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.
You are asking a good question which I don't know how to answer. When we were hired, co-workers who were certified as Driver-trainers would teach us how to drive the LLV and also sign us off as being trained. I don't know anything about "off the clock" or "off the job" rural carriers who offer training lessons or preparation on LLV training. I can only speak from personal experience that it wasn't terribly difficult to learn how to drive the LLV even though the steering wheel is on the opposite side that we are used to in the United States. Overall, the LLV drives similar to other automatic drive vehicles in the US. The important things to keep in mind is blind spots and handling in inclement weather. Those are times or conditions to be extra cautious and always wear your seat belt. Good Luck to you!!
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If the flyers are unaddressed which would usually be the case when there are leftovers, I bring them back to the post office where they are usually discarded in a recycle bin. It's not too often that I have leftover flyers because they are usually distributed to the letter carriers in the correct quantity needed to cover the entire route (give or take a few). Another reason why we usually don't have leftovers is because we are supposed to count out the number of flyers needed for each section (loop or relay) resulting in a low amt of overage. I do see many flyers put in the recycle bin at the end of the day leading me to believe that some flyers aren't delivered or there is an error in the counts for some routes. A lot of flyers are probably of little interest to the recipients, but that isn't my concern. I am loyal to the mailers who are paying the USPS to provide delivery services for their advertising.
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I don't know how assignments are made for CCA. In NY City, most deliveries are made on foot, but not exclusively. It is common to see carriers using a cart with several mail satchels attached and then using relay boxes to pick up future deliveries on route. I would suggest that most routes delivered by postal vehicle are by more senior employees, but it's not always a hard and fast rule. Good luck in your employment!
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No, a lettter carrier isn't supposed to accept any gift of substantial value from someone on his route. It doesn't mean that it isn't done, just that it's not supposed to be done. I don't know of anybody losing a job due to this but they aren't supposed to appear to be accepting gifts from customers.
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It is pretty rare that we would have to lift 75 lbs. Most of the heaviest packages are probably in the 30-40 lb. Range and even that isn't an everyday occurrence. Good luck to you.
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I can't tell you for sure that he is doing something wrong but from what you say it seems like it. In our office we have 30 min for lunch plus a 10-minute break while we are on our routes. Also, we are allowed whatever is necessary to use a restroom. maybe the size of his route is small that he doesn't need a full day to deliver it all. If that is the case, many supervisors might pick up on that and try to give that carrier more work. If you were to call someone, i would first recommend calling a delivery supervisor or postmaster depending how large your PO is. To be honest, they may just thank you for calling and do nothing, or they may approach the carrier and tell them to not park that long in one place at 3:30 PM. I rarely hear complaints about this but if someone is being so wasteful of the USPS $, I don't see any issue with bringing it to the PO attention.
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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.
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