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.
Hello David, it is unfortunate that your mailbox was broken by your mailman. I don't know the claims process for reimbursment for broken mailboxes. There must be a claim process in general for property damage caused by a USPS employee. I'd recommend contacting your local post office and speaking with a delivery supervisor and/or Postmaster to file a complaint. Hopefully they can point you in the right direction in the process of making such a claim. If not I would try and go up the chain of administration at the USPS which would be the district or area office which oversees your local post office. Good luck to you. Had you told the mailman in the past not to open the mailbox forefully or to not let it slam down. I come across broken mailboxes often. Most customers leave them damaged, but some will buy new ones or have them fixed. I've not heard of a mailman breaking one except running a curbside delivery box over with ther LLV (Long Life Vehicle). Thanks for writing and good luck in your claim. I hope it can be resolved to your satisfaction.
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Yes, it should be fine to pay for postage on a holiday and bring it to a Post Office the next day. If you need to hand it to a window retail clerk, they would hopefully just accept it. At the worst, they might postmark the package to show which day the package was actually entered in to the mail stream. I think that is the same if you happened to pay for the postage on a Sunday but wouldn't actually mail the package until Monday. Thank you for using the USPS for mailing the package.
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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.
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It isn't very difficult to drive our delivery vehicles with the steering wheel and pedals on the "wrong" side. The delivery vehicle which is commonly used it sometimes referred to as an LLV (Long Life Vehicle). The controls are the same as if you were driving from the normal side of a car (the left side if you are facing forward). If you are in an urban environment, there could be some safety issues each time you have to pull away from a curb and make sure nobody is coming on your side. There are mirrors which provide you with a field of view for safety. In a suburban/rural environment where the LLVs are used more frequently, safety is still a major concern so you must be very careful each time you move your LLV from one delivery spot to the next. Backing up is something that you should try to avoid as much as you can due to the limited visibility behind an LLV. I found it pretty easy to drive once I got used to it. The vehicles just don't handle too well in ice and snow. In dry weather and rain they are fine.
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Mailman (City Letter Carrier)
Is there a big difference in the amount of mail you deliver today from 5-10 years ago?
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I Dont know why they would ask for an email address. Is there any type of customs declaration form that is filled out when you mail papers to Canada? That form usually includes what is being sent. I don't know that it's obligatory to provide this information. Sometimes USPS will send out surveys or possibly email them to find out about your retail customer experience. If you call the USPS customer service phone number, maybe they could provide more insight. The phone number is 800-275-8777.
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I don't know why a letter carrier would approach your house with mail in hand and then decide to not deliver it unless there was some safety issue in completing the delivery. Next time you see the letter carrier you could ask her why she does that or you may call your post office and mention it to the delivery supervisor. It's a problem if there is First Class or Priority Mail which is being curtailed for no apparent reason. Those classes of mail should be delivered the day that they are received at your local post office. As to whether it's a problem or not, part of it is up to you if you if it bothers you that your mail is being delayed for no reason and you'd like to make an issue of it. For some people, especially younger people, the US Mail is really not that important to them so if it comes a few days later than it should it may not make a difference. I'm not trying to say that it's correct/legal for mail to be delayed for no reason. I'm only implying that it's not too important to some recipients when they receive their US Mail.
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Sean, it depends on your letter carrier and their willingness to do this. I would do it if it's not too frequent a request and it was just a letter or large envelope, meaning it just needs a stamp or two. On my initiative, I keep some postage stamps in my wallet and will honor that request most of the time. To be honest it doesn't come up too often. If I notice an item has insufficient postage I may just affix one of my own stamps and send the item on its way. There is no requirement that we do any of this and I don't want customers to get in the habit of requesting this service. The reason I have this attitude is because there are easy ways to buy stamps in quantity. The USPS allows you to buy them online, or 24/7 at any PO that has a Sales and Service Kiosk. Supermarkets and Wholesale Clubs sell postage stamps as well. I know this doesn't answer your question, but so many communication and financial transactions are more easily done online that mailing letters is becoming much less significant.
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