Ask a Mailman (City Letter Carrier) anything

1237 Questions

Last Answer on February 18, 2022

I live in a condo building of 100 unit owners. Each unit owner has an assigned mailbox in the lobby where we have a doorman. Upon request of a unit owner, can the US Postman give the mail to the doorman and not deposit in the unit owner's mailbox?

Asked by Res almost 12 years ago

I am not sure of the correct answer to that question. I would think that the postman technically would have to put each piece of mail in the box that corresponded to the particular unit, and not have the discretion to just hand the mail to the doorman at the request of the resident.

827 Votes

Are mailmen allowed to ask to use your bathroom?

Asked by ek almost 12 years ago

Yes, mailmen are allowed to ask to use anyone's bathroom. It's just polite if we leave it as clean as we found it which I hope most of my co-workers do. Generally, I would only ask to use a bathroom at a business or Doctor's office but if I really had to go in more of an emergency I would knock on anyone's door and ask to use their bathroom. It is rare, however, that I ask to use one inside a residence.

825 Votes

Does a package sent in the mail sorted by hand i.e. an odd shaped package not able to be sorted by the sorting machine not recieve regular scans to update tracking? Also would this cause webtracking delivery estimate to display a later delivery date?

Asked by Vanagain almost 12 years ago

I have no idea if the hand sorting of odd shaped packages would cause it to not receive the normal scans to update tracking. I would suspsect that as long as the package had a valid bar code which could be scanned along the way that it would be treated just as as other packages. I'm sorry I have no more specific information on the scans of odd shaped items.

825 Votes

I recently sent a Christmas present in a large envelope. It arrived at the desired address empty. The wrapped present not inside. The package did have tracking, but it obviously reports delivered since the empty envelope made it. what can I do?

Asked by Ella almost 12 years ago

I am sorry that the item arrived empty, but I do understand why it shows as arrived delivered. If that package arrived on my route for delivery I would have scanned it "Visible Damage" as well as "Delivered". This would not result in any settlement or claim being paid, but would validate what you are saying. If the item was not insured, I don't believe there is anything that can be done.

823 Votes

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For the Q above, if it's already been 6 days, do i still have a chance of retrieving it from them tomorrow? Or would they have thrown it away or returned it by now?

Asked by Sally about 12 years ago

I am not sure if they would still have it after 6 days. Generally, they wouldn't have thrown it out if the item was mailed a certain class and a return endorsement like "return service requested" but there is no way to know how it was mailed. Hopefully it will be returned to sender and if there is a way to contact the sender they could tell you when they received it back. It wouldn't hurt to go to the PO to see if it's there. Has there been any update to the tracking information besides "arrived at your local USPS facility"?

823 Votes

my husband insists that if a mail carrier is in a truck, they are not allowed to get out of the truck to deliver mail, so if they cant pull right up to the mailbox, they wont deliver the mail, is that true?

Asked by erica almost 12 years ago

I don't know this answer for sure, but I do know if a carrier can't pull completely up to a mailbox to effect delivery, he can "flag" the box as non-approachable and bring the mail back to the PO and try again the next day. Most of the time if I couldn't completely get up to a mailbox, I would get out and deliver the mail so as to not have to deal with it the next day. If a mailbox was habitually blocked by a customer then I may suspend delivery to let them know that their box shouldn't be blocked. This has rarely happened in my experience. I'm pretty sure we are allowed to get out of the truck to deliver the mail. I've never been told otherwise.

822 Votes

I recently mailed my passport for renewal via priority mail and the postal clerk entered the wrong zip code and now it has been stuck at the processing center for a week now, so what happens next?

Asked by pruqui over 11 years ago

I am not sure what happens next. Eventually, the Priority Mail envelope (which contains your passport) should either have its ZIP code manually corrected and sent to the proper Passport Renewal Office, or be returned to you "Undeliverable As Addressed". I don't know the time frame that this will all take, but with Priority Mail, the item shouldn't be sitting in a processing center for a week. You can call 1-800-ASK-USPS for possible assistance.

821 Votes

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Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

I live in a condo building of 100 unit owners. Each unit owner has an assigned mailbox in the lobby where we have a doorman. Upon request of a unit owner, can the US Postman give the mail to the doorman and not deposit in the unit owner's mailbox?

Are mailmen allowed to ask to use your bathroom?

Does a package sent in the mail sorted by hand i.e. an odd shaped package not able to be sorted by the sorting machine not recieve regular scans to update tracking? Also would this cause webtracking delivery estimate to display a later delivery date?

I recently sent a Christmas present in a large envelope. It arrived at the desired address empty. The wrapped present not inside. The package did have tracking, but it obviously reports delivered since the empty envelope made it. what can I do?

Also on Jobstr...

For the Q above, if it's already been 6 days, do i still have a chance of retrieving it from them tomorrow? Or would they have thrown it away or returned it by now?

my husband insists that if a mail carrier is in a truck, they are not allowed to get out of the truck to deliver mail, so if they cant pull right up to the mailbox, they wont deliver the mail, is that true?

I recently mailed my passport for renewal via priority mail and the postal clerk entered the wrong zip code and now it has been stuck at the processing center for a week now, so what happens next?

Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

I live in a condo building of 100 unit owners. Each unit owner has an assigned mailbox in the lobby where we have a doorman. Upon request of a unit owner, can the US Postman give the mail to the doorman and not deposit in the unit owner's mailbox?

Are mailmen allowed to ask to use your bathroom?

Does a package sent in the mail sorted by hand i.e. an odd shaped package not able to be sorted by the sorting machine not recieve regular scans to update tracking? Also would this cause webtracking delivery estimate to display a later delivery date?

I recently sent a Christmas present in a large envelope. It arrived at the desired address empty. The wrapped present not inside. The package did have tracking, but it obviously reports delivered since the empty envelope made it. what can I do?

Also on Jobstr...

For the Q above, if it's already been 6 days, do i still have a chance of retrieving it from them tomorrow? Or would they have thrown it away or returned it by now?

my husband insists that if a mail carrier is in a truck, they are not allowed to get out of the truck to deliver mail, so if they cant pull right up to the mailbox, they wont deliver the mail, is that true?

I recently mailed my passport for renewal via priority mail and the postal clerk entered the wrong zip code and now it has been stuck at the processing center for a week now, so what happens next?

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