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.
As far as I know, there is no other PO besides the one that delivers your mail that could do anything with the information whether you have moved or not. Other mail processing facilities just sort the mail according to ZIP code to get it on its way to your local PO. They aren't concerned with the name on the mail. Do you live with anybody else who may write that on the mail and put it back in the outgoing mail? As long as your local PO knows you haven't moved, nobody should be having your mail returned to the sender. You could also put a note and tape it inside your mailbox saying "(your name) is a valid name to deliver here".
Scott, you ask a very good question and I do understand your hesitation for wanting to address this issue with her for fear of retaliation. I would take the step of writing a note for the carrier and politely asking them to close the lid after delivering the mail. I realize I agreed with you that there was a slight risk in addressing the issue, but if dealt with politely I'd hope there would be no cause for retaliation. Also, a call to the delivery supervisor would be appropriate if you dI'd see any obvious retaliation.
I don't know that the mailbox is technically USPS property. It should only be used for US Mail as far as I know. The mailman probably shouldn't have taken the gift bags if they weren't properly addressed and contatined sufficient postage. Having the flag up does generally signal that somebody has outgoing mail so we know to stop there even if there is no "incoming" mail to that address. I would look at any item that is in a customers mailbox and it is usually quite apparent if it is meant as outgoing mail or not. That being said, I would never recommend that anybody leave anything in a mailbox that isn't associated with US Mail or the USPS. I think in most cases the gift bags would have been left alone in the mailbox, but we have employees among us who aren't that sharp or mayne they were just trying to prove a point that non-mail items should be in the mailbox. I can't comment on why the gift bags disappeared. It is just speculation on my part.
Nizu, I'm not sure exactly what you mean by your question, but I will take a guess. I believe you are a letter carrier who doesnt yet have a uniform or uniform allowance. I'm pretty sure that not long after you pass the 90-day probationary period the USPS should be sending you information on how to purchase uniforms plus a spending card which can be used at authorized vendors to make purchases of authorized uniform components. This is for city letter carriers and CCAs. I don't know anything about rural carriers and a uniform allowance. Have you asked your supervisor if they know anything about the process? Thanks for writing.
Yoga Instructor
Private Detective
Help Desk Technician
Generally I don't think that mailmen should be photographing packages that are delivered. There are cases where I have done this, but not often. I photograph the USPS Tracking # if my handheld scanner can't read the barcode or I can't manually type in the numbers because they are smeared or otherwise unreadable. I will then bring back the image to my supervisor to see if they can figure it out or at least as a CYA to show them why I couldn't scan the item.
I looked on Google Maps how far apart those 2 areas were and it said about 17 miles. In most cases, that piece of mail would be delivered the next day as long as it was put in a mailbox before the daily collection.
You can rest assured that those blue collection boxes are checked at least 1 time after the time on the label for the stated day. For example, if the label says Mon-Fri 3PM, you can rest assured that the box is emptied AFTER 3PM each day M-F but before the last truck has been dispatched from the local post office to a regional processing and distribution center M-F. (also known as a P&DC or "plant"). Inside each collection box is a bar code which is scanned by the collection box letter carrier. The scan records the time that the box was emptied and is recorded on a central internal computer system.
-OR-
(max 20 characters - letters, numbers, and underscores only. Note that your username is private, and you have the option to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
(A valid e-mail address is required. Your e-mail will not be shared with anyone.)
(min 5 characters)
By checking this box, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to Jobstr.com’s Terms and Privacy Policy.
-OR-
(Don't worry: you'll be able to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)