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.
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.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=How%20do%20you%20keep%20your%20hands%20warm%20in%20cold%20weather%20while%20carrying%2C%20holding%2C%20fingering%20and%20delivering%20the%20mail%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/13959)
I don't know about the legality of keeping the package when it has already been scanned "delivered", but it certainly is bad as far as data integrity goes. The letter carrier may have scanned many of their parcels "delivered" earlier on in the day which is completely wrong (I can't say illegal) so they don't forget later on. Your example is a great reason why we aren't supposed to scan an item as "delivered" until we actually deliver it. Now if you approached him/her and asked about it, they should then give you the package. If this happened to you more than once I would speak to a delivery supervisor about this because it is very much against our rules to scan a package "delivered" when it wasn't. It is also misrepresenting the shipping status to our customers on both the sending and receiving end. It is also strange that the package has a 9:25 PM delivery time. I can't say it's impossible but I've rarely heard of the USPS out on a Saturday night delivering parcels.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Is%20it%20legal%20for%20the%20mailman%20to%20keep%20my%20package%20on%20his%20truck%20even%20after%20it%20is%20logged%20in%20as%20having%20been%20delivered%20to%20me%3F%20%20For%20example%2C%20I%20received%20a%20notification%20that%20a%20tracked%20package%20was%20delivered%20to%20my%20home%20at%209%3A25%20PM%20on%20Saturday%20but%20I%20do%20not%20have%20it&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/13773)
Sam,
The following is the exact "copy and paste" of the answer I posted to your previous q which was similarly worded:
Sam, I don't know the answer to this but the letter carrier should have access to the building or mailboxes somehow without having to ring doorbells. Maybe in this case it was a one-time occurrence but even then they should have returned with some means of access or called the PO to advise them why they couldn't make a delivery to a building. I don't know of any specific time frame they'd have to wait before moving on to their next delivery. I think a couple of minutes is sufficient, especially if they are ringing multiple doorbells and getting zero response.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=If%20the%20mailman%2Flady%20who%20delivers%20mail%20to%20my%20apartment%20building%20residence%20does%20not%20have%20a%20key%20to%20the%20building%20for%20whatever%20reason%20when%20I%20know%20they%20should%2C%20rings%20a%20bell%20until%20is%20let%20in.%20My%20question%20is%2C%20if%20they%20mailman%2Flady%20was%20unsuccessful%20getting%20into%20the%20building%2C%20how%20long%20are%20they%20allowed%20to%20wait%20before%20leaving%20and%20not%20delivering%20the%20mail%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/15063)
You bad bad person Aila! Seeing that you were just 6 years old and you returned it all, there are worse crimes you could have committed. I am glad you know by now not to touch any mail or mailboxes that aren't yours. It is horrible to think of mail being taken out of mailboxes illegally. I consider it sacred, even if, in all honesty, it's not so important to a lot of people today and has been replaced a lot by technology. With regard to how it works for mailmen, I'm not sure what you mean. I have never been involved with a mail theft incident during my career. If I did I would likely tell my supervisor about it and follow their directives. Thanks for writing And stay away from those mailboxes ;-)
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=I%20recall%20going%20around%20my%20neighborhood%20when%20I%20was%206%20with%20some%20friends%20pilfering%20Mailboxes%20with%20really%20no%20idea%20of%20what%20we%20were%20doing.%20How%20does%20it%20work%20for%20the%20mailman%20afterward%3F%20%28We%20ended%20up%20returning%20it%20all%20but%20I%27m%20curious%29&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/12807)
Emergency Room Manager
What is the most bizarre thing you've seen in your ER?
Subway Store Manager
The 6" sub is too small and the 12" is too big. Why no 9-inch sub?
The IT Guy
What's the the stupidest IT question you've every gotten?
I have to tell you that I don't know what recourse you have in this situation since the woman who says she doesn't have it probably can't be held accountable for actually having it. How does the super know it went to the wrong address? I'm just curious since I'm not sure how this whole chain of events can be verified. I'm sorry that I can't help you further and it is very difficult to get an item back that is misdelivered if the actual recipient doesn't admit to having it. Even if you called a local post office to file some type of complaint about this, I don't know what help they would be.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=What%20recourse%20do%20I%20have%3A%0AI%20had%20dvd%20delivered%20to%20a%20friend.%20He%20didn%27t%20get%20it%20although%20tracking%20said%20it%20was%20delivered.%20Called%20located%20po.%20Super%20said%20mail%20carrier%20said%20gave%20it%20to%20woman.%20It%20went%20to%20wrong%20address.%20Woman%20says%20she%20doesn%27t%20have%20it.&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/12207)
Hello Jake. I don't think the mail truck should have driven away from you if they actually had the package. Do you know if the mail truck actually had the package for you to be delivered? The only reason that the mail truck should have just driven away is if it somehow felt that it was dangerous to deliver the package to your house. I don't think that throwing a baseball around is reason enough not to attempt to deliver a package.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Okay%20if%20im%20standing%20around%20my%20house%20i%20was%20throwing%20a%20bass%20ball%20im%20waiting%20for%20a%20package%20the%20mail%20truck%20drives%20to%20my%20mail%20box%20looks%20at%20me%20then%20drives%20away%20is%20tht%20allowed%3F..&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/12220)
Thanks for participating in the q and forum at jobstr. When I first started answering the questions, I had no idea it would be this popular. Some q's I receive are about doing the job and others are customer service issues that I can't specifically solve. I enjoy doing this but will admit if the quantity of questions got to be really high, I probably couldn't keep up with it. The amount of q's I receive now, I can easily handle. I try not to stay up late at all answering questions, but I like to give a thorough answer to each one and like to have minimal backlog. As far as my wife goes, I don't have one so its a non-issue. I have a girlfriend and she is very understanding and supportive and what I do. For her profession she is my own jobstr answer woman. Believe me that I ask her about her job all of the time to the point where she says "let's talk about something else", and I oblige.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=How%20late%20do%20you%20stay%20up%20at%20night%20answering%20our%20questions%3F%20Lol.%20Wow%2C%20when%20I%20posted%20mine%2C%20I%20had%20no%20idea%20I%20would%20ever%20get%20an%20answer%2C%20much%20less%20within%20minutes%21%20What%20does%20you%20wife%20think%20about%20all%20those%21%20%20Lol.&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/13410)
-OR-
Login with Facebook (max 20 characters - letters, numbers, and underscores only. Note that your username is private, and you have the option to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
(A valid e-mail address is required. Your e-mail will not be shared with anyone.)
(min 5 characters)
By checking this box, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to Jobstr.com’s Terms and Privacy Policy.
-OR-
Register with Facebook(Don't worry: you'll be able to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
Browse Jobs
Host a Q&A
Search
Submit Your Question
Host a Q&A
Last 7
