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.
I don't know the official term for a house. I would call it a "delivery address". So on my route there are 350 single family houses which is 350 possible deliveries or delivery addresses. I hope this helps you.
Unfortunately this has been a problem for many years. It is usually the result of not having the same letter carrier deliver to your address each day. There is a lot of turnover in some offices which could result in a varying quality of letter carriers. It could also be the result of a letter carrier not doing their job very well. I had lunch today with a man who said he was having the same issue. The only suggestion I would have is calling your local PO and speaking with a delivery supervisor or mentioning it to the letter carrier who services your house (if it is actually the same person each day). I'm not sure it will do any good as some workers/supervisors don't care and some are very conscientious. I think it depends on who you are dealing with. Please make sure all of your mail is addressed correctly and that your mailbox is labeled clearly with your house/unit#. No matter who you are dealing with, you really should be getting the correct mail/packages. In my office, I hear no emphasis on delivering the mail correctly. Maybe it's just assumed we do and mgmt. will wait to hear a complaint to bring it up.
Generally, a mailman (letter carrier-terms are synonomous) is the only person who will deliver from a post office, but I don't know that to be an absolute rule. My brother is a clerk at a post office which is comprised only of rural letter carriers. If Express Mail arrives later in the day when the rural letter carriers have completed their routes, either he or another clerk, or maybe a supervisor will deliver the Express Mail item. Also, in general, a package that arrives at a local post office on a particular day at 2:00 PM should be delivered with the following delivery days mail. Again, it's not an absolute guarantee but within the normal course of operations, I would think it should be delivered.
I am not familiar with any rules that say you must empty your mailbox daily. I would let mail pile up in a mailbox until it may become full so no future mail can fit in a mailbox. It is not a common occurrrence where I deliver mail, but I am sure it does happen some places. If a mailbox came completely full, I may return any additional mail with the endorsement "box full".
EMT
Former IRS Revenue Officer
Fashion Forecaster
I am not completely sure what is being asked by this question, but here is the general rule that we should follow when delivering mail. Unless there is an official change of address order on file to forward a person's mail from one address to another then the mail should only be delivered to the address which is printed on the envelope as to where the letter should go.
Our salary is uniform across the nation even though the cost of living could vary widely. The only exceptions may be in AK or HI where the cost of living is a lot higher than most of the 48 contiguous states. What you are referring to is known as locality pay and most federal agencies have that. Our union, the National Association of Letter Carriers, negotiates our pay scale with the USPS every few years. They don't ask for locality pay as far as I know. As a national union, there is wide disagreement as to whether some areas should be paid more than others for doing the same job. Living in NY Metro area is expensive and it would be nice to have some locality pay. But for those living in less expensive regions, they probably wouldn't want to see some of their fellow union brethren making more than them for the same job. They might feel if someone in an expensive area is making more, that leaves less $$ for them in negotiating a contract and the NALC represents all of the carriers nationwide. I have definitely seen more carriers transfer out of my post office to lesser expensive areas (NC, PA, FL) than transferring in. Great question!
I can't say for sure but we often are the same person that delivers packages and regular post. During this time of year, it is common for some offices to have another person deliver packages separately from the post because the package volume can be so overwhelming. Some offices have full-time parcel post routes so the package would possibly be delivered by a different letter carrier. Thanks for writing and Happy Holidays!
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