Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

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.

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Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

When I buy something on eBay, how do I know which post office it is deliver to?

Asked by Jah over 11 years ago

When you purchase an item on eBay, it is similar to purchasing any other product online. You advise the seller of the address to ship the item to. The shipper will then mail the item via USPS and it will end up going to the PO that serves the destination address. Most often that is the PO that matches the city in the destination address. 

If I had a letter mailed but moved during the time the mail was being sent would it still make it to my new address?

Asked by fred over 11 years ago

If you put a mail forwarding request in to the PO via the website www.usps.com or via paper at your local post office then the mail may get forwarded to your new address. Most first class mail is forwarded from a previous address to a new address for 1 year. If the letter was actually delivered to your old address and arrived before the PO rcvd the forwarding order than the mail may not make it to your new address. If the new resident gives back the letter for the old tenant as "moved" then it may possibly be forwarded to the new address If the PO has a valid forwarding order request on record.

do you get another chance to take the road test for rca if you fail the first time

Asked by pink floyd almost 11 years ago

I don't know the procedure re: road tests and being able to retake them if you fail the first time. I'd recommend getting in contact with the National Rural Letter Carrier's Association at www.nrlca.org and see if they have any advice. Good luck to you.

Hi I just got hired as a cca. I've been reading post on the Internet and have seeing that cca's are hired for 1yr then fired and rehired. Is this what I should expect or is this just hear say?

Asked by Kevin over 11 years ago

I don't know that to be the case where they hire and fire CCA after a year. I have never seen anybody hired for 1 yr then fired and rehired. As long as you are doing a respectable job, it's not likely you would be fired for an invalid reason.

I am an RCA about to change to a CCA. When casing your mail, do most city carriers case their DPS for the walking portions of their route? If not, what is the best way to merge the DPS with flats while walking the route?

Asked by Jon almost 11 years ago

I have an route that is entirely walking and the DPS is not allowed to be cased in the office.  We take it out to the street and hold it in our hands and "finger" through it as we approach a house and then merge it together with the flats that have been cased and then sometimes a "3rd bundle" which is usually an advertisment that each delivery address receives. It is important though to be careful of the terrain on which you are walking while merging the DPS and flats together, especially when crossing lawns or going up and down steps. The first time I see the DPS letters is just before I get to a house to deliver it. They have been sequenced by a machine to save me the time of having to sort it earlier in the day. For the most part, they are accurately sorted with an error rate which I would say is less than 2% (just a guess). Good luck with your position change and I hope it will lead you to a full time regular city carrier position.

I sent a $100 check to someone in NY at a wrong address, then found out she had moved. I am wondering if I should be worried about someone else eventually cashing that check. It has been 2 months. And where has undelivered mail usually landed?

Asked by reiat about 11 years ago

I am not sure where the check would have wound up. If the letter carrier had been notified of the change of address and been paying attention to the envelope you had sent her then the check should have been forwarded on to her new address. It's also possible that the item is undeliverable due to a lack of a change of address and could be returned to the sender though this seems not to have happened in your case. Some people may advise you to put a stop payment on the check through your bank which may cost you $25. Others may just say don't worry too much about it gettting cashed by an unintended recipient. I would probably choose the latter approach but that certatinly still has some risk involved if there is no stop payment order on the check.

Is my mailman not returning the ads from a previous occupant to sender because he doesn't have to? I don't want to start a war over something he has no control over.

Asked by St KING almost 11 years ago

I am not exactly sure what you mean by this but I'll give it a crack. I am also copying and pasting this answer as you seem to have asked the same question twice. With regards to advertising mail, or any mail, the letter carrier should only be delivering mail to your residence that has your name OR has another name plus "or current resident" on the address label. If it just has the previous occupants name and doesn't say "or current resident", you certainly have the option to leave it in the mailbox with a note on it saying "addressee doesn't live here. please return to sender". Depending on the class of mail there is a chance we don't actually return the ad to the sender, but we do discard it at the Post Office. It is called NOVM (No Obvious Value Mail). Mail that would fall in that category is in the class of Presorted Standard Mail. Most mail that is Presorted Standard and doesn't say "or current resident" and has a previous occupants name could be discarded into the NOVM at the PO. I don't know that I would call your letter carrier lazy, but maybe they aren't paying attention to the name on the mail. You absolutey have the right to put the ad back in the mail if you wish.