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.

SubscribeGet emails when new questions are answered. Ask Me Anything!Show Bio +

Share:

Ask me anything!

Submit Your Question

1237 Questions

Share:

Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

Can I legally require a USPS letter carrier to NOT WALK ACROSS MY YARD (50' lot). I've gone to great expense and care to sod, then RESOD when prev. carrier wore a path in my lawn. I hate to erect a iron fence,but I may have to!

Asked by Ruth in Memphis over 11 years ago

I believe it is legal to advise the USPS to not have their employees walk across your yard. It would be better to put signage up stating that is your request. While we generally aren't too enthused about not being able to cross a lawn, we need to respect the property of our postal patrons and honor such requests as long as the letter carrier can still access your mailbox and comply with your instructions not to cross your lawn.

803 Votes

Are mailmen allowed to return ads from previous occupants to sender or is mine just lazy?

Asked by St KING almost 11 years ago

I am not exactly sure what you mean by this but I'll give it a crack. I am also copying and pasting this answer as you seem to have asked the same question twice. With regards to advertising mail, or any mail, the letter carrier should only be delivering mail to your residence that has your name OR has another name plus "or current resident" on the address label. If it just has the previous occupants name and doesn't say "or current resident", you certainly have the option to leave it in the mailbox with a note on it saying "addressee doesn't live here. please return to sender". Depending on the class of mail there is a chance we don't actually return the ad to the sender, but we do discard it at the Post Office. It is called NOVM (No Obvious Value Mail). Mail that would fall in that category is in the class of Presorted Standard Mail. Most mail that is Presorted Standard and doesn't say "or current resident" and has a previous occupants name could be discarded into the NOVM at the PO. I don't know that I would call your letter carrier lazy, but maybe they aren't paying attention to the name on the mail. You absolutey have the right to put the ad back in the mail if you wish.

803 Votes

I have removed the mailbox from my house because travel often. I have a PO box. Every time i return I find junk mail stuffed into the screen door. I have complained to the local Post Office but nothing gets done. What are my options?

Asked by Hugh Mann over 11 years ago

I agree with you that as long as you don't have a mailbox up, then NOTHING should be delivered at all. We would discard any Standard Mail (usually circulars or donation solicitations). Any first class mail should be marked "No Mail Receptacle" and returned to sender. One option would be to put your mail on hold while you are away. You can do that online or by going into any PO and filling out an "authorization to hold mail" form. 

802 Votes

hello what does it mean when a package is in transit?

Asked by Patrick almost 11 years ago

That means a package that has been sent is traveling from it's origin (where it was mailed) to the destination post office. The package could be on a tractor-trailer or an airplane or in a sorting facility. When a package arrives at the destination post office, it will usually be scanned "arrived" so if one were to look up the package status, they would know it has been rcvd at the destination and PO and will be delivered that day or the next delivery day.

802 Votes

Also on Jobstr...

Antiques Dealer

Antiques DealerDo you think today's "stuff" will one day be collected as valuable antiques?

School Teacher

School TeacherAre teachers underpaid?

Professional Blogger

Professional BloggerHow long did it take you before you could quit your day-job?

I moved at the beginning of the year changed my address & all of a sudden my mail person crossed out mine & my kids names on the name card I fixed it but still don't get my mail how do I fix this and get my mail so I get my sons letters from the army

Asked by Starr almost 12 years ago

I Have heard this question come up several times.  While we don't use name cards where i work, I don't know the reason why the letter carrier would change the names on your mailbox. If you ever see him or her, I would try to set the information correct with them. If that doesn't work, try to contact your PO for assistance. You certainly deserve to get mail addressed to you. 

802 Votes

my best friend was an rca for 10 yrs she died 3 weeks ago while on the job can she recieve any kind of benefits from the goverment she had a heart attack.

Asked by julie over 11 years ago

I don't know the answer to this question. I am sorry to hear about the passing of your friend who was an RCA. My suggestion would be to have her next of kin (or maybe you) contact the district office where she was employed.

801 Votes

How do you organize the mail so you know you give all the mail to the right house?

Asked by cmac almost 11 years ago

For the first 1-2 of hours each morning, letter carriers are busy sorting mail in delivery order so that when we go on our routes, the mail is organized. Each route has a pre-determined order of delivery and we have carrier cases (think of a desk with vertical dividers fof each address or building). After we are done sorting the mail we take it out of the carrier cases and put in trays or rubber band it so it stays organized. Before we actually put the mail in a customer's mailbox, we should be going through the mail we sorted to verify that it is the right mail going to the right house. The vast majority of the mail that we deliver is already sorted by a machine at a regional mail processing plant. The mail arrives at our local post office in delivery order (I'd say a fairly high level of accuracy) and as we go deliver the mail we merge that mail together with the mail we have sorted manually at the post office. The amount of mail we manually sort is so much lower than it used to be either because of automation or a decline in mail volume. When I started working for the USPS only letter size mailing was able to be put in order. Now we have machines that can sort flats (magazines, catalogs) in delivery order which is impressive as well.

801 Votes

Home Browse Jobs Host a Q&A Search Blog FAQ Terms Contact

Copyright Jobstr 2014