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.
Andy, I am glad to write this blog of my experiences and advice as a letter carrier for the USPS. To answer your questions:1) I'd wear a suit if you have one, or ar least a shirt and tie with nice pants and shoes. Try to be clean cut, ambitious, professional and polite. I don't know how much appearance counts in a USPS interview, but it can't hurt to take the above advice. Be on time and respectful of the interviewer.
2) Becoming a regular from a CCA is usually just a matter of waiting until there is a vacancy in your office or station that remains unassigned to a regular carrier. Then it may take a month or two to become a regular carrier. The time that it takes for a CCA to become a regular carrier depends on the staffing and turnover where you are assigned to work. I can only speak for my PO, but I've seen it take as little as one year and as much as 8 years (that is when we had PTFs (part time flexibles, a precursor to CCAs) to become a regular employee.
3) When you become a regular employee, the hours get much more stable and predictable. You generally work 5 8-hour days per week with set hours. As a CCA, you pretty much work when they want you and for as long as needed per day. There aren't many rights for a CCA with regards to hours except if they are "holding down" a regular assignment for a rte that is temporarily vacant due to illness or vacation. As a regular employee, you can refuse OT if there is enough staffing to cover all of the assignments in a day. The management can mandate carriers to work OT if they are short handed and those who want to work OT already will be working some amt of OT. The rules for this are a little complex so I won't go into it here.
Thanks for your questions and good luck Andy.
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I don't know I what you can do to save your job. Does the NALC represent CCAs? I am not sure. If you dismounted yoUR mail truck without turning off the engine, that is often grounds for dismissal. It does seem a bit harsh but I know the USPS is very strict on safety sometimes!
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That sounds absolutely wrong what is done. The only time that a worker can open a package that i know of is if it is Media Mail. That class of mail is subject to inspection if a worker wants to verify that the contents qualify for the Media Mail rate. Does the worker say why he opens then packages? I haven't heard of your situation before.
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I am sorry but I don't know anything about the rules for transferring that apply to CCAs. I would recommend visiting the www.nalc.org website which may have information or contacting a union representative at your local NALC branch or your shop steward. Good luck in your USPS career.
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Nobody should be putting your mail on hold for 10 days without your permission unless there was some obstruction to your mailbox which would prevent delivery. I believe that via USPS.com somebody could technically put a hold mail request pretending to be you, but that wouldnt be legal and haven't heard of that occurring. I hope you can find out why this happened.
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I usually don't know the contents of any given package, my favorite thing is to deliver packages as opposed to magazines and letters.
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I dont know if they are officially allowed to do this, but I'd do that if it were a once-in-awhile siituation where access to a door slot or mailbox was blocked. I know I prefer to deliver the mail rather than bring it back to the PO. If a customer wanted to complain that this was being done, they certainly could speak to a delivery supervisor and voice a comment about this. if a mailbox can't be accessed or doesn't exist, a carrier can return the mail to the sender marked NMR which stands for "No Mail Receptacle"
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