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.
Another good question on this message board that I dont know the answer to. We rarely ever look at or are directed to a USPS employee handbook. I am sure it exists but don't know where it is at my PO. I am pretty sure my supervisor would have it at their desk or know where to find it. As far as writing a personal note directly on a letter, I would suggest that it not be done, but I can't say that it is against the rules. In general I don't think we should be making any comments or judgments about the mail that somebody receives. I'm not saying we don't talk about it internally but I wouldn't comment (in person or in writing) to the mail recipient or anybody else in public. That would be completely inappropriate. Please notice I don't use the word "illegal" here as I am not versed in the legality or disciplinary actions that are in play here, if any. The only time I would write directly on the mail is if I'm not familiar with the name of the recipient on a piece of mail that differs from the current residents that I know live at a particular address. In this case, I put a "?" next to the addressees name and deliver the letter. By doing this, the current residents can accept the letter or realize I wasn't sure if it was delivered correctly and leave it out for me the next day to return to the sender as "Attempted, Not Known." Thanks for writing.
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I don't believe that UPS or FEDEX do any type of stamping on their envelopes or parcels like the USPS does when processing the mail. I do know that both companies have very good tracking services for each item so the recipient can tell what facilities the item went through before being delivered to them. When they receive what you sent to them, they can likely go online with the item tracking # and find out how the item traveled from you to them. Thanks for writing.
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Bre, there is an excellent chance you will receive the package before the new year. Our operations are pretty much 24/7 when it comes to moving the mail through our delivery network. This time of year with heavy mail volume I think that most packages will arrive within 1-5 days from where they are shipped. Our service is quite reliable in my opinion. Happy New Year!
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Debbie, I m sorry to hear that the ring you ordered on eBay was misdelivered. I'm pretty sure there is nothing we can do regarding reimbursing customers for misdelivered unless there is some insurance purchased by the sender. Your story doesn't surprise me, however, since misdeliveries are made all the time. It's also unfortunate that whoever received the misdelivered package didn't return it to the PO since it didn't belong to them. That would have been the right thing to do. I am also guessing that in the situation you described, the sender won't reimburse your $$ because their records show that the ring was delivered.
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Do you mean that the marking was "insufficient postage", not "insufficient packaging". If it was "insufficient postage", I'm pretty sure you would just have to pay the difference between the Parcel Select rate and the Priority Mail rate. What I'm not sure about is how you get credit for an already purchased postage label, if that's even possible. If you took this to the PO for some type of resolution, I question whether all of the clerks would know how to adjust the rate properly as the ability, care, and training of the SSAs (sales and service associates) seems to vary widely. Thanks for writing.
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I know I have sort of answered this question already, but I will again. I would say that a letter carrier shouldn't enter a yard where a barking dog is visible and not on a leash and could physically come in contact with the letter carrier. If the owner isn't present to accept the mail, the carrier is best advised to bring the mail back to the post office and notify the supervisor why the mail couldn't be delivered. The USPS wants to reduce the number of dog bites because it is dangerous to the letter carrier and costly to the USPS because of any time off required and any medical treatment needed. Fortunately where I work I don't hear of too many dog/carrier incidents, but I do realize other areas may not be as safe.
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I presume there are days when you receive no mail and therefore the letter carrier doesn't even stop at your house and wouldn't see your outgoing mail. If you had incoming mail, please make sure your outgoing mail is visible and then should be taken. On days where you have no incoming mail and no flag to alert the letter carrier that you have outgoing mail, I'm not sure how to let them know to stop and pickup your letters. I suggest making the mail visible from a distance (like possibly sticking out of the mailbox) so when they walk/drive by your house it can be spotted and picked up. To be honest though, some letter carriers may not even look at the mailbox if there is nothing to deliver to a certain address. I'm not saying this is correct, but I don't want to speak for fellow letter carriers who vary widely in their quality of work. Thank you for writing.
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