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.
If the flyers are unaddressed which would usually be the case when there are leftovers, I bring them back to the post office where they are usually discarded in a recycle bin. It's not too often that I have leftover flyers because they are usually distributed to the letter carriers in the correct quantity needed to cover the entire route (give or take a few). Another reason why we usually don't have leftovers is because we are supposed to count out the number of flyers needed for each section (loop or relay) resulting in a low amt of overage. I do see many flyers put in the recycle bin at the end of the day leading me to believe that some flyers aren't delivered or there is an error in the counts for some routes. A lot of flyers are probably of little interest to the recipients, but that isn't my concern. I am loyal to the mailers who are paying the USPS to provide delivery services for their advertising.
No, a lettter carrier isn't supposed to accept any gift of substantial value from someone on his route. It doesn't mean that it isn't done, just that it's not supposed to be done. I don't know of anybody losing a job due to this but they aren't supposed to appear to be accepting gifts from customers.
I am not sure why the mailman didn't take the outgoing mail that was left in the mailbox with a note saying it was outgoing. Generally, they should have taken it as it is understandable if it won't fit through the thin slot for outgoing mail. Did the mailman leave you any incoming mail? Maybe you could try it again tomorrow or make it more prominent that you have an outgoing letter, though I'm not sure how prominent you already had it posted.
Not to my knowledge unless the USPS closes their local office or district. In all of my years working on Long Island, maybe 1 or 2 occasions have we been unable to deliver the mail, but I don't remember if we were expected to report to work or not. It's possible though that I may not have the correct information and that a local state of emegergency would excuse a letter carrier from reporting to work.
Casting Director
Day Trader
Pharmacist
Wolfie, I think that Priority Express Envelopes (not regular Priority Mail) has a guaranteed delivery time which is given to the sender when they mail the item. It is often next day by Noon but that certainly varies on destination and time of mailing. Most Priority Express labels nowadays are automatically signature waivered (nobody needs to be around to sign for it) unless the sender requests a signature. It used to be the opposite of that. The regular letter carrier will deliver the Priority Express letter if they can make the delivery by the guaranteed time and if they are given the item to deliver before they leave on their regular routes. I hope that answers your question.
I am not sure how you would apply for a specific PO to work at. More often than not I believe hiring is done by region that covers several different POs. For example, when I was hired in 1998, I had taken an exam which covered all offices which had ZIP codes which began with 117 and I was hired in one of them. You could go in to the Post Office and ask how to get hired in a certain area though I am not sure how much assistance one specific office can be since hiring is done through a more central HR office and not one local office.
It is pretty rare that we would have to lift 75 lbs. Most of the heaviest packages are probably in the 30-40 lb. Range and even that isn't an everyday occurrence. Good luck to you.
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