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.
Emily, I'm not sure what combination lock you are referring to. Is it one of those old fashioned ones on a PO Box? Whether it is that one or one on a mailbox at your residence won't change my answer. I was just curious. I haven't heard that it is technically illegal to hand someone mail but I'm not versed in the legalities of this subject. I can see that the USPS may be hesitant in handing mail to someone without confirming their identity or being personally known to the employee. If you have a physical disability which prevents you from getting your mail, it would make sense to have some alternate method provided but I don't know how far the USPS is required to go in accommodating you. If you are unsatisfied with the response from your local PO, I would recommend going up the chain at your PO such as talking to the Postmaster or their boss. I don't know what their response will be given the varied nature of our personnel.
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Pablo, you can definitely have tattoos (visible or not) to be a letter carrier. Co-workers have had them since I have started working at the USPS 15 years ago. You can be hired with only a HS diploma if you do well on the test. It isn't true that you have to wait until someone retires before being hired. To become a full time employee this may be true but new hires are CCA which is City Carrier Assistant which is position requiring your flexibility in work hours and no guarantee of more than a few hours per week. I don't know the exact number of hours and the CCAs where I work have plenty of hours to work, including some Sundays delivering parcels.
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Great question and you are correct about having to use the bathroom during the course of the delivery day. We don't have a bathroom in the postal vehicle, though that would be a nice touch. When I need to use a bathroom, I usually drive to an office building, gas station, or library near the route where I deliver. I also deliver mail to a dentist's office so I can use their toilet when the office is open. The next method some will find gross, but I wouldn't necessarily agree. Some males carry around bottles with them and will discreetly urinate in them and then dump out the contents when they get a chance. It's pretty easy to do in the environment I work as there aren't many people around and one can go inside the back of the postal vehicle for privacy. It's also a good idea to carry hand sanitizer or handi-wipes for use after urinating. As far as what woman do, I'm pretty sure it's not that simple and they must usually find a facility to use.
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Most of the time I would say the mailman could find a house without a house number, but it is highly recommended that you have the number posted somewhere on the house, painted on the curb, or on the mailbox. I would never assume that the house could be found without a visible number posted. I rarely come across the situation where I can't find a house number, but if I did the method I would use would be to find an adjacent house (and hopefully that has a number visible) and then add or subtract 2 (the normal interval) to figure out the house number without a visible number. Now that I think of it you may have been asking if I have a name of a resident plus a street name, but no street number, could I find the house. The answer would be "possibly". If the mailman was familiar with the names on the street they could probably deliver the mail to the right house. Again, I would never assume that mail will get to the correct destination without a complete and proper address. Thanks for writing in.
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It is hard to say for sure what will happen if it is one number off like in your example. If the mailman recognizes your name and knows what the correct address should be, they will often deliver it to what should be the correct address. If they don't look at the name and strictly deliver by address and the address that was written on the item actually exists then it is possible the item will wind up there and not where it was intended. It's not likely for the item to be held at the PO for pickup. It could be returned to the sender with the endorsement "Attempted, Not Known" for the address that was written on the envelope. I hope this helps you.
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Kris, that is a very good question that I don't have the answer to. I follow a general rule that somebody has paid to have mail sent and delivered so there isn't any way for us to pick and choose what type of mail to deliver. It all gets delivered and I rarely if ever have anyone refuse the ads or other unwanted mail. I would just ask that you recycle the unwanted mail. I am very glad that none of the patrons I deliver to refuse some mail, as our job is to provide a paid service to the mailers. I do agree that much of what is delivered often is of no interest to the recipient (including mail that I receive), but I just recycle it. Thanks for writing.
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Sorry to say that we can't guarantee arrival of a birthday card on a specific date when mailed via regular class mail. We do, however, have a decent record of getting most letters delivered the next day when mailed from the same city, and 2-3 days when mailed from further away. To play it safe I'd mail the card 2 days in advance and, if you prefer, you can write "Do Not Open Until Your Birthday" on the outside of it. You are a thoughtful friend. Good Luck!
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