route to another. I guess I could just cancel the stamp with a pen and deliver the letter directly, but I put the mail into the regular outgoing mail dispatch and have it run through the system. Delivery time is usually 2 days later. I have never heard either way if there is a proper procedure to be followed. If a co-worker gave me a letter to be delivered, I'd likely deliver it without it going through the mail processing system. It rarely comes up though.
I think it's likely to just come back to you a day or 2 later since it was unopened and didn't say "unknown" or "return to sender". I hope you get back your unopened piece of mail.
n the blue collection box, you can put a package with pre-paid postage if it is metered from a computer program like click 'n ship or Business Reply Mail. The 13 oz limit applies if the package only contains stamps. If it is greater than 13oz and only contains stamps it must be presented to a postal employee. This is due to aviation security regulations
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