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.
When you put your mail on hold there is an option to either "pick up your mail" or "have the mail delivered to you" on a certain date. If you choose the latter, you may go to the Post Office with proper ID and see if they will give you the mail that has been held and notify your letter carrier to resume delivery the following day. I know that would likely be allowed at the PO which I work at. I can't speak for any other Post Offices. Your best option is to choose "Pick up mail" and then the mail can be held for up to 30 days at the Post Office and you don't have to worry whether you pick up the held mail in 5 days, 15 days, or anytime less than 30 days.
Mail put in a mailbox on a particular day generally won't be delivered the same day. Usually it takes 1-3 days for a letter to be delivered domestically. Even if the origin and destination for the mail item are geographically very close to each other mail is usually processed overnight at a regional mail sorting facility.
I don't know for sure how you can make this happen, but I have a suggestion. If you happen to actually see the mailman, you can mention to him/her the problem that you seem to be having and that you would like to have mail for your family put in the locked mailbox. I don't know if you will be successfull in having this done but it is worth a try. If this doesn't work, you might want to look into renting a PO Box which is very secure but you'd need to go pick up your mail from a PO instead of having it delivered to your house. I wish you well in having this problem resolved.
I can't speak for all of management, only from my limited experience in a couple of offices and from a few changes in mgmt. I can only say is that the power trips seem spread out among mgmt. Some are very cooperative with their subordinates and others are very dictatorial. It helps to have strong union representation in case you feel you are treated unfairly. I know my answer is quite vague, but that is because there is no clear cut answer. Fortunately most of the work day as a letter carrier is spent out delivering mail so you aren't being constantly watched by a supervisor or postmaster.
Mailman (City Letter Carrier)
Are postal workers more disgruntled than other workers?
Aircraft Mechanic
Did you ever catch something critical right before a plane was about to take off?
Zookeeper and Animal Trainer
Why are some people so protective of endangered species?
The USPS delivers mail 1 time per day to each address. The only exceptions are if an Express Mail item has to be delivered by a separate letter carrier because it arrived at the PO after the regular letter carrier has already left to deliver their route or if the regular letter carrier wouldn't be able to make the delivery guarantee time on the Express Mail. In that case another letter carrier would deliver the Express Mail but not regular mail to the address. So the main answer is 1x per day Mon-Sat.
Shawn, I'd say that this isn't common. Even if "one street over" meant a different town it still shouldn't differ by more of a day in my opinion. It's likely that the letter was missorted somewhere along the way or missdelivered, both which aren't rare. Hopefully the letter will arrive soon. Thank you to your S/O for her service to the country.
the letter carrier is going to bring the letter back to his post office and eventually (1-2 days) it will get to the addresS where it was intended to go. That's what we do.
-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.)