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 sent a letter friday to California and it usually takes 3 days to send but monday is MLK day so what day should it arrive

Asked by selena over 11 years ago

I don't know where you mailed the letter from, but I think mail is still processed on a holiday even if there is no delivery. I would suggest that it will arrive on Tues or Wednesday. Also, I've heard through unofficial sources that the service standards for first class mail has been delayed by a day, at least with local mail. Mail that used to take one day has started to take two days as of last week, but I haven't heard any official word or complaints about it. I don't work in an environment where I'd head too many complaints from customers nor would management tell us of too much with regards to service changes unless they absolutely had to.

Claims he received mail at our house that was addressed to his previous address (same town). I don't believe him, & I'm curious, could/would a postman/woman deliver post to a different address than what is marked. (Did not sign up for forwarding)

Asked by m0m2t0by over 11 years ago

I believe it would be rare for someone to receive mail at your address when they didn't put on a forwarding order and then to actually know about it. Certainly mail could be mis-delivered to your house, but how would that person know unless you contacted them somehow? I deliver mail only as addressed with a couple of exceptions. If I can see that the sender addressed it wrong (usually a wrong house #, but the correct street), I would likely deliver it to the address where the person lives. Even if someone moved in the same town but didn't put in a forwarding order, we aren't allowed to just "hand off" the mail to their new address. I did recently notice that a woman (her parents live on the route I deliver) had a piece of mail with her name on it but the address to be delivered to was in Maryland. I know the woman is now receiving mail at her parents home and likely has a forwarding order from Maryland to her parents house in NY. The letter may have been automatically re-routed to NY with the new addresses bar code put on the envelope and the letter then arrived in the computer-sorted mail for the NY address. I just delivered it knowing that the surnames matched. I hope this answers your question and thanks for writing.

If I address mail like:
.
John Cook
123 Ort Rd, New York,NY,USA
~zip code~
.
Will it still be delivered to my house from an outside country or does the zip code go back up by the street and city name or does it not matter?

Asked by ghords over 11 years ago

The mail will still likely make it to your address in the USA, but the proper addressing format would be to have the bottom line read the country of destination. The ZIP should go on the same line as City and State. The Street (or PO Box) should go on the line above City, State, and ZIP code.

While driving the vehicle to make a delivery, another motorist points towards the back of your vehicle as if something is wrong. What do you do?

Asked by Tolu Akande over 10 years ago

If I were in motion, I'd safely pull over, put on my four-way flashers, and then get out to investigate. It's possible that my gas cap is hanging out the side of the LLV, the back gate isn't secure, or maybe I'm dragging something. It could also be something that I haven't thought of. If the motorist is still around I'd ask them what they are pointing out.

Daughter of a deceased employee submitted an employee generated mlna with letter attached indicating father had past. I did mlna on the mail, then 2 days a fwd was put thru. Do l now fwd or mlna and will that mlna come back in dps or to office.

Asked by jvitto48 almost 11 years ago

I would forward any mail you receive from this point forward since you now have a valid COA for that former employee who is now deceased. Any mail that was previously put through with the MLNA may not come back at all and was returned to the sender. If the mail happens to come back to your office I would then forward it. This is all just my opinion. I'd ask the clerk who handles forwards in your office or a supervisor, but they may also just give an opinion without knowing if there is a correct procedure.

If i post a letter but didn't mean to can i go back and ask the postman if i can have it back before he takes it away

Asked by daniel about 11 years ago

I would give it back to you if I know who you are, or you can positively ID yourself, and if I can easily retrieve the letter. It's rarely happened to me and in each case in gave back the letter(s) to the sender. I can't speak to how another letter carrier would react to your request and I don't know if there are any rules specifically allowing or prohibiting this. We are not trained on how to handle this request as far as I can remember.

My mail carrier frequently delivers mail to my house for my neighbor. I have been walking it over, but it is happening almost daily now. How can I solve the situation? Is it rude to leave it to be re-delivered when the address is so close to me?

Asked by MB over 11 years ago

Your postal carrier shouldn't be misdelivering the mail at all. We all make mistakes but it shouldn't be a regular occurrence as you imply happens with your neighbor's mail coming to you. I think it's nice of you to bring it to your neighbor but you certainly don't have to. It is not rude whatsoever to leave the mail in your mailbox so the carrier can see it and hopefully deliver it correctly. I know you may not feel comfortable leaving a note in your mailbox with the incorrectly delivered mail stating that this is a regular occurrence and please be more careful with your delivery, but this type of note would be entirely appropriate. I care so much about delivering properly that I appreciate it when a customer tells me about an errant delivery or leaves the letter in their mailbox to be re-delivered. I wish all of my co-workers felt the same way. Some do and some don't. Thanks for your question.