Ask a Mailman (City Letter Carrier) anything

I recently finished my route, came back office and someone defaced my time card. I took a picture, notified my steward to meet with postmaster on Monday. No point in notifying supervisor it was Saturday, rather go to postmaster. Any thoughts,

Asked by rocketman60 over 10 years ago

First of all, I want to say that it's disgusting that a co-worker would do that. It could almost be taken as a threat from a co-worker and make for a hostile environment. I think you did the right thing by taking a photo of it and getting your shop steward involved. It wouldn't have hurt for you to notify the supervisor since they are next up the chain of command. It sounds like you feel that this is serious enough to go right to the postmaster and I understand that. I don't know if your office has internal video cameras which would cover the area by the time clock. That'd give you all of the evidence you need. Be careful not to just wildly point fingers as to who you think has done the defacing, but if you have had a noticeable conflict with one co-worker you could mention that in the meeting with the postmaster and your shop steward. Nobody at work should have to put up with that kind of defacement or intimidation and I really hope that the management and NALC doesn't take this lightly.

553 Votes

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.

553 Votes

On parcels/spurs that have the insured blue label and/or signature confirmations, does the customer have to sign in person at post office, same true for domestic registered? Some carriers check item at P.O. cust signs 3849, what is policy on that

Asked by jrv almost 11 years ago

I think I understand your question. You are asking if an item that is insured or signature confirmation can be signed for on a 3849 and left out by the customer for the item to be delivered without the customer present or do they have to sign for it at a PO. In the area where I deliver mail, it is sufficient for a signed 3849 to be an authorization to leave an item at the address even if nobody is present. For domestic registered mail, I'd advise against this because the items may contain very valuable items so I might be uncomfortable just leaving them without a recipient available. I rarely get domestic registered (red label) mail to deliver so I can't say for sure what I do in each situation. To me, domestic registered mail is the most secure service we offer and needs to be treated accordingly.

553 Votes

I left a letter in my landlords mailbox in a stamped envelope with my return address and her receiving address when she checked the box her mail was there but my letter wasn't what happens if mailman took it thinking it was outgoing mail

Asked by Kate over 10 years ago

From what you described there should be no problem in your landlord eventually receiving the check. It's possible that the letter carrier took the envelope thinking it was outgoing mail. Since it had a stamp on it and the landlord as a receiving address, they will likely get the check in a couple of delivery days. If a letter carrier sees an unstamped envelope in a mailbox they will often take it as outgoing mail without looking at the destination address. Thanks for your question.

552 Votes

I live in a residence, never closed, but have had three occasions recently when an item wasn't delivered with a reason listed in tracking as business closed. Why?

Asked by jayking@gmx.com about 10 years ago

That is interesting to hear yet not surprising to me. There are certain parcels that are supposed to have a scan on it whether or not it's actually delivered on a particular day. Amazon.com parcels are one of these types of parcels but it may occur on other parcels as well. I don't think it's right for the USPS to be doing this because it is misrepresenting the status of a parcel. In your case the fact that you live in a residence that is never closed makes it even more wrong to be scanned as "business closed". Sometimes a letter carrier may forget to deliver a parcel or it is missorted to another route and there is no time to get it correctly delivered on the same day. In this case, it might be scanned "attempted" or "business closed". In my opinion both of these scans are wrong and misleading to the recipient and/or shipper. I hope you have at least received the parcel the next delivery day. I've never been asked to scan a parcel wrongly and would refuse to do so. You may see this more lately as the volume of our parcel business for the month leading up to Christmas is probably double or more our normal parcel load.

552 Votes

Lets say its a chilly day probably in the 30's-40's range and raining. I have rain gear for the rest of my body but nothing for my hands. How do you keep your hands dry? Warmth is not a major concern atm, just keeping them dry. What do you do?

Asked by Kruesser almost 11 years ago

Those days aren't fun whatsoever and I don't know that I have a good answer for you as I'm more concerned with the cold. I have heard of seal skin gloves which may work well to keep your hands dry but still be able to finger the mail. I'm sorry I don't have a more concrete answer for you. It's good that you have rain gear for the rest of your body. Don't wear any cloth gloves because they will get wet quickly and soak through to your skin. To find help on this and other questions, I would recommend the Facebook user group titled: USPS postal Maniacs. There are over 9000 USPS employees who are members and are pretty good about voicing their opinions on postal questions (often very negative, but they have a helpful side as well).

551 Votes

The mailman at my office came in to deliver mail and I told him that we had moved our postage machine from one location to another and he told me that they get paid by the foot and his supervisor measures it once a year. Is that true? I doubt it!

Asked by Shan over 10 years ago

I have not had an office to deliver on a regular basis so I can't comment as to how far a letter carrier is supposed to go I to an office to deliver or retrieve outgoing mail. Usually I'd expect to mostly deliver to a mail room or reception desk. As far as getting paid by the foot, I can assure you if it is a city letter carrier they are being paid "on the clock" meaning it has nothing to do with distance traveled on foot, but only by time working. A rural letter carrier may have a different way to calculate their pay where I don't know the details. If your letter carrier is wearing the traditional blue uniform, it is likely they are a city carrier and if the location of your postage machine took them longer to access, they'd actually be paid more money because it took them longer. I am being picayune but I hope you understand the point. Some mail carriers are just lazy, will feed you a line, or genuinely know some of the rules about office delivery.

550 Votes

Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

I recently finished my route, came back office and someone defaced my time card. I took a picture, notified my steward to meet with postmaster on Monday. No point in notifying supervisor it was Saturday, rather go to postmaster. Any thoughts,

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?

On parcels/spurs that have the insured blue label and/or signature confirmations, does the customer have to sign in person at post office, same true for domestic registered? Some carriers check item at P.O. cust signs 3849, what is policy on that

I left a letter in my landlords mailbox in a stamped envelope with my return address and her receiving address when she checked the box her mail was there but my letter wasn't what happens if mailman took it thinking it was outgoing mail

Also on Jobstr...

I live in a residence, never closed, but have had three occasions recently when an item wasn't delivered with a reason listed in tracking as business closed. Why?

Lets say its a chilly day probably in the 30's-40's range and raining. I have rain gear for the rest of my body but nothing for my hands. How do you keep your hands dry? Warmth is not a major concern atm, just keeping them dry. What do you do?

The mailman at my office came in to deliver mail and I told him that we had moved our postage machine from one location to another and he told me that they get paid by the foot and his supervisor measures it once a year. Is that true? I doubt it!

Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

I recently finished my route, came back office and someone defaced my time card. I took a picture, notified my steward to meet with postmaster on Monday. No point in notifying supervisor it was Saturday, rather go to postmaster. Any thoughts,

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?

On parcels/spurs that have the insured blue label and/or signature confirmations, does the customer have to sign in person at post office, same true for domestic registered? Some carriers check item at P.O. cust signs 3849, what is policy on that

I left a letter in my landlords mailbox in a stamped envelope with my return address and her receiving address when she checked the box her mail was there but my letter wasn't what happens if mailman took it thinking it was outgoing mail

Also on Jobstr...

I live in a residence, never closed, but have had three occasions recently when an item wasn't delivered with a reason listed in tracking as business closed. Why?

Lets say its a chilly day probably in the 30's-40's range and raining. I have rain gear for the rest of my body but nothing for my hands. How do you keep your hands dry? Warmth is not a major concern atm, just keeping them dry. What do you do?

The mailman at my office came in to deliver mail and I told him that we had moved our postage machine from one location to another and he told me that they get paid by the foot and his supervisor measures it once a year. Is that true? I doubt it!

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