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.
Most of the mail that we take out is sorted ahead of time into trays, but there is always some "residual mail" that has to be hand sorted and sometimes collated in with the mail that has already been sorted. It is rare that these trays would be more than 20 lbs. in my estimation. Some offices have more automation than others meaning some offices still have to do a lot of manual sorting. While there are sometimes heavy packages to lift, I think the max. Is 70 lbs. and i don't see a parcel that heavy too often. The mail that I mentioned earlier comes sorted into trays is done by automated sorting machines located at a larger processing facility.
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Sure it's common to run late. It's possible the carrier had another assignment to do before starting their regular route. Also, if staffing is short, a route may be broken up into several sections and a carrier will do that section for overtime which could vary the delivery time greatly. Thanks for the question.
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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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I don't know the policy for whether or not to leave a package inside the door or not. I will leave a parcel inside a mailbox if it fits. If it doesn't fit, then I will bring the package to the front door of the house or put it inside a vestibule. I will leave the item if nobody is home and a signature isn't required because I deliver mail in a very safe,suburban NY community. The suggestion that I have in your situation is to call your PO and speak with the delivery supervisor or postmaster to see if an exception can be made for your situation. I dont know what the result will be or what the official policy is.
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You can give a mailman any package that has the postage paid on it either via a computer printed label (such as Click 'N Ship) or a label where the recipient will pay the return postage. In the latter case, the label will clearly say "No Postage Necessary If Mailed Within The United States". Every letter carrier should accept the package no questions asked. The exception to this would be a city letter carrier who may not have a USPS vehicle which they are operating from and are unable to bring the package back to the Post Office. In that case I believe you can go to www.usps.com to schedule a package pickup. The mailman usually won't take a package back to a specific address until it is processed through our mail distribution system. Most of the time we just accept any package or mail along our delivery routes and bring back to the post office where we work from and it gets dispatched to a mail distribution center for processing. Thanks for writing.
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Tera, I am sorry but I don't know where the package you sent your boyfriend is, though I think you knew that already. If a letter carrier can't figure out which apt. # a piece of mail should go to, they often will have it returned to sender though I realize you left off your address as well. The package was either delivered to the wrong apt number or sent to an office that handles undeliverable mail. I am not sure where that office is or what happens to items sent there.
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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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