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

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I have had a hard time finding Letter Carrier positions on the USPS website. Are these jobs hard to come by or is there a specific job title I am failing to look for? Thank you!

Asked by LTJR over 11 years ago

The correct title would be "City Letter Carrier" or "City Carrier Assistant". Most areas are now just hiring CCA (City Carrier Assistant). I don't know the procedure how each district, or performance clutster as they are (or were) called, decides when and how many CCAs to hire. Under the careers section of USPS.com, you can search for job openings in a certain geographic area and then choose "delivery/customer service". To apply for these positions, I think you have to set up an account with USPS.com. Another position that you could look up is "Rural Carrier Associate" or RCA. I hope this helps you.

How long does it take to get a lost Driver's License returned that has been put in a mailbox?

Asked by Sherry about 11 years ago

I don't know the procedure for lost Driver Licenses to be returned to the rightful owner of the license. I'm not sure if each state has its own procedure for what should be done if a Driver License is found and put in to a blue USPS collection box. In my career I have never come across one or recall delivering one back to the licensee. It is possible that the license could be sent to the State Dept of Motor Vehicles (or whatever their equivalent is called in your state) instead of sent to the recipient. Looking at my own Driver License (NY) I don't see any instructions on what do with it if found. Thanks for writing.

I sent an item in a Priority Mailing envelope, but the label I purchased online via PayPal was for Parcel Select. It was returned to me as "insufficient packaging". Does this mean I have to pay all that postage again? Thanks!

Asked by Charly about 11 years ago

Do you mean that the marking was "insufficient postage", not "insufficient packaging". If it was "insufficient postage", I'm pretty sure you would just have to pay the difference between the Parcel Select rate and the Priority Mail rate. What I'm not sure about is how you get credit for an already purchased postage label, if that's even possible. If you took this to the PO for some type of resolution, I question whether all of the clerks would know how to adjust the rate properly as the ability, care, and training of the SSAs (sales and service associates) seems to vary widely. Thanks for writing. 

My mailman was told I moved by a neighbor. However, I have not moved and have not received mail for two weeks. In a case like this what happens to my mail and how can I get my missed deliveries?

Asked by WillT almost 11 years ago

I am appalled by this story and others I've heard on this message board about strange things happening to the mail which are set in motion by people who have no right to do so. I hope that you will start to receive your mail soon. I don't know what happened to the undelivered mail. It's possible that the letter carrier submitted a "Moved Left No Address" form which would have your mail returned to the sender. Once this MLNA is canceled no mail will be returned to the sender and service should resume normally. Why would your neighbor do this to you and have you approached them about this? I'm not sure if a neighbor told me someone moved I would take their word for it.

if i didn't put in a change of address at the post office where i used to live and then i send a letter to the irs using the address at a motel i am temporarily staying at will it still reach its destination

Asked by william about 11 years ago

Sure, the letter should reach its destination as long as it has the proper address and ZIP code. The only issue could be if the letter would need to be returned to you for some reason and you no longer are at the motel and there is nowhere to send the letter to. You don't need to put a return address on the letter to begin with. It's your own choice. 

Hi, i sent a letter today with tracking on it. Can i get it reversed delivered back to me?

Asked by Boo about 11 years ago

Boo, I have never heard of this happening where somebody can reverse delivery on an item that has tracking. My inkling would be that this is not allowed even if it were possible. The only way you would get the letter back is if it was refused at the destination or the address was invalid. You could call 800-ASK-USPS or go to your local Post Office but I don't think that you will get a different answer. Upon further review I went to ehow.com where there is a column written with the title "How to Retrieve a Letter Already Mailed Through the Post Office". The column mentions a form called an application for recall of mail and the steps to fill it out. Also if you go to USPS.com and  lookup Package Intercept that may help you as well. You have asked a good question as it got me to do a little research to learn that this service does exist for a fee. The fee looks to be 11.50 per piece. Thanks for writing.

I asked the question 4 days ago about having tickets delivered to my neighbors. If I approached my mailman about helping me would he be offended? How often are you approached by people asking you for favors, etc?

Asked by mandm almost 11 years ago

I remember your question about having tickets delivered to your neighbors and asking if you could ask the mailman to deliver them your house or some type of favor. I am rarely asked for any type of favor like that and I think if I heard a request like yours that may sound a bit fishy I would decline to get involved. It's not worth risking any type of job discipline to help a customer. I don't know that if you approached a mailman they would be offended. I just hope they would have enough common sense to decline to assist you. Also, we don't deliver the route each day so even if one carrier agreed to assist you there is no way of knowing that when they are off from work the replacement carrier would smart to not get involved with any favors. If what you are doing is unethical or shady I would not get the USPS involved.