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

I dropped a letter in a blue USPS collection box before noticing the box was no longer labeled to display pick up times or other information. This box location is not showing up on the USPS locator either. Does this mean my letter won't get mailed?

Asked by milliemo about 12 years ago

I am not sure about this. If I had to guess, I'd hope that the collection box is still in use  if it would allow you to deposit mail into it. I would suggest contacting the local post office nearest that collection box and see if they could provide you any further information. 

I believe what he was trying to say is his roommate is hording some of his mail he cant deliver e.g pocketing his last few relays to avoid getting yelled at for being late etc. !!Mailman Dave you helped me early in my postal career and i thank you!!

Asked by Danny Mac about 12 years ago

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.

I know it's illegal to send mail out yourselves but what if they live only a block away? I don't want to waste any stamps but I want it to be a surprise for her. Any suggestions on what I could do?

Also what can be put into the newspaper box?

Asked by Vi almost 13 years ago

Do not put any unstamped mail in someone else's mailbox. it is not legal to do so. In reality,though, a letter carrier might just realize it is something left in the box by a friend or someone nearby and leave it alone. I think the worst that would happen is that the item may disappear if the carrier thinks it is outgoing mail. If you put her full address on there and a carrier takes it, the letter may be re-delivered in the future as "postage due". Finally, I have no information on what is allowed in the Newspaper delivery boxes. Is it something that can be taped to her front door? Honestly, I would just spend the money and legally mail the item. If it is someone you want to surprise (in a good way) they should at least be worth the Cost of the postage. 

I live in a 3 family house that uses 1 mailbox for all 3 floors. Lately my mail has been going missing. So I am putting up a separate locked mailbox with my name on it. How do I go about making sure that my mailman puts MY mail in my mailbox?

Asked by Kaur over 12 years ago

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.

So my significant other is in the military and she sent two letters on the same day, one to her mother who lives one street over was received, mine however i have yet to get and its been 4 days since her mother got hers? Is this common?

Asked by shawn about 12 years ago

Shawn, I'd say that this isn't common. Even if "one street over" meant a different town it still shouldn't differ by more of a day in my opinion. It's likely that the letter was missorted somewhere along the way or missdelivered, both which aren't rare. Hopefully the letter will arrive soon. Thank you to your S/O for her service to the country.

Occasionally the mailman brings mail along with package (too large for mailbox) to the front door. Each time, I wonder if I should be tipping him. I haven't but it seems like I should offer it.

Asked by LUV2SEW almost 12 years ago

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.

I dropped a bank deposit envelope full of cash and a deposit slip in the mailbox by accident, actually 11 year old daughter did…..how do I go about getting it back? Thanks for the help!

Asked by chris over 12 years ago

I would contact the PO that is in charge of servicing that blue collection box and hope they haven't emptied it out yet. If you could prove to them that it belongs to you and was dropped there in error, it's possible they could get it back to you but I'm not sure. Good luck to you! I hope you can get that envelope back.