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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1237 Questions

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Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

How do you keep your hands warm in cold weather while carrying, holding, fingering and delivering the mail?

Asked by vbjmin over 11 years ago

Vbjmin, you ask a question that I'd love to know the perfect answer to as I've been struggling with this issue from the beginning of my postal career. Cold hands are really hard to tolerate especially when you will be out delivering hours and they must be nimble enough to finger the mail. I wear a glove (thick or thin) on the hand where I hold the mail and cradle the flats since I don't need that hand to finger the mail. The hand that I use to finger the mail and deliver the mail I try to wear a thinner and sometimes fingerless glove or one with small gripping dots on them This has worked okay over the years. Another item which can be useful is "hot hands" which are small single-use packets that form a chemical reaction and heat up for several hours. You can put those in your pocket or even inside your glove. I have rarely used these but my girlfriend, not a letter carrier, loves them. I have purchased many pairs of gloves over the years. It's just a matter of finding the ones that keep you warm enough but allows you to still feel the mail. Thanks for writing and winter is my least favorite season to deliver mail.

806 Votes

Hey is it the same as australian post office. i want to send my friend a bday card.. She lives in the same state same city haha and i want to know how long it would take to deliver so that i can post it like 2 days before and then arrives on her bday

Asked by Jono about 12 years ago

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!

806 Votes

Can letter carriers deliver mail in their own vehicles

Asked by Bailey over 11 years ago

From what I understand, most city carriers that need a vehicle to deliver the mail will use a USPS vehicle. We do have CCAs that use their own car to deliver the mail on walking routes when there aren't any USPS vehicles available for them to use. They can get reimbursed for some of their expenses when doing this. In some offices rural letter carriers have no choice but to use their own vehicles to deliver their rural routes. For ease of maintenance and not having to wear down my own vehicle, I definitely prefer using a USPS vehicle at work. I don't have a choice in the matter. Gasoline is paid for using a fleet credit card and maintenance is handled by a contracted mechanic. Thank you for your question.  

806 Votes

Around what time does the shipping start and when does the routing end in Sundays?

Asked by Angel over 11 years ago

It probably depends on where you live and if there is package delivery on Sunday. I think you are asking me what time the package deliveries start and finish on a Sunday. It has been many years since I've done any type of delivery on Sunday, but in the office where I work on Long Island (NY), 2-3 City Carrier Assistants (CCAs) work from apprx 9AM-3PM delivering packages that arrive from Amazon.com. Again, these are just estimates since I don't have experience with this. Thank you for writing.

806 Votes

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I live in CA 94401 area in a condo complex. I was told by my new mail woman that she does not deliver my international express package to my door. And I have to go down to the gate to sign the delivery notice and pick the package up outside my gate

Asked by SB almost 12 years ago

SB, I don't know about the procedure in a condo complex as to how to deliver an international express package has to be delivered. Anything that needs a signature and would require to me ring a bell in a gated community would result in me going to their door and wouldn't be picky about whether I go to their door (once allowed through the gate) or they come to the gate. I have never worked in an environment like that. If I do deliver to cluster boxes and an item needs a signature I'd knock on the door of the addressee's unit to get the signature. Again, I don't know of any specific regulations on how the delivery should be attempted, but I tend to side on the addressee getting the best service possible (within reason, which is certainly open to interpretation). Thanks for writing.

805 Votes

Do you ever deliver your own mail?

Asked by Dave about 11 years ago

I don't deliver my own mail because I reside in Queens, NY and Stony Brook, NY but don't work at either of those post offices. If a letter carrier does reside in the town that they work in, it is possible that they deliver their own mail. We have a few carriers at my PO that live and work in this town, but none of them have assignments that include their own residence on a daily basis.

805 Votes

With parcel deliveries becoming so ubiquitous thanks to internet shopping, I have often thought that a mailbox similar to the USPS blue mailboxes might be a good and secure way to delivering parcels. Do you know how these actually work?

Asked by David over 11 years ago

David, you are correct about parcel delivery becoming ubiquitous. When I started at the USPS in 1998, there was so much actual mail to be sorted and delivered with only a few parcels. The pendulum is definitely swinging the other way and I truly can envision a time where mail becomes very insignificant compared to parcel delivery. Right now, we seem to have a fair amount of both. In developments that have cluster delivery boxes (usually apartment buildings or condominium complexes) or in a PO lobby we do use parcel lockers. I don't know how it would work with having boxes on the street similar to the USPS collection boxes used today. Currently the parcel lockers work this way---If a customer has a package to large to fit in their regular delivery receptacle, the carrier will put the package in the parcel locker, lock it with a key they have and put a separate specific parcel locker key in the regular receptacle of the parcel recipient. When the postal customer goes to retrieve their mail, they will see the parcel locker key and use that key in a specified parcel locker. Once they insert the key and turn it, that key stays in the lock, the locker opens and the customer retrieves their parcel. It is a very efficient system as opposed to going to the door of a customer (in a centralized delivery environment) to just use the parcel lockers.

804 Votes

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