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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Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

My husband's ex-wife's mail continues to be delivered to our house. We purchased together so there is no reason that she would be on this address. I have done everything suggested to make this stop; it keeps getting delivered. How do I make it stop?

Asked by kingston over 11 years ago

Kingston, I'm guessing that a couple of methods you have tried is to return any mail with her name on it with the marking "person doesn't live here" or "refused" on it. Another method is to ask your letter carrier to only deliver mail with your name and/or your husband's name on it. Since the ex-wife possibly had the same last name as your husband I can see some of that mail getting through. You could discard the mail but I don't think that will have any effect on stopping the mail since a letter carrier has no idea what is done with the mail once it is delivered. If you talk to a supervisor at the PO and tell them you don't want mail for that name, I'm not sure what their response will be, esp. when last names may be in common. I am sorry that I don't have any better information as this situation isn't one that I recall coming across. Most people just refuse delivery of that mail or probably discard it. Thanks for writing. 

HOW DO YOU DRIVE YOUR CAR ON THE WRONG SIDE? DOES IT HAVE SPECIAL PEDALS?

Asked by JESS almost 12 years ago

It isn't very difficult to drive our delivery vehicles with the steering wheel and pedals on the "wrong" side. The delivery vehicle which is commonly used it sometimes referred to as an LLV (Long Life Vehicle). The controls are the same as if you were driving from the normal side of a car (the left side if you are facing forward). If you are in an urban environment, there could be some safety issues each time you have to pull away from a curb and make sure nobody is coming on your side. There are mirrors which provide you with a field of view for safety. In a suburban/rural environment where the LLVs are used more frequently, safety is still a major concern so you must be very careful each time you move your LLV from one delivery spot to the next. Backing up is something that you should try to avoid as much as you can due to the limited visibility behind an LLV. I found it pretty easy to drive once I got used to it. The vehicles just don't handle too well in ice and snow. In dry weather and rain they are fine.

I have a fenced in front yard with a latched gate. On the gate is a permanent sign that reads "BEWARE OF DOG." My mail box is on the front porch. The carrier must enter the fenced in zone to deliver the mail. If DOG is present should carrier enter

Asked by herding hollywood over 11 years ago

I would say that the letter carrier shouldn't enter the fenced in zone to deliver the mail if a dog is present. We often have service talks that are aimed at preventing dog bites. One point that is made is to not go into an area where a dog is loose. To be honest, though, many of us are comfortable around dogs and won't follow that rule all the time. If I encounter what looks like a dog that could cause me harm I avoid that house/area and bring any undelivered mail back to the post office. In my career I don't remember not being able to deliver mail due to a loose dog. The bottom line is that a carrier shouldn't put themselves in a situation where they are at risk for an unwanted encounter with a canine.

Thanks for your reply. I was a carrier with the USPS back in the day. This is a relatively new mailbox, and the carrier definitely broke it as a result of how he opened it each day over the last few years. We'll see what the USPS does for me. Thanks.

Asked by David over 11 years ago

You're welcome David. It's my pleasure to try and assist where I can. It's just that I have so little confidence in the operation at times and how the management can resolve situations satisfactorily. I know it's not a good attitude, but if I worked for a company that focused on the customer and quality of work and one that treated its workers with greater respect, I'd give you a more optimistice answer. It's not that we are a horrible place by any means, but being a quasi-governmental orgnaization, I feel that it's just kind of "eh" at times. Some of us work hard and try our best, while others, it seems, work against the operation it seems. Fortunately it's more the former than the latter overall. Thanks again for writing and feel free to post your results on this Q and A site.

If I were to send a letter envelope with more than just a letter, like if it had a ring inside as well, would it be able to go through the mail system without a problem?

Asked by Gabriela over 11 years ago

More than likely the envelope with the irregular thickness item in it would make it through the mail system as long as the item didn't puncture through the paper envelope and possibly get lost. The letter sorting process is highly automated so the item in the envelope could get damaged as it goes through the letter sorting machinery. For this reason,  I highly recommend using a small padded envelope to protect any fragile or valuable contents that need to be mailed. The cost to mail this is higher than that of a letter-sized envelope but well worth it.

Why would USPS ask for my email address? I ship paper pretty regularly to my friend in Canada and lately the lady at the post office has been asking all kinds of questions about what I am sending. This week she asked for my email address. Why?

Asked by MeowMix almost 11 years ago

I Dont know why they would ask for an email address. Is there any type of customs declaration form that is filled out when you mail papers to Canada? That form usually includes what is being sent. I don't know that it's obligatory to provide this information. Sometimes USPS will send out surveys or possibly email them to find out about your retail customer experience. If you call the USPS customer service phone number, maybe they could provide more insight. The phone number is 800-275-8777.

If I put the correct apartment (Superintendent) on shipping address but forget to put the word 'APT' before it, will it disrupt the delivering of my package?

Asked by Francesca almost 12 years ago

In my opinion it is fine to leave off the word "APT" at any time as long as you have indicated what the Suite, Apt, Unit, Lot # is along with the proper street address for the property. In your example "SUPT" is sufficient if that is a legitimate apt. designation. I live in an apt. building as well and for my address I usually just put the street address and then "1A" following it on the same line and never had an issue. I am glad you brought up this question because it is difficult and frustrating to try to deliver mail in a multi-unit building without the Unit # also in the address. A carrier who does the route on a regular basis will often memorize who lives in what unit, but a replacement carrier (which is very common) should not be expected to know who lives where and it is very time consuming to have to consult a building directory for the proper unit #.