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.
You may certainly ask a carrier to open the collection box, but I don't know if they will. I don't even have keys to open one of those boxes so it's possible the carrier you ask won't have access to the collection box. If you are able to have a carrier open the box, if there is a lot of mail in there, I don't know that they will take the time to go through it to find the bill you are looking for. Bring ID with you in case they want to match up the unsealed mail with your address. As I said, I don't know what response you will get from the letter carrier, but was just giving you some possibilities. It is also possible that the bill will get to the destination unsealed and all will be fine.
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I don't believe you would be hired without a driver license to be a letter carrier. It is great that you like to walk a lot which is very healthy, but many communities have mail delivery which uses a motor vehicle to go from house to house or at least uses a vehicle to get the letter carrier to their route. That vehicle is usually driven by the letter carrier themselves. In some urban environments (like some of NYC), there are "walk-out" routes where the letter carrier leaves the PO on foot with a mail satchel and/or cart and doesn't need to drive. The mail for parts of their routes are left by another carrier in a vehicle in what is called a "relay box". I dont know that this relieves the carrier from not having a driver license because when one is hired they need to be flexible in their work assignments which may include a route that has driving involved. My short answer to your question is no, but would need further research.
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Those are known as collection boxes and on the label which is usually inside the pull-down lid or outside the lid is a schedule of the pick-ups from the box. It is usually 1-2 times per day in the office where I work in suburban Long Island, NY. I've rarely seen it be more than that but in busier urban environments it could be more. Our app for iPhone has a "location" option where you can search for Blue Collection Boxes and the last collection time is posted.
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Candy, I'm not sure whether or not you will get the mail you are looking for. It depends on how well the letter carrier knows the names that are in the apt. building, the size of the apt. buidling (if it's a very large building, they may not be able to see all of the names on any directory), if they can clearly see who belongs in each apt, and if the regular carrier is working that day. Some carriers will treat a wrong apt. # the same as if the letter was mailed to a wrong address and either deliver it as addressed (to the wrong apt. # in your case) or return it to the sender. There is no clear cut answer as to what will happen to your mail. There are so many inconsistencies at this job that I can't predict what someone else may do. Also, if it's not the regular letter carrier working on the day your mail arrives and they aren't familiar with the apt. #'s/names, they may just deliver the mail to the apt. # written on the piece of mail. In that case, maybe the tenant who receives it will get the piece of mail to you.
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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.
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Cindy, I dont know how to help you in this situation as I am not even sure what you are asking. Good luck on both interviews. I do realize you want one of these positions much greater than the other. Unless you get offered the job for the first interview on the spot, I highly recommend attending both interviews. The reason is that you may get an offer for the latter interview than at your preferred location. This is likely better than having no employment.
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Larry, congratulations on becoming a CCA for the USPS. It's not an easy position of being given different assignments daily that you possibly aren't familiar with and expected to perform like you are. I don't know of a trick to organizing the mail, but I'll explain what I do. Regarding the mail, when you pull it down from the carrier case, you may want to number the trays in delivery order and then load them in reverse order to the back of the truck. Put the highest numbered trays towards the back of the cargo area (closest to the driver) and the lowered numbered trays towards the liftgate in the cargo area. This is assuming you are driving an LLV and are on a walking route (park and loop). With regards to parcels, if they are small enough to be put in plastic trays, you may line them up in delivery order or at least keep ones of the same street together. For larger parcels I try to load them in by street (or section of street). I make it sound easy, but a large part of that is because I deliver the same route each day. If it was a new route, I would probably just keep the parcels together by street name. I understand that a lot of what I'm telling you is easier said than done, and with time you should become more efficient and familiar with the routes in your office. Be patient and work safely. Thanks for your question and it will be worth the wait to become a regular carrier.
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