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.
Funny, I had never noticed that to be the case! Just kidding. There is a very important reason the steering wheel is on the right hand side (as one is facing forward). I drive one of these vehicles. They are commonly known as LLV (long life vehicles), Jeeps, or other names. The reason for this configuration is because many mail routes have mailboxes at the street end of a driveway where a mail vehicle can drive right up to it and the letter carrier can put the mail in the box without having to leave his seat. They can just stick their right arm out of the window. On the left side of the letter carrier (where a regular vehicle would have the steering wheel) is a large metal tray where the letter carrier organizes the mail for delivery. This method of delivery is found more commonly in suburban or rural environments. I drive an LLV, and even though the route I deliver has no mailboxes at the end of a driveway (they are mostly by a front door or garage), it is safer for me to exit the vehicle on the right side instead of what is possibly moving traffic. It only took a short time to get used to driving this configuration and it seems none of my co-workers have much of a problem either. You just have to be careful of blind spots and when backing up, not unlike any conventional vehicle. You asked a great question and I may have given you more than you asked for but I hoped it helped Jeff.
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I don't believe you would be hired without a driver license to be a letter carrier. It is great that you like to walk a lot which is very healthy, but many communities have mail delivery which uses a motor vehicle to go from house to house or at least uses a vehicle to get the letter carrier to their route. That vehicle is usually driven by the letter carrier themselves. In some urban environments (like some of NYC), there are "walk-out" routes where the letter carrier leaves the PO on foot with a mail satchel and/or cart and doesn't need to drive. The mail for parts of their routes are left by another carrier in a vehicle in what is called a "relay box". I dont know that this relieves the carrier from not having a driver license because when one is hired they need to be flexible in their work assignments which may include a route that has driving involved. My short answer to your question is no, but would need further research.
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Cindy, I dont know how to help you in this situation as I am not even sure what you are asking. Good luck on both interviews. I do realize you want one of these positions much greater than the other. Unless you get offered the job for the first interview on the spot, I highly recommend attending both interviews. The reason is that you may get an offer for the latter interview than at your preferred location. This is likely better than having no employment.
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I am not sure why the authorization to hold mail form would show up in your mailbox unless it was put there by error. Normally we wouldn't deliver a signed form like that until it is time to resume delivery of mail after the hold period which was authorized has expired. Postal Customers use that form (or can complete it at www.usps.gov) to have their mail held at the post office if they will be away for a period of time between 3 and 30 days. At the end of the authorized time period, a letter carrier will either deliver all of the mail that was held at the PO or the postal customer can pick up the mail at the Post Office. If the form you recevied has been completed (or even if not), you may put a post-it note or attach a note to it and leave it in your mailbox explaining to the letter carrier that you don't want your mail held at all and that you didn't authorize it. Another option is to take the card to your local post office that delivers the mail and tell them you don't want your mail held. My guess is that somebody has made an error in delivering the form to you OR something shady is going on, but I think it is more likely the former. Thank you for your inquiry.
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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'm glad you like this blog. It's my pleasure to help where I can and I have a great appreciation for those who do podcasts or other websites just for fun. Their time commitments are impressive given the work it takes to maintain a blog or a website. Since I have no experience with the CCA hiring process, I can't give you any hard facts about how long the process takes. Congratulations on getting an interview. There will likely be a drug test and medical exam if you haven't gone through that process already. I imagine it would only be 1-2 months after that to be notified if you will be hired. There are about 6 CCAs in the office where I work but there is a solid turnover among them. It's not the job for everyone. It's physically demanding, pay for CCAs isn't great ($16.50/hr Apprx) and you aren't always treated that well. I still recommend it if you get hired because long-term it has proven to be a great career for me. I wish you well and have a positive attitude.
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You may certainly ask a carrier to open the collection box, but I don't know if they will. I don't even have keys to open one of those boxes so it's possible the carrier you ask won't have access to the collection box. If you are able to have a carrier open the box, if there is a lot of mail in there, I don't know that they will take the time to go through it to find the bill you are looking for. Bring ID with you in case they want to match up the unsealed mail with your address. As I said, I don't know what response you will get from the letter carrier, but was just giving you some possibilities. It is also possible that the bill will get to the destination unsealed and all will be fine.
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