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.
Good question. I think that it would be too expensive upfront as you mentioned, and the USPS doesn't seem to be in that good of a financial position right now. It is true that the LLVs we use get very poor gas mileage as we are starting and stopping the engine many times per day and some of us drive very short distances. I get the impression that the USPS is currently in more of a survival mode than in being too innovative as of late. We probably could use some type of congressional relief of our current requirement to prefund future retiree health benefits This requirement is resulting in significant paper losses for the USPS which probably also hampers the drive to be more eco-friendly and economical.
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I haven't witnessed anyone deliberately tampering with a package, though every now and then a box arrives empty, so it could have broken open in transit or tampered with. If a carrier were to do this on any regular basis, customers would become suspicious and probably call the PO. If the PO rcvd too many calls about 1 route, I imagine they'd get suspicious and look into it. Overall, I think tampering and theft is rare but I am sure it happens in such a large organization. Thank you for the question.
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After working A certain amt. of time in one office you can definitely apply for a transfer through eReassign, an internal website for USPS transfers. You might have to be a career employee to do that, meaning not a temporary hire. When transferring to another location, you might lose seniority when it comes to picking vacation days or bidding on job assignments, but you won't have your pay cut if you transfer as the same occupation. (Letter carrier to letter carrier, for example) Fromy I office we have had many employees transfer out over the years. It sometimes takes awhile, but it can happen. If you want to transfer its a good idea to have a good work record re:attendance and safety, as the office you are going tO will want to know about it. Thanks for your question.
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I don't know the regulations exactly when it comes to curbside delivery. I can assure you it is printed somewhere, possibly on the USPS website. I think that the carrier has to be able to approach your mailbox, deliver and then drive away without leaving the vehicle. That said, some carriers I know would rather deliver the mail and not have to bring it back to the PO and then attempt delivery the following day. I understand the frustration with the inconsistency, but If I had to pick one way or another, it is acceptable for a carrier to skip a delivery if he can't get to a mailbox for the reason of too much snow or a car blocking the mailbox. The school of thought might be that if we deliver when there is 4 ft. of snow on the ground, what incentive does the resident have to clear a path to so the carrier can drive his vehicle directly up to the curbside mailbox?
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Sorry for the slow reply. The letter carrier possibly just took the envelope without looking to see if it was addressed or had postage and put it in the outgoing mail. If that happened it is doubtful that it would appear again. Did u ever try contacting the PO? I am not sure they would be of any help. I understand this may be a tough one to solve.
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Standard Post is our economical way to ship parcels. The method of transport is usually by truck (ground) vs Priority Mail, which is often by FedEx air transport. For this reason, standard post usually takes longer. I don't know how long your package should have taken from Denver to Boise but 1 week sounds somewhat reasonable. Priority Mail is almost always 1-3 days but you pay accordingly for the faster service.
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Having never taken the CCA driving test I can only offer tips.
1. Pay close attention to the driving instructor/examiner
2. obey all traffic signals and speed limits
3. 2 hands on the steering wheel while driving
4. Curb your wheels when parking
5 anytime you leave the driver's seat, the ignition must be off and take the key with you.
6 use your mirrors especially when changing lanes or pulling away from a curb
7 Try to avoid going into reverse unless it is necessary.
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