Ask a Mailman (City Letter Carrier) anything

It seems that all the big blue mailboxes on the street that we put our mail into have been replaced with new ones. They look just like the old ones but there is less space for the envelopes to go through into the box. Why?

Asked by Roberta over 10 years ago

I actually have no idea regarding the blue collection boxes being replaced with ones that have thinner slots. Possibly it is harder to steal out of it with a thinner slot buy I'm purely speculating. I don't know that theft from these boxes is much of an issue in most areas. Your question is the first I'm hearing about different size slot collection boxes. If anything I just hear of there being less collection boxes in general due to the decline in First-Class Mail being sent.

549 Votes

Postman at our apartment keeps returning our mail to sender. He states it is because it does not match the names on our box. Can he legally do this. If the name is misspelled or off by one letter he will return to sender every time. Can he do this?

Asked by Jessica about 11 years ago

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.

548 Votes

. 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 Arek about 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. If it seemed to be some type of phony diversion tactic, I'd try to get far away from the motorist pointing and then investigate safely.

548 Votes

if you are a us postal service worker can you solicit your own business while delivering your route?

Asked by Pepito about 10 years ago

I think it is inappropriate to solicit your own business while delivering a route for the USPS. I haven't heard of anyone being disciplined for doing this, but I would think that it is technically not allowed. I know of a couple of co-workers who do home improvements, landscaping, or sprinkler work as side jobs but don't know if they actually try to get business while delivering mail. If they want to do a postcard mailing to try and get business I suppose that would be fine as long as proper postage was paid for the mailing and they didn't just put their own postcards in mailboxes while delivering the mail and not affixing postage to it.

548 Votes

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 tareq about 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. If it seemed to be some type of phony diversion tactic, I'd try to get far away from the motorist pointing and then investigate safely.

548 Votes

Are the people at the counter in the post office obliged to ask me what I am sending in a Large Letter ?? thank you

Asked by Werlygig over 10 years ago

I don't believe they can ask you what is actually in the large letter, but I know if it's over a certain weight or size, they can ask something to the effect of "is the item you are mailing liquid, fragile, perishable, or potentially hazardous?" and you self-certify the answer with a yes or no. Certain batteries have to go by surface only and can't fly on airplanes. So I would take exception of they actually ask you what is being mailed if it's first class or Priority Mail. If you are mailing something via Medial Mail they can verify or even open a package to inspect that it is media (books, CDs, cassettes, video, DVD). I hope this answers your question.

548 Votes

I'm in SF,CA Is there a law that says the mail carrier can only walk 6 feet to deliver the mail? I recently moved my mail slot down the driveway into a door as some of our mail is missing.

Asked by Donna E. about 10 years ago

I'm a little confused by your question. Did you move the mail slot down the driveway into a door because some mail is missing or do you think mail is missing because you've moved the mail slot down the driveway and now the mail carrier won't deliver it? I don't know why your mail would be missing. The main reason is usually misdelivery by a USPS letter carrier and less common is mail theft. To answer your main question, I don't know anything about laws regarding how far a letter carrier can walk to deliver mail. If the carrier delivers on foot then it's very common to have to go to a door or mailbox near a door to deliver the mail. From what you described it shouldn't be an issue to have moved the mail slot into a door.

548 Votes

Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

It seems that all the big blue mailboxes on the street that we put our mail into have been replaced with new ones. They look just like the old ones but there is less space for the envelopes to go through into the box. Why?

Postman at our apartment keeps returning our mail to sender. He states it is because it does not match the names on our box. Can he legally do this. If the name is misspelled or off by one letter he will return to sender every time. Can he do this?

. 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?

if you are a us postal service worker can you solicit your own business while delivering your route?

Also on Jobstr...

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?

Are the people at the counter in the post office obliged to ask me what I am sending in a Large Letter ?? thank you

I'm in SF,CA Is there a law that says the mail carrier can only walk 6 feet to deliver the mail? I recently moved my mail slot down the driveway into a door as some of our mail is missing.

Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

It seems that all the big blue mailboxes on the street that we put our mail into have been replaced with new ones. They look just like the old ones but there is less space for the envelopes to go through into the box. Why?

Postman at our apartment keeps returning our mail to sender. He states it is because it does not match the names on our box. Can he legally do this. If the name is misspelled or off by one letter he will return to sender every time. Can he do this?

. 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?

if you are a us postal service worker can you solicit your own business while delivering your route?

Also on Jobstr...

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?

Are the people at the counter in the post office obliged to ask me what I am sending in a Large Letter ?? thank you

I'm in SF,CA Is there a law that says the mail carrier can only walk 6 feet to deliver the mail? I recently moved my mail slot down the driveway into a door as some of our mail is missing.

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