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.
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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I can't remember a time that I came across any suspicious letters or packages, or at least not as of late. Not long after 9/11 I think there was anthrax sent through mail or something like that to Washington DC. It made me nervous and I think I had some type of reaction that I may have contracted it and had trouble breathing. It turned out to be all in my head and nothing ever came of it. There probably is drugs sent through the mail or maybe other illegal substances but I have no experience with it fortunately.
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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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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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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 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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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". Postage may also be a postage meter or by affixing stamps to the package to cover the postage. 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. Thanks for writing.
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