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.
From Long Island to Brooklyn, NY is usually 2 days as long as it is mailed by the final pickup time on one day (for example usually 5 or 6 PM). The mail delivery system is pretty reliable in meeting that timeframe unless the mail is missorted or misdelivered.
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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.
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You don't need to explain to any USPS employee why you are returning the mail. It is none of our business. As long as it is an unopened, first-class letter, you should be able to just write "refused" on it and have it returned. Personally I would just discard any unwanted mail. I've received debt collection letters in the past and have just ignored them and not returned them. There are certain classes of mail where we won't return to the sender because the sender has paid a pre-sorted standard rate (which is lower than the first-class rate). In that case, we just recycle any unwanted mail.
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I generally wouldn't do that unless I knew the neighbors were friends with each other and could be trusted to give the package to the correct recipient. I've never been in this situation since I can leave packages at a customers house without someone home to receive it. I don't know technically what we are allowed to do without your permission but we are trusted to protect the US mail and deliver it safely to the correct address.
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I don't have any insight on how to transfer to other offices besides eReassign or asking for a mutual exchange transfer (which are advertised in The Postal Record). One suggestion I have is to call any office directly that you may be interested in to see if there are openings. I don't know how this would be any different from eReassign. Mutual transfers aren't so easy because you have to find someone from the area you want to transfer to who wants to go to your area. Also, there is an issue with the seniority dates that are assumed by the transferees which I don't know about. Good luck, be patient, and I predict you eventually get a transfer. What's wrong with Long Island? I love working here but know it's not for everyone partially due to the cost of living.
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Jessica, I don't know what is legal or not about returning mail to the sender if not addressed properly but it seems that your letter carrier is taking this a bit too far by returning letters that don't match exactly the name on the mailbox. As long as the apartment # is correct and the name matches somewhat the mail should be delivered. I don't know if you want to leave a note saying "please deliver all mail that is addressed to my apartment # even if the name doesn't match exactly." As far as I know names don't need to match at all as long as there is an apt # and the recipient isn't rejecting the mail as "no longer lives here or person doesn't live here". Many carriers, especially substitute or CCA (city carrier assistants), just deliver the mail as addressed which is fine. I am a very detail-oriented letter carrier and always want to make the proper deliveries but would never return something for a spelling error. I would return something sometimes if it is consistently mailed to an incorrect address. Again, the address is the most important piece of information on a piece of mail, not necessarily the name.
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I don't think being a letter carrier is dangerous with respect to personal safety. I think most people respect the letter carrier enough not to assault or harass them. I can be accused of looking at this situation through rose-colored glasses because I am a male and deliver mail in an affluent area where very little violent crime occurs. You need to be vigilant for loose dogs and to drive carefully. The only protection we have for an emergency is for a dog attack. In that case we have dog repellent spray plus a mail satchel which could be used as sort of a shield between you and the dog. Most workplace injuries are falls which results in cuts, sprains, bruises and broken bones. In case of a real emergency we would call 911 and alert the Post Office.
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