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

I accidentally opened neighbors mail that was put in my box. Took to post office and they were closed. What should I do?

Asked by Rene almost 11 years ago

You could try again at your next available convenience when the PO is open and give it to a sales and service associate at the retail window. There are 2 other options I can think of: 1)Put the mail directly in the mailbox of the correct recipient. 2) Re-seal or tape the mail and put it in a blue collection box. If you want, you could put a note on the mail (like a post-it note) saying "opened by accident". Finally, you could put the mail back in your mailbox with a note saying "misdelivered" on top of the mail. Again, you could use a post-it note if you want. All in all, I'd say it's no big deal. We make errors in deliveries all the time. Many times the recipients may just discard the mail, so you are doing the correct thing by putting the mail back in the system to get correctly delivered.

If I put a note and money for a book of stamps for mailman Is he allowed to bring me

Asked by katy over 10 years ago

They might. If you are on a rural delivery route, I believe it is part of the carrier's job to mail items for the customers (at the customer's expense, of course) and deliver them stamps if they request them and pay for it. If you live on a city delivery route, it's probably up to the individual carrier if they will fulfill your request or not. I believe you can purchase stamps online and they'll be sent to you or there is an option for stamps by mail. In the latter option, you fill out a form and enclose a check and the USPS will deliver your stamps in a couple of days. I don't see any of those options used too often where I deliver mail but I can't speak for other post offices. Try this URL:

https://store.usps.com/store/

An X roommate put a vaction hold on my address. They do not even live here. ..What can I do? And can I press any charges.

Asked by moriah over 11 years ago

Moriah, that is pretty rotten that an ex-roommate would put a hold on all of the mail to your address. I believe you may have to call the USPS help line or visit your local post office to say that your mail shouldn't be held. They shouldn't give you a hard time if you prove that is your address. As far as pressing any charges, I don't have any legal background on what the crime would be and if any charges would stick. The USPS CS # is 800 275 8777.

If a letter was mailed from Wisconsin to California on a monday morning approximately what day will it be receive?

Asked by Heemgame over 10 years ago

Generally it would be up to 3 days for a letter to be delivered if mailed from CA to WI. To answer your question, the letter mailed on Monday AM should be delivered on Thursday. I'm not sure about this but I think First-class Mail standards are 2-4 days for delivery.

I live in a building with mailboxes we tennents access by key. However I found out that the management at our building puts the mail into the boxes and not the mailman. My boyfriend says this is illegal. What can I do to amend this? I live in Canada

Asked by Flower almost 11 years ago

Flower, whether you live in Canada or the U.S., my answer to your question is the same: I don't know what can be done to amend this. I don't know that it is illegal either. Most apartment buildings that I've seen have a cluster of mailboxes near the lobby and are serviced by a USPS worker (in the US). I, too, live in an apartment building (a cooperative) and a USPS Letter Carrier distributes the mail. Management has no access to the cluster boxes as far as I know. On the flip side, there may be some arrangement for the management to deliver the mail in your building though I don't know the mechanism that would allow for such an agreement. The only thing I can compare your situation to is that many college campuses have mail that is distributed by non-USPS employees into boxes usually at a residence hall or student center/union. I did that for one year when I attended a university in NY.

Postal Carrier delivered over 150 postcards to ONE hotel that I paid to deliver to every home and business. What are my rights for damage caused to my 15 businesses I represent that depend on revenue from it?

Asked by Phil over 10 years ago

Phil, it sounds like you were using our EDDM Retail service which allows mailers to target an area of the town with a simplified (unaddressed) mailing which would go to each address on a route or group of routes. EDDM stands for Every Door Direct Mail. It has been very popular since it was introduced by the USPS several years ago. It is very bad that a postal carrier would deliver it to just one address though I have heard this complaint before. I don't know what your rights are re: a refund of the mailing costs. I'd contact your local postmaster or escalate to our consumer affairs department (which I think we have) to try and make sure it doesn't happen again. I don't believe you are eligible for any damage beyond the cost of the postage, but I could be wrong about this. Hearing a complaint like this doesn't surprise me as I get the impression that these mailings (EDDM) aren't treated as well as addressed mail but absolutely should be. We are paid to deliver the mail accordingly. I'm sorry that you had this bad experience with the USPS and hope you would give us another chance.

Can a mail carrier talk for hours on the job(2–3) with just one person,give people rides in her mail truck, and take car rides with neighbors while still in uniform? This is the worst mail carrier I've had. Everyone in my apartment also gets few mail

Asked by Caroline over 10 years ago

I am appalled at these observations of a mail carrier. If they are a city letter carrier, they aren't allowed to do any of the as far as I know. The actions seem completely unprofessional and probably against postal regulations. I would never give someone a ride in my mail truck or even have enough time to talk to one person on the route. If I talk to someone for even a few minutes I start to get anxious that I'll be late returning to the PO from my delivery route. I don't think it is against the rules to take a ride with someone while you are in uniform as long as the mail is secured in the postal delivery vehicle. We are authorized a 30 minute lunch break, two 10-minute breaks, plus whatever bathroom breaks are necessary. I have heard stories like you have told while reading some Facebook Forums or message boards. They are definitely working somewhere I'm not familiar with and with a management who doesn't care to do anything about this. I believe in an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. People like you have observed have probably been ripping off the USPS and the ratepayers for years. There are definitely other USPS workers who would disagree strongly with my comments, but this is how I see it. If you know for sure you aren't getting all of your mail, you could bring it to the attention of the delivery supervisor of your local PO. I would question how you would know you are missing anything. It's possible that your apartment complex residents don't receive a lot of mail. Thanks for writing.