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 would recommend not tipping the letter carrier when they bring the mail along with the package. It is a very nice service of him to do. We are technically not supposed to accept any gratuities but I haven't heard of this being enforced to any great extent. Whether or not you get good service from your letter carrier shouldn't depend on a tip. We are professionals that are paid a decent salary (i.e. we aren't paid a low salary such as a bartender/waiter/bellboy who rely on tips). I know some of my fellow USPS employees will disagree with my comments here, but this is how I truly feel re: tips.
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New Balance 706 Men's Postal Walking Shoe MK706B is the only shoe I've been wearing for the last few years as a postal letter carrier. My feet don't ache at all, but I must stress that everyone is different. Also, my most recent pair wore out very quickly, but I am wondering if that is because it was in storage for years before I actually used it. I'm not sure and they are about $100/pair. I'm sorry that I can't give you any other recommendations than that. The ones I mentioned are black, leather, lace-up and have a slip resistant grip with the SR/USA safety certification. There must be many choices available at a work clothes store like Work 'N Gear or Work 'N Play, or Cabela's. The trouble with ordering from a catalog is if you choose the wrong size or the shoes just don't feel right you have to return them via mail which could be a pain or have a fee involved for return postage. Again, I really like the shoes I mentioned above, but I have a new found concern about their longevity. Colin, thanks for writing.
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Danny Mac, thanks for clarifying the question. I hope your postal career works out and always glad to help. As I've mentioned in a previous question, I've have received so much help from so many sources to keep me going when times were tough. Anyhow, regarding the roommate question, that is obviously a very serious accusation/situation. I'm pretty sure that if one is caught delaying or "taking home" first-class mail as mentioned, you could get fired and possibly arrested (though I don't want to be dramatic and say that the latter would happen for sure). Also, why is the writer "stuck" if the roommate is fired? As you can imagine, I hate hearing a story like this. Even though US Mail isn't as important to many people as it used to be it is still sacred in my opinion and should be treated as such, especially 1st Class mail.
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I don't know for sure how you can make this happen, but I have a suggestion. If you happen to actually see the mailman, you can mention to him/her the problem that you seem to be having and that you would like to have mail for your family put in the locked mailbox. I don't know if you will be successfull in having this done but it is worth a try. If this doesn't work, you might want to look into renting a PO Box which is very secure but you'd need to go pick up your mail from a PO instead of having it delivered to your house. I wish you well in having this problem resolved.
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I believe if you change the location of your mailbox, it would be wise to contact the local post office that handles your delivery. I don't know the rules as to if this is allowed or not. I would think that if it doesn't create any inconvenience for the carrier, it might be possible. To be honest the rules of delivery are applied so inconsistently that I can't tell you for sure what will happen.
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the letter carrier is going to bring the letter back to his post office and eventually (1-2 days) it will get to the addresS where it was intended to go. That's what we do.
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That is a very good question. I don't know the official answer to that question, but I know if I saw that outgoing mail was obviously there to be collected, I would collect it. Most addresses I service have at least 1 piece of mail per day to be delivered, but if it didn't I may take a glance from a distance to see if there was an obvious outgoing mail or a flag up on their mailbox indicating an outgoing item.
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