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.
I have no idea if the hand sorting of odd shaped packages would cause it to not receive the normal scans to update tracking. I would suspsect that as long as the package had a valid bar code which could be scanned along the way that it would be treated just as as other packages. I'm sorry I have no more specific information on the scans of odd shaped items.
I am sorry that the item arrived empty, but I do understand why it shows as arrived delivered. If that package arrived on my route for delivery I would have scanned it "Visible Damage" as well as "Delivered". This would not result in any settlement or claim being paid, but would validate what you are saying. If the item was not insured, I don't believe there is anything that can be done.
it depends on the community you live in. The blue collection boxes that you may see in your town are probably picked up 1-2 times per day. There is a sticker inside the box that has the collection times. At the actual post office, mail is often sent out more than once a day, but it really depends on the size and location of the post office. At the actual Post Office, there is usually a sign by the mail drop slot that tells the collection times or at least will tell you when the daily deadline is to have mail processed for that day.
LA, it is awful that mail is being stolen. I don't know what good it will do, but I would recommend reporting that to your local post office or the Postal Inspectors. To answer your question, I don't know that a mailman would get involved with being responsible for a key to a private mailbox. If everyone on their route did that, how would they keep track of all of those keys? Furthermore, if that mailman was off/sick/vacation, how could you be sure that the replacement mailman would get the key? I just don't think it will be feasible or practical or possibly even allowed. Another option (though less convenient) would be to rent a PO Box which would definitely be secure.
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In your example, I would write "addressee not known" and leave it out for the letter carrier to take back to the PO. Eventually the letter may wind up in the dead letter (Nixie) office where it may be opened and returned to the sender if it can be determined who should get it back or who it should be sent to. I personally wouldn't recommend opening the letter if you aren't the intended recipient. I understand your intentions are good, but I wouldn't want to get involved with someone else's first class mail.
I don't know the legal answer to this question at the post office. I think they may ask for identification but I'm not sure the you are required to be 18 years or older. As a letter carrier, I would deliver a package without a signature if the sender didn't request or pay for a signature and the item can be safely delivered to the addressee, which is simple for the route I deliver to because it it is all single family suburban residences.
I'm not sure what you mean by close a mailbox, whether if the door/lid is ajar or you mean permanently close it and return mail to the sender. I do know if a mailbox is full and the mail isn't claimed after awhile (not sure of the time frame), the letter carrier does have the option to return "overflow" mail to the senders with the endorsement on it saying "box full". Another option is that the mail can be put into a "hold" area in the post office with a note on top saying "box full" and waiting to see if the mailbox is emptied and then would deliver the mail being held at the post office. I don't know if one procedure is correct and the other isn't. I haven't experienced it much (if at all) during my career.
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