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.

SubscribeGet emails when new questions are answered. Ask Me Anything!Show Bio +

Share:

Ask me anything!

Submit Your Question

1237 Questions

Share:

Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

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 12 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 have recently been promoted to a career carrier position after working as a CCA for 10 months. I reserved a vacation for the weekend and now have been mandated to work. They are threatening to write me up for taking my days off. Is this legal?

Asked by Bryan almost 12 years ago

Bryan, congratulations on being promoted to a "regular" carrier. It is much better than being a CCA, but 10 months sounds like a pretty short amount of time to be promoted. That is a good thing. With regards to your vacation I don't know the legalities of them mandating you to work when you have reserved a vacation. If you put in a request for annual leave and it was given back to you within a certain amt. of time (marked denied I mean), then I believe it is approved and generally can't be revoked. If you chose at as a full vacation block (usually in 1-week segments), that also is non-revocable by management as far as I know. I would recommend asking your shop steward for advice in this situation as I don't know in the NALC/USPS National Agreement where this is discussed, or possibly in the ELM (Employee/Labor Manual). One other suggestion is to ask on a FB message board that I belong to which you may find helpful. The group is called USPS Postal Maniacs. I've seen other USPS employees post questions and problems there and receive some advice. I will warn you that much of the talk on there is negative towards management, but there are many good people on there who can often steer you in the right direction. Good luck and thanks for writing.

I live in a condo building of 100 unit owners. Each unit owner has an assigned mailbox in the lobby where we have a doorman. Upon request of a unit owner, can the US Postman give the mail to the doorman and not deposit in the unit owner's mailbox?

Asked by Res over 12 years ago

I am not sure of the correct answer to that question. I would think that the postman technically would have to put each piece of mail in the box that corresponded to the particular unit, and not have the discretion to just hand the mail to the doorman at the request of the resident.

I got a strange note from the mailman today that I have to put my name on our apt mailbox or it will be returned to sender. I had lots of instances that my mail has been misdirected with the correct address. My question is am I required to?

Asked by bert over 12 years ago

I don't know the answer to this officially. It would definitely be helpful to put your name on your mailbox, but if a letter were dressed accurately with the correct apt. #, I'm not sure why it would be returned to the sender. If I were delivering to an apt. complex, I wouldn't require this to be done. I live in an apt. building and do put my name on the mailbox, but I don't know that it is required.

Are you required to stop at each residential mailbox to check if there is outgoing mail if you have none to deliver that day?

Asked by Chris almost 12 years ago

Chris, that is a very good question. We aren't required to stop at at a residential mailbox if we have no mail to that address and we can't visibly see any outgoing mail or the flag is not up to indicate outgoing mail. In the neighborhood that I deliver mail to most houses get a delivery daily even if it as little as an advertising run that covers the entire route (sometimes known as a 3rd bundle or EDDM).

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 12 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.

How many times does a post man have to deliver a registerd letter to a person's address before he is to send it bck?

Asked by corinna almost 12 years ago

For a registered letter that needs a signature, the letter is usually brought out one time to try and get somebody to sign for having received it. If no authorized recipient is available, a notice is left (PS Form 3849) advising the addressee that the letter needs to be picked up at the PO, or they may sign the 3849 to authorize redelivery. If the letter isn't picked up in a few days, a reminder 3849 2nd notice is delivered with a date written on it telling the addressee that the item will be returned to the sender if it isn't picked up. The date is usually 15 days from the First Notice being left, but I'm not sure.  I hope this helps and I have deleted your previous question as I believe it is a duplicate. Thanks for writing.