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.
Brittany, I am not sure why the mail addressed to your husband would have been removed from the mailbox and then not have any future mail for him delivered. Unless I know a certain name no longer lives at an address and/or has a change of address on file, I would deliver the mail. I don't know what can be done to retrieve any non-delivered mail, but I do have a suggestion for now. If it is still a problem, I'd tape a note inside your mailbox that says "Accepting mail for (Insert both of your names here)." Another suggestion would be to call or visit your local PO and speak to a delivery supervisor to clarify the valid names at your address. Thanks for writing.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=My%20husband%20and%20I%20have%20different%20last%20names.%20Within%20the%20last%202%20months%2C%20his%20was%20removed%20from%20our%20box%20without%20our%20permission.%20His%20mail%20did%20not%20get%20delivered%20between%20that%20time.%20What%20can%20I%20do%3F%20His%20new%20Driver%20license%20was%20part%20of%20that%20mail...&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/13478)
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.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=I%20recently%20became%20a%20new%20CCA%20in%20Denver.%20%20I%27ve%20always%20thought%20it%20would%20be%20great%20to%20live%20in%20NY%2C%20but%20I%27m%20wondering%20how%20you%20make%20ends%20meet%20given%20the%20salary%20for%20Carriers%20is%20the%20same%20nationwide.%20%20Do%20you%20have%20a%20two%20income%20household%2C%20etc%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/9117)
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.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=I%20have%20a%20lot%20of%20questions%20about%20how%20a%20mailman%27s%20route%20works.%20Do%20you%20have%20the%20same%20route%20all%20the%20time%3F%20If%20not%2C%20what%20would%20be%20the%20reason%20a%20mailman%27s%20route%20would%20change%3F%20Do%20you%20ever%20finish%20your%20route%20early%3F%20Or%20finish%20late%2C%20meaning%20you%20have%20to%20work%20late%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/13318)
Our salary is uniform across the nation even though the cost of living could vary widely. The only exceptions may be in AK or HI where the cost of living is a lot higher than most of the 48 contiguous states. What you are referring to is known as locality pay and most federal agencies have that. Our union, the National Association of Letter Carriers, negotiates our pay scale with the USPS every few years. They don't ask for locality pay as far as I know. As a national union, there is wide disagreement as to whether some areas should be paid more than others for doing the same job. Living in NY Metro area is expensive and it would be nice to have some locality pay. But for those living in less expensive regions, they probably wouldn't want to see some of their fellow union brethren making more than them for the same job. They might feel if someone in an expensive area is making more, that leaves less $$ for them in negotiating a contract and the NALC represents all of the carriers nationwide. I have definitely seen more carriers transfer out of my post office to lesser expensive areas (NC, PA, FL) than transferring in. Great question!
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Is.%20the%20USPS%20jobs%20pay%20though%20out%20the%20nation%2C%20or%20does%20it%20differ%20where%20cost%20of%20living%20could%20be%20more%20or%20less&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/12824)
Dating Website Employee
How does a dating site get its first 10,000 customers?
CPR Trainer
Why does the 'official' CPR method change from time to time?
Fashion Model
How prevalent are eating disorders in modeling?
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.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=At%20the%20end%20of%20your%20delivery%20day%2C%20you%20notice%20that%20you%20have%20some%20remaining%20flyers.%20What%20would%20you%20do%20with%20them&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/13367)
usually if there is a Hold Mail request for a specific address, all mail is held which would include packages. I cant guarantee this but that is what would happen on my route should someone have their mail held.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=I%20live%20in%20an%20apartment%20with%20small%20mailbox%20and%20I%20am%20expecting%20a%20package%20this%20week%20but%20I%20will%20be%20away%20on%20vacation%20so%20I%20asked%20the%20USPS%20to%20hold%20my%20mail%2C%20will%20they%20hold%20first%20class%20packages%20and%20the%20rest%20of%20my%20mail%20until%20I%20get%20back%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/8721)
Sparky, Thanks for writing and I appreciate the comments. Please keep in mind that anything I say here doesn't come from any expertise. It is just from my experience in one office with one set of co-workers and management and a lot of it is opinion. The above is called a "disclaimer" which I'm a big fan of. Good luck to you in getting hired as a CCA. They are the future of the USPS and hopefully will lead you to a career position with better pay and benefits. The few things I can think of when it comes to being a CCA are: be on-time for work, don't miss work unless it's an emergency or you are very sick, work safely with regards to driving a motor vehicle and walking a delivery route. Be respectful of your co-workers and management and try to deliver the mail accurately though you may not be given the clearest set of instructions how to do your job. We've had a few CCAs quit for their own reasons, but I don't think our office has let more than a few go involuntarily. I believe once your probationary period is over (90 days), it is difficult to be terminated. Management can sometimes control how many hours you get to work if they aren't happy with your job performance. Again, in as long as I've worked at the PO, there has never been an overall shortage of work available to the carriers who wanted to work.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Hi%2C%20first%20off%20I%20would%20like%20to%20thank%20you%20for%20all%20this%20info%20you%20give%20out.%20%20Great%20stuff%21%20%20I%20just%20took%20the%20test%20for%20a%20CCA.%20My%20questions%20are%2C%20in%20your%20opinion%2C%20what%20are%20the%20biggest%20mistakes%20new%20CCAs%20make%3F%20%20I%27m%20going%20to%20add%20a%20part%202%20to%20this.&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/13348)
-OR-
Login with Facebook (max 20 characters - letters, numbers, and underscores only. Note that your username is private, and you have the option to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
(A valid e-mail address is required. Your e-mail will not be shared with anyone.)
(min 5 characters)
By checking this box, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to Jobstr.com’s Terms and Privacy Policy.
-OR-
Register with Facebook(Don't worry: you'll be able to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
Browse Jobs
Host a Q&A
Search
Submit Your Question
Host a Q&A
Last 7
