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 agree Lili that 0600-2200 is a terribly long day. A normal shift for a regular postal worker is 8 hrs plus :30 lunch. There is often OT available but for most "regular" employees it shouldn't be mandatory. n my office it seems that some of the CCAs (city carrier assistant) have worked as long as 12 hours, but in don't think that is too common. This holiday season seems to have been very heavy with the parcel deliveries which would extend our delivery day. It's possible your mother's office is shorthanded which is why she is working so many hours. During the 4 wks around Christmas, the work/pay rules are suspended which require double time to be paid after 10 hrs of work (8 hours if you are working on your scheduled day off). For this reason, the mgmt isn't as pressured to limit the hours worked, and the truth is that the mail needs to get delivered somehow.
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I'm sorry to hear about your mail being stolen. I don't know about moving the location of your mailbox. I am just speculating, but if you live in a circle where the mailbox sits at the street and is serviced by a letter carrier from their vehicle where they just stick their arm out and you want to move the box to a location where the same process can still be accomplished, I don't see why it would be a problem. Does the carrier drive by your house anyway, or do they not come in the circle because all of the mailboxes are at an area where they can avoid coming into the circle. If that's the case, I am not sure it would be allowed to be moved "inside the circle". It's important that the approach to the mailbox is not blocked on any regular basis so the carrier doesn't have to "dismount" from their vehicle to put the mail in the mailbox. I'm not saying they wouldn't dismount to deliver the mail, but the general idea of mailboxes at the street is so the mail can be delivered directly from the postal vehicle. For further clarification, I'd recommend calling or visiting your local post office and speaking with a delivery supervisor.
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Congratulations on getting hired as a CCA. Even though you may not get benefits and pay like a career employee, I recommend sticking with it because it is a decent job in the long run. To answer your question I really don't know. It likely depends on the needs of the office to which you are assigned. There is no minimum amt of hours per week for a CCA as far as I know and be prepared to work every day including Sundays. Some offices deliver Amazon parcels on Sunday and assign a CCA to work. Once you pass probation (90 days) you can ask to "hold down" assignments for carriers who are either sick long term or on vacation. If you get to have a "hold down" you will then be guaranteed 40 hrs per week (8 hrs per day) for the period that the "hold down" is in effect. Good luck and remember to be professional and organized.
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It is strictly against the law for any letter carrier to take anything out of the mail. That would be considered tampering with the mail. If the gift was just put in a paper envelope and the envelope was bulging it is possible that if it went through mail processing equipment the machine could have damaged the envelope and caused the gift to fall out. It would be hard to prove that an item was stolen out of the mail, but if this happened on multiple occasions and you suspect something wrong, I'd report it a delivery supervisor at your local post office. I don't think much will be done about it but at least they'd have a record of it. I would hope that any theft from the mail by USPS employees is rare and dealt with in a severe and prompt manner if proven.
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If the package is supposed to be delivered Monday, I would see if you could somehow contact (via phone or email) your local PO early Monday AM and see if they could "intercept" the package before returning it to the sender. I know some POs would be very helpful and others not at all. This is a sad aspect of the company that I work for. We are sometimes overwhelmed and feel we don't have the time to go the extra step to help out in a situation like yours. Somebody would need to go look at the parcels for the route which covers your house and try to find the parcel and correct the address. If you don't know how to contact your local PO, please call 1-888-ASK-USPS to see if they have any suggestions. I wish you well.
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When mailing a letter it is always best to put a full return address on it if you want to get it back in the event the item is undeliverable for any reason. It is not wrong, however, to just put your first name and return address on the letter. I can't tell you how common I see it since I don't often pay attention to the thoroughness of the return address. Most mail that is sent actually gets delivered as long as it has a proper destination address, including unit/apt. # (if any). Thank you for the question.
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The letter carrier should not be putting himself in that risky situation. Is it possible for you to relocate your mailbox outside the contained area where your dog is? I don't believer a letter carrier wants to bring out your mail each day not knowing whether or not he will have safe access to your mailbox. Again, I am not sure why he would enter the fenced in area when told not to. With regards to getting nipped in the leg, I am not sure what happens next. I wouldn't worry about it if you aren't contacted by the post office regarding your dog.
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