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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1236 Questions

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Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

The mailman at my office came in to deliver mail and I told him that we had moved our postage machine from one location to another and he told me that they get paid by the foot and his supervisor measures it once a year. Is that true? I doubt it!

Asked by Shan almost 10 years ago

I have not had an office to deliver on a regular basis so I can't comment as to how far a letter carrier is supposed to go I to an office to deliver or retrieve outgoing mail. Usually I'd expect to mostly deliver to a mail room or reception desk. As far as getting paid by the foot, I can assure you if it is a city letter carrier they are being paid "on the clock" meaning it has nothing to do with distance traveled on foot, but only by time working. A rural letter carrier may have a different way to calculate their pay where I don't know the details. If your letter carrier is wearing the traditional blue uniform, it is likely they are a city carrier and if the location of your postage machine took them longer to access, they'd actually be paid more money because it took them longer. I am being picayune but I hope you understand the point. Some mail carriers are just lazy, will feed you a line, or genuinely know some of the rules about office delivery.

441 Votes

I accidentally opened neighbors mail that was put in my box. Took to post office and they were closed. What should I do?

Asked by Rene about 10 years ago

You could try again at your next available convenience when the PO is open and give it to a sales and service associate at the retail window. There are 2 other options I can think of: 1)Put the mail directly in the mailbox of the correct recipient. 2) Re-seal or tape the mail and put it in a blue collection box. If you want, you could put a note on the mail (like a post-it note) saying "opened by accident". Finally, you could put the mail back in your mailbox with a note saying "misdelivered" on top of the mail. Again, you could use a post-it note if you want. All in all, I'd say it's no big deal. We make errors in deliveries all the time. Many times the recipients may just discard the mail, so you are doing the correct thing by putting the mail back in the system to get correctly delivered.

441 Votes

Hey, I applied for the usps as a city carrier , passed both assessments, n filled out a few job vacancies, I had just fixed my suspended license 2 weeks ago, it was suspended since last yr for a texting violation,think I could still be considered?

Asked by Quentin about 9 years ago

I don't know how much your license suspension will affect your job chances with the USPS. You do need a valid driver license to be a letter carrier as far as I know. You said you have fixed the suspension for texting while driving recently. I don't know if you need to provide this information to the USPS proactively or only if they ask. I would think somewhere along the application process they'd ask you questions about your past driving history and possibly request a motor vehicle department drivers abstract which has your history of suspensions convictions violations, etc. Please be sure to answer all questions honestly and possibly have proof available that your license is no longer suspended. Good luck to you and put that phone down while driving. I understand it's tempting.

441 Votes

Can I intercept my own mail during a pick up time at the mailbox outside the post office

Asked by Any name over 9 years ago

I don't know the answer to this question. I can only speculate as to what I might do if I was a letter carrier who was emptying out a collection box and approached by someone asking to intercept their mail. I'll let you know that the times posted on the mailbox are the "earliest" time that mail will be collected from that box. It could be a later time than is posted so you could be waiting awhile for the mailbox collection personnel. If someone could prove to me who they were (with ID) or I personally knew them and could easily find their mail, I'd probably give it back to them. Sometimes the collection boxes near a post office are pretty full and it would be too time consuming to look through it for a couple of letters that somebody wants intercepted. I'm sure there is other personnel who wouldn't return it to you under any circumstances, which is why I can't give you a definitive answer.

440 Votes

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I get two letters from the same company a month. They arrive together on the same day, why would the usps of postman put a question mark on the second envelope? Everything is exactly the same as far as the printing of address for example.

Asked by Mmxv over 9 years ago

It doesn't make sense why a USPS letter carrier would put a question mark on one of the envelopes that is identical to the first one. It's common for people to get multiple letters from the same company. I would only put a question mark on the envelope if I wasn't sure if the name on the envelope was correct for the address it is to be delivered to. In your example, I don't think I'd put a question mark on either piece of mail. Also, if other mail to your address has your name on it, I don't see any reason for the question mark. If it only happens once or twice I wouldn't think about it. If it happens each month and it concerns you, you could cal the local PO and talk to the delivery supervisor to see if they have any insight.

440 Votes

If I address mail like:
.
John Cook
123 Ort Rd, New York,NY,USA
~zip code~
.
Will it still be delivered to my house from an outside country or does the zip code go back up by the street and city name or does it not matter?

Asked by ghords almost 10 years ago

The mail will still likely make it to your address in the USA, but the proper addressing format would be to have the bottom line read the country of destination. The ZIP should go on the same line as City and State. The Street (or PO Box) should go on the line above City, State, and ZIP code.

440 Votes

to continue on the signature confirmations, its a hassle to have to deliver the package after the customer signs the 3849, sign in person or not sign in person is the question, now we have key in the 3849 on certifieds

Asked by jrv almost 10 years ago

You should be able to scan the 3849 if you choose the attempted function. At least this is how it works on the older scanners. If the "delivered" function is chosen then the 3849 (reverse) is scanned. The only change I noticed recently was having to put the 3849 bar coded # in the scanner on the "attempted" function. This allows the recipient to just type in the 3849 # when requesting re delivery. It is an extra step but if you are a city carrier, time=money.

440 Votes

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