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 illegal for a mail carrier to photograph or video: mail, employees, managers and operations? Is withholding information about their DWI while employed as a driver still bad even if it happened 5 years ago. Is it bad conduct to video customers

Asked by Kris over 10 years ago

Kris, I don't know the answer to your question regarding the legality of photographing or videotaping mail, employees, managers or operations. I have never seen anybody do it while "on the clock", but I don't think it would be looked upon well by others. Also, I also don't recommend videotaping customers. It could be reported to management and it may not be allowed. With regards to a DWI while employed as a driver, I don't recommend withholding information that would be available on a driving record from a state dept. of Motor Vehicles. I don't know if a DWI stays on permanently. On the other hand, if the USPS couldn't find out about a past DWI and disclosing it would result in disqualification from being hired, it would be better not to disclose it.

was the post office ever open on Sundays

Asked by Price about 11 years ago

I don't know the answer, but I would suspect that as a whole the answer is no. The retail window in some major cities at certain stations still do open on Sunday. The one that comes to mind is the Farley PO in midtown Manhattan which is open from 11A-7P on Sundays. Their retail window used to be open 24/7 until a few years ago.

Can you place package in the blue collection boxes? I looked it up online and see conflicting answers. The USPS site says only stamped mail up to 13 oz while many discussion boards say this does not apply to prepaid postage so if fits its okay.

Asked by Amanda about 11 years ago

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

Can you recommend particular shoes and snow boots for letter carriers?

Asked by jc almost 11 years ago

I don't have any specific recommendations with regards to brands to purchase fro regular shoes. The shoes that are purchased with the uniform allowance have to bear the SR/USA tag which I believe stands for Slip Resistant/United States of America. I just make sure that I have footwear that will keep my feet dry and warm in inclement weather. If it snows, I wear my regular workshoes but have high rubber slip resistant waterproof boots. The brand of those are Tingley Weather-Tuff Stretch high-top 10"boots, or the Weather-Tuff Stretch Rubber Overshoes (which is good for rain, but not more than a couple of inches of snow to walk through). Thank you for your question as good footwear is vital to making it through a workday comfortably.

What dose it mean when a postman comes to your door to ask if this person lives at this address but wont let you know who is asking ?

Asked by teresa beecham over 10 years ago

Teresa, I am not sure what that means. I do have two theories on what it might be. First, sometimes I have a piece of mail addressed to a house and I'm not familiar with that name receiving mail there and I want to make sure that I'm delivering the mail properly. In that case I will either knock on the door and ask if that name should receive mail there or (actually more often) I will just put a "?" next to the name that I'm inquiring about and deliver the letter. In that case whoever receives the letter can leave it out for me the next day if the name in question is not correct. The second theory, which may be the one in your case, is that a law firm, collection agency, or IRS, etc., or someone else wants to know if a certain name resides at your address. They will mail the PO a special form requesting that information and then we will fill out the form confirming that the name in question receives mail at that address or not. I've never actually went to someone's door to ask because I know if the name in question is valid or not. I don't know that we aren't allowed to divulge who is asking because I've never been in that situation. Anyhow, I would guess that it's optional whether or not you want to divulge that information to the postman or not. We can't force you to do that. Please be advised that these are just speculations on my part as to what it means when the mailman came to your door to ask if a person lives at your address. Thanks for writing.

I think I put an unopened letter that was already delivered to me in a post office mailbox by mistake. What's going to happen to it? Will it come back to me, go to the sender or what? Thank you.

Asked by Miles over 11 years ago

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.

I manage a large mixed use building that has been remodeled from one address into 40 different adresses/ tenants. We have a main mailbox lobby for letters, but not for parcels. Is USPS required to deliver parcels to the doors of these businesses?

Asked by Mbrant over 11 years ago

I don't know the answer to this question. I would think if there are no parcel lockers in your lobby, then the USPS should attempt delivery to the business and leave the parcel if it can be sAfely left. Sorry I don't have more info on this.