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

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I recently became a new CCA in Denver. I've always thought it would be great to live in NY, but I'm wondering how you make ends meet given the salary for Carriers is the same nationwide. Do you have a two income household, etc?

Asked by Salty over 11 years ago

It would probably be hard to live in NY on a CCA salary starting at $15/hr. I know some regular carriers work second jobs or work as much OT as available. My situation is a bit different as I am single, have low overhead (I own a co-op apt), and am very conservative with my spending. The NY metro area can be very expensive with regards to rental apts/houses and property taxes. 

I have a lot of questions about how a mailman's route works. Do you have the same route all the time? If not, what would be the reason a mailman's route would change? Do you ever finish your route early? Or finish late, meaning you have to work late?

Asked by Jessica about 10 years ago

You've come to the right place to ask questions about how a mailman's route works. I never mind answering questions but sometimes wish there was a search function on this page since the questions may have already been asked.

1) I have the same route all the time, but that is the fact that I have enough seniority at my post office to deliver the same route daily. When you start your postal career you are usually a CCA (City Carrier Assistant) or a Carrier Technician (also called a floater or T-6 or comp. carrier) that fills in for a carrier on a route when they are off, hurt, sick, or on vacation, etc. Since we deliver mail mail 6 days a week, but only are required to work 5 days per week, the Carrier Technician delivers the route on our weekly non-scheduled day.

 

2) If we are a regular carrier that has an assignment that is to deliver the same route daily (which is the case for me), the only reason my route would change would be if another route became vacant (usually due to a carrier retiring or transfering) and I requested to be moved to that assignment. The person who gets the vacant assignment is the most senior carrier that wishes to be reassigned. On rare occasions the local office goes through a route reorganization (I think there has been 1 in the 15 years I've been at the PO) when all of the assignments are put up for bid because so much of the routes have been territorially reorganized. Again, the assignments are awarded by seniority.

 

3,4) Yes, a regular workday is 8 hours and my route is set up to take about that long to deliver if there is an average volume of mail, parcels, decent weather, etc. On a lighter volume day, I would finish earlier and a heavier day would take longer than 8 hours to complete the route. This time also includes sorting some mail in the morning as well as some organizational duties when delivery of the route is completed. I'd say that the earliest to finish is maybe 15 minutes less than 8 hours and on a heavier day I may take 30-45 minutes extra to complete the route. There are days that can even take longer than that, but I'm just giving you the averages. In the office I work at in Long Island, NY, there is ample opportunity for overtime pay for those that want to work more than 8 hours/day or work on their non-scheduled day. Everything quoted here is for a city letter carrier. There are rural letter carriers (a different union and different rules even though their job is to deliver mail like me) who can go home as soon as they finish their routes. We are "on the clock" so if we finish in 7:15 we would still have to stay for 8 hours. That is a rare occurrence and we could do some prep work for the next day or help out another carrier if we have "down time". It is more common to have too much work than too little in my experience.

Thanks for all of your great questions and feel free to ask any more that you can think of.

Does the regular Letter Carrier deliver Priority Express Letters and if so, do you have to be home to sign for them or will he/she leave in your mailbox ? Also,if i don't normally get mail until after noon, does10:30am time apply for Priority Express

Asked by Wolfie from Harlem over 10 years ago

Wolfie, I think that Priority Express Envelopes (not regular Priority Mail) has a guaranteed delivery time which is given to the sender when they mail the item. It is often next day by Noon but that certainly varies on destination and time of mailing. Most Priority Express labels nowadays are automatically signature waivered (nobody needs to be around to sign for it) unless the sender requests a signature. It used to be the opposite of that. The regular letter carrier will deliver the Priority Express letter if they can make the delivery by the guaranteed time and if they are given the item to deliver before they leave on their regular routes. I hope that answers your question.

how many delivery attempts USPS do before return the package to the shipper?

Asked by johnny almost 11 years ago

We attempt to deliver the actual parcel or certified or accountable mail (registered, insured) one time and leave a PS Form 3849 if nobody is available to sign for it. Within the next 15 days, we then leave 2 more PS Form 3849s (notice of item attempted to be delivered) before return the item to the shipper. If an addressee signs the PS Form 3849 to authorize delivery and leaves it in the mailbox we will generally deliver the item the next day even if nobody is around to physically accept.

I live in NYC in a house that has been converted to 3 apts. We have 3 mailboxes for the different apts but our mailman has started putting all of the mail in mine. We have never had a problem untill recently. How should we address this?

Asked by Katie Blackcoffee over 11 years ago

I think the mailman should be delivering to all 3 mailboxes if there are 3 legitimate apartments. Please make sure that each box is clearly labeled with the name or apt # of who lives there. if you happen to see the mailman, you could ask why this happens. Now if you were 3 people all living in the same apt and had 3 separate boxes, that wouldn't be allowed. I hope your situation can be resolved. 

What is the official term for a single house on your carrier route? Is it "destination"? Or do you call it something else?

Asked by Sahara over 11 years ago

I don't know the official term for a house. I would call it a "delivery address". So on my route there are 350 single family houses which is 350 possible deliveries or delivery addresses. I hope this helps you. 

We just purchased a lake home. The mailbox is a quarter mile away in a different zip code than the house. Which zip code is correct? (USPS lookup gives me where the mailbox is but I have successfully used the other one)

Asked by Dan over 10 years ago

Dan, I don't know the answer to your question. You likely live on a RR (Rural Route) or HCR (Highway Contract Route) given the fact that the mailbox is so far from your lake home. This has no bearing on what ZIP code you use as far as I know. I could see either ZIP code working based on what you told me, but I'm sure only one ZIP is actually correct. My suggestion is to stop in at a local post office during their business hours and ask a clerk or supervisor what ZIP you shoud be using or possibly call them if you can find their phone # or possibly 1-800-ASK-USPS. Thanks for writing and congratulations on your new home purchase.