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.
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.
I don't know if you will receive the package tonight. This time of year I'd say that most packages are delivered by 6PM, but each office probably has varying times due to mail volume and staffing levels. During the holiday season, we deliver some packages on Sunday as well. If you have a tracking number you can track the shipment at www.usps.com but I'm not sure how well it works with items that originated from another country.
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.
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.
Beauty Queen
Social Network Security Manager
TV Meteorologist
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"
I don't think there is any automation involved after 18 months from when a forwarding order started. At the sorting case, a carrier has pink cards with stickers on them which can say when a particular forwarding order started. I keep those cards for about 2-3 years and once the forwarding order has expired (18 months), I put a line through the sticker and maybe a little marker at the address in the carrier case indicating UTF. "Return service requested" AFAIK means that if the letter was going to be forwarded to a new addrees, the sender would like the letter returned to them with the new address info. The carriers handle them just as they would any forward and the CFS (Computerized Forwarding System) will know that the sender wanted the letter returned. The sender does pay an extra fee for this service.
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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