Ask a Mailman (City Letter Carrier) anything

1237 Questions

Last Answer on February 18, 2022

can you wear used post office shirts legally if you buy it in a thrift store?

Asked by klumac about 11 years ago

I didn't know that regulation approved USPS uniform shirts were available in thrift stores. I don't know the rules on whether or not they are allowed to be worn by non-USPS personnel.

725 Votes

If a certified is thrown in the outgoing mail by human error will it come to the post office the next business day in the dps or in some form back to the post office.

Asked by jvitto over 11 years ago

I think the letter that was accidentally thrown in the outgoing mail, even if it was a certified letter, would come back the next business day or the day after either via the DPS or the registry clerk. It would rarely be the case that the letter would just disappear. At least that's what I hope would happen.

724 Votes

I did a temporary forwarding address online 3 weeks before we left. My neighbor found the postman had taken off my mailbox blocking material & stuffed a whole lot of mail in it. Can my neighbor just put my new address on the mail & redeposit it?

Asked by Phil over 11 years ago

That's good that you have a neighbor looking out for you. I don't know why the letter carrier would do what he did. Is it possible they didn't receive your forwarding order? If you did it online and received a confirmation then they likely got it. Furthermore there should be zero mail in your box if you have a temporary COA in effect and there are no other residents at your house who are receiving mail. It sounds like an oversight or carelessness. To answer your question, I would say no. Mail has to go through our CFS (computer forwarding system...or centralized forwarding system) to be redirected. You aren't allowed to handwrite the new address and then just redeposit it. One suggestion I have is for the neighbor to rubberband your mail and leave it in either your or their mailbox putting a note on top saying "please forward this mail as this addressee has a temporary COA in effect and no mail should be delivered to your permanent address until further notice". I hope that works out for you. Thanks for writing.

724 Votes

Does a mailman deliver mail everyday? Like to the same address? What if you live in an apartment and lost your key, could you ask a mailman to open it for you or even deliver it to your suite?

Asked by Kailey over 10 years ago

As long as there is mail to bring to any address we deliver 6 days per week (Mon-Sat). It's not always the same letter carrier who goes to the same address each day but it often is. If you live in an apartment and lost your mailbox key, I don't know that the letter carrier would open the mailbox for you or make any special delivery arrangements to deliver it to your suite or apartment unless they knew who you were and were willing to help until a replacement key could be acquired. I'm not even sure who would get you a replacement key, but I think it is the building management or the landlord.

724 Votes

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Just a question. I send out postcards every other week on Friday do most postcard going to differents states typically arive on Monday? And does using a 9 digit zip code speed up the process?

Asked by Andrew over 11 years ago

If you mail out the postcards on Friday, they will generally arrive Monday or Tuesday depending on how far away the destination is from you. The USPS has been talking about a change in what is called their EXFC standards so First Class Mail that used to take 1-3 days may now take 2-4 days. I'm not sure if this is in effect or not. With regards to using the 9-digit ZIP code I don't believe it speeds up the process. If your postcards have printed addresses on them, our OCR (Optical Character Reader) probably would have no problem reading the address, spraying a bar code on the envelope and sending it on its way expeditiously. Most addressing software programs now produce an address with a 9-digit ZIP and standardized address. If you look at a lot of the mail you receive, it likely has the 9-digit ZIP code on it. We call it ZIP + 4, but it's the same thing. This codes the destination address down to a pretty small group of addresses within a ZIP code. I believe in some cases PO Boxes each have their own specific ZIP + 4. Thank you for your question.

724 Votes

I am working as mailman 3 months now i feel that when regular mailman given tough time or in their absence they look for CCA to help them, they send them 3 or 4 different locations to complete with time frame but i think time is not real

Asked by eric almost 11 years ago

Eric, I do understand what you mean. It's like they look to the CCA to clean up the table scraps when a regular is out on sick or annual leave or can't finish their route. This is the nature of being a CCA. It's important to be flexible in your availability and willingness to go help other letter carriers. With regard to the time frame to complete 3 or 4 different pieces, it's important to not get too caught up with how long they say it should take. As long as you are going at a reasonable pace and not wasting time by using your cell phone or talking too long too customers, the management can't do much too you. It sounds like you have passed probation which is good. They also need to take into account that it takes time to travel between the locations you are assigned to go to. If they give you a hard time about how long it takes to complete a section, I would respond that you are doing as best as you can. Please just deliver the mail safely, accurately and be organized.

723 Votes

Are mailmans allowed to ask for surnames and how long have you lived in your residence? It's just very odd for a mailman to knock on the door and ask for details. If you find this odd, what can you advice me to do to stop him from doing it again?

Asked by Gtan2 over 11 years ago

I do find it odd to ask questions like that, especially the latter one. I mean if they were to explain why there were doing that it may help you understand the reason. If I'm not sure of a surname is valid to be delivered to a particular address, I may ask a person at that residence if this is a "good" name to deliver. That'd probably be the end of my inquiry unless the person wanted to offer more info. If you don't want the letter carrier asking you questions like that, please say I don't need to provide that information but the mail you've been delivering is valid (or invalid as the case may be. The flip side might be that they may not deliver a name they aren't familiar with if you don't say it is valid or not, though I think the mail should be delivered as addressed unless told otherwise. We aren't the police with regards to knowing who lives where and how long.

723 Votes

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Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

can you wear used post office shirts legally if you buy it in a thrift store?

If a certified is thrown in the outgoing mail by human error will it come to the post office the next business day in the dps or in some form back to the post office.

I did a temporary forwarding address online 3 weeks before we left. My neighbor found the postman had taken off my mailbox blocking material & stuffed a whole lot of mail in it. Can my neighbor just put my new address on the mail & redeposit it?

Does a mailman deliver mail everyday? Like to the same address? What if you live in an apartment and lost your key, could you ask a mailman to open it for you or even deliver it to your suite?

Also on Jobstr...

Just a question. I send out postcards every other week on Friday do most postcard going to differents states typically arive on Monday? And does using a 9 digit zip code speed up the process?

I am working as mailman 3 months now i feel that when regular mailman given tough time or in their absence they look for CCA to help them, they send them 3 or 4 different locations to complete with time frame but i think time is not real

Are mailmans allowed to ask for surnames and how long have you lived in your residence? It's just very odd for a mailman to knock on the door and ask for details. If you find this odd, what can you advice me to do to stop him from doing it again?

Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

can you wear used post office shirts legally if you buy it in a thrift store?

If a certified is thrown in the outgoing mail by human error will it come to the post office the next business day in the dps or in some form back to the post office.

I did a temporary forwarding address online 3 weeks before we left. My neighbor found the postman had taken off my mailbox blocking material & stuffed a whole lot of mail in it. Can my neighbor just put my new address on the mail & redeposit it?

Does a mailman deliver mail everyday? Like to the same address? What if you live in an apartment and lost your key, could you ask a mailman to open it for you or even deliver it to your suite?

Also on Jobstr...

Just a question. I send out postcards every other week on Friday do most postcard going to differents states typically arive on Monday? And does using a 9 digit zip code speed up the process?

I am working as mailman 3 months now i feel that when regular mailman given tough time or in their absence they look for CCA to help them, they send them 3 or 4 different locations to complete with time frame but i think time is not real

Are mailmans allowed to ask for surnames and how long have you lived in your residence? It's just very odd for a mailman to knock on the door and ask for details. If you find this odd, what can you advice me to do to stop him from doing it again?

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