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

HI MailmanDave,its me again.The letter was to cuny for college admissions.I have recently checked my status in cunysite and it still says i didnt mail in my highschool transcript yet....

Asked by victor almost 11 years ago

Victor, I am not sure what to tell you about what happened to your HS transcript being mailed to CUNY. Either it has been lost somewhere or the CUNY bureaucracy is slow in updating their site, but I would hope that isn't the case when it comes to something as important as college admissions application. Mail does go missing and is misdeliveered sometimes but we are generally a good delivery service, just not perfect.

Can you ask mail carrier to deliver a letter/envelope with affixed postage to an address that's on her route right down the road that same day? Or does it have to go all the way to the post office 100 miles away to get sorted? Thanks!

Asked by Gracie about 11 years ago

Gracie, you certainly can ask a letter carrier to do what you have mentioned. I don't know if they all would oblige and I don't know the rules concerning this. I have never had this requested of me, but if I did, I probably would do it because it is such a rare occurrence and wouldn't have any measurable impact on my day with regards to taking longer to deliver the route than normal. During my mail delivery I sometimes look at the outgoing mail and see that there are letters/cards going to addresses which are also on my route. This happens more commonly during the holiday season. I don't, however, segregate that mail out for any special handling. I let it all go to our mail processing plant which will usually run the mail through an automated system which will then put the mail in delivery order for the next day's delivery. This is called DPS (Delivery Point Sequencing) Mail and is fairly accurate in my opinion. Humans make plenty of mistakes and machines make mistakes so I wouldn't disparage the use of DPS machines because they really save on a lot of labor costs in sorting mail. To me it is am amazingly efficient technology when it comes to sorting letter-size mail and flats (magazines and catalogs). Thank you for your inquiry.

My husband's ex-wife's mail continues to be delivered to our house. We purchased together so there is no reason that she would be on this address. I have done everything suggested to make this stop; it keeps getting delivered. How do I make it stop?

Asked by kingston about 11 years ago

Kingston, I'm guessing that a couple of methods you have tried is to return any mail with her name on it with the marking "person doesn't live here" or "refused" on it. Another method is to ask your letter carrier to only deliver mail with your name and/or your husband's name on it. Since the ex-wife possibly had the same last name as your husband I can see some of that mail getting through. You could discard the mail but I don't think that will have any effect on stopping the mail since a letter carrier has no idea what is done with the mail once it is delivered. If you talk to a supervisor at the PO and tell them you don't want mail for that name, I'm not sure what their response will be, esp. when last names may be in common. I am sorry that I don't have any better information as this situation isn't one that I recall coming across. Most people just refuse delivery of that mail or probably discard it. Thanks for writing. 

I have a fenced in front yard with a latched gate. On the gate is a permanent sign that reads "BEWARE OF DOG." My mail box is on the front porch. The carrier must enter the fenced in zone to deliver the mail. If DOG is present should carrier enter

Asked by herding hollywood about 11 years ago

I would say that the letter carrier shouldn't enter the fenced in zone to deliver the mail if a dog is present. We often have service talks that are aimed at preventing dog bites. One point that is made is to not go into an area where a dog is loose. To be honest, though, many of us are comfortable around dogs and won't follow that rule all the time. If I encounter what looks like a dog that could cause me harm I avoid that house/area and bring any undelivered mail back to the post office. In my career I don't remember not being able to deliver mail due to a loose dog. The bottom line is that a carrier shouldn't put themselves in a situation where they are at risk for an unwanted encounter with a canine.

Also what if that blue mailbox i mailed it to was out of service?Sorry about the double post should had put all in one.

Asked by victor almost 11 years ago

Victor, no worries at all regarding your double post. I am not familiar with the blue collection boxes being out of service but still being out in the street and available to be used. I know you didn't find the box when you used the website to look for mailboxes. The only suggestion I would have is to go to a PO that is located near that box or call them somehow to see if that blue collectionmailbox is in use. They might have the answer.

After I put my rent check in the mail, I noticed that I accidentally wrote 362 Box Street rather than 462 Box Street. All of the other information was correct. Will it still be delivered to him or should I cancel the check and resend? Thanks!

Asked by AmandaB almost 11 years ago

Amanda, I can't say for sure what will happen with your rent check that was misaddressed. If the letter carrier delivers both of those addresses on Box St. and is familiar with the names on their route, they may deliver the letter to where it is intended (meaning it will get to your landlord). It's also possible that different letter carriers deliver to those 2 addresses and the letter carrier at 362 Box St. will just deliver it to 362 Box St. or return the check to the sender (you) as "Attempted, Not Known". I would recommend not canceling the check and waiting several days to see if the landlord received the check. Is there a way to contact the landlord and tell them what you did and it's possible they will ask you to resend the check or wait a few days to see if they receive it? I say this also to maybe save you money because putting a stop payment on a check often has a fee associated with it.

I live in a 3 family house with 3-door locked box, and two empty apartments. Mailman stuffs all of their flyers into my box, filling it, then leaves a note saying mail will be returned until emptied. Advice on dealing with him? Call PO or confront?

Asked by Matt over 11 years ago

I'm not sure why the letter carrier would stuff the fliers of the vacant apartments into your box and then a note saying he won't deliver any of your mail until the box is emptied. It sounds inappropriate. You could just take the fliers for the vacant apartments (delivered to your mailbox) and discard or recycle them, but you really shouldn't be getting them to begin with. I think that either way you choose to deal with it would be appropriate. Either way, please just be polite and hopefully whomever you are speaking with will reciprocate.