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 got a voicemail saying "This is your mailman, I've got certified mail for. Are you home?" I live in an apartment complex. How did the mailman get my phone number?

Asked by Asmabone1 almost 10 years ago

It's pretty rare but sometimes a phone number is printed on the outside of the envelope. I've never heard of a mailman calling a customer to tell him about a certified letter but that doesn't mean it can't happen. If we can't deliver a certified letter the normal procedure is to leave a form called a PS 3849 in your mail receptacle informing you of our delivery attempt and how to go about receiving the certified letter. If I were you I'd ignore the VM unless they were very specific and it's something you were expecting. They also could have looked up your phone number but it's not part of our normal procedure and if it was a mobile # it wouldn't show up on any directory.

Are mail carriers allowed to have tattoos and/or piercings?

Asked by Rose almost 10 years ago

Yes, I've heard of nothing to the contrary and I know that many of the younger letter carriers have tattoos and piercings.

Hello I have a question for you, if I played for the flat rate overnight shipping with usps, why does the tracking number tell me that I won't get it for two days? I sent it out on Friday they said it won't get there until Monday.

Asked by Rashelle thompson over 9 years ago

I was looking at the USPS website about Priority Mail Express and it says that there is a guaranteed delivery date but it's not available in all areas to be exactly the next day. We used to deliver Express Mail on Sunday but that may be only available in certain places. If you sent the item out on Friday it was possibly past the deadline for Saturday delivery and the destination PO may not offer Sunday Priority Mail express delivery. In this case the item you mailed will be delivered Monday. There is a decent amount of information about Priority Mail Express on USPS.com. Be sure to read the disclaimers as it pertains to service being available 365 days per year.

I return harrassing mail and postal worker sends it back to me asking. Is this legal? My mail is mine and can return any mail i believe is hsrrasment from some esp if i hae already dealt withnthat company. Do o have to explain this?

Asked by donna faulknrr about 10 years ago

I must first start with my disclaimer that we are poorly trained in what the regulations or SOP are when it comes to certain situations that come up. I can't say what is legal or not regarding your question. I do think it is inappropriate for the postal worker to ask you anything about returning mail.

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.

Hey! There's a high chance that I'll drop college and become a mailman. Which is a dream of mine! Could you be tell me how to apply and expect? I'm currently the age of 19, legal, and no driving issues.

Asked by Alex almost 10 years ago

If you want to apply to be a letter carrier, the process begins at www.usps.com and look for an employment or careers tab. It has been many years since I applied so I don't know the process now. There is an exam, interview, and medical (including a drug test). I don't believe the process is that difficult based on the quality of employees that I've seen get hired lately. If you are hired as a City Carrier Assistant (CCA), you can expect to start out just filling in where needed when routes are overburdened with mail or carriers are out for some reason (injury, vacation, jury duty, military service). It means being very flexible with your schedule and sometimes working as much as 7 days/week. We have regular mail delivery Mon-Sat and then some offices deliver Amazon.com parcels on Sunday. You can apply anytime for the position so I wouldn't necessarily drop college right away. Earning a degree can make you more marketable in other feels. Working as a letter carrier doesn't require any higher education as far as I know. When you start out the pay is approximately $16/hr and there are virtually zero benefits except a small amount of paid time off. There is hardly any guarantee of hours to work and it could take awhile before you become a full-time regular employee which can be worthwhile. I do really like the job, but I did get a bachelors degree many years earlier. I didn't know what career I wanted to have and ultimately wound up at the USPS when I was 27 years old with a lot of encouragement from my father and friends. Working safely and accurately are two important attributes to the job. Good luck to you and please post any more questions you may have!

Will mail with my company name on it still come to my residential address

Asked by Kaelia over 9 years ago

It should come to your residential address. There are probably millions of people who run businesses from their home address and it's no issue as far as I know to receive mail at a residential address for a business. If you were concerned about this, you could put a visible note inside or on your mailbox with the name of your company or saying "accepting mail for (insert name of company) so that there is no confusion to your letter carrier. There really shouldn't be any confusion. I just deliver the mail by address and if the recipient or company name is incorrect they could leave the mail out for me to have it returned to the sender.

The mailman just knocked on our door and asked my name and I said yes that's me. He did not give me anything he only said the form he was holding was for him to report something and he left. Now I'm worried what it was he needed to report?

Asked by Michael Peterson over 9 years ago

Thanks for your question. We do sometimes get requests from attorneys or collection agencies or process servers which ask us to verify if a certain name received mail at a certain address. I don't know what the form is called but I believe this is legal as long as the proper procedures are followed by the requesting party. They will also ask if they have moved and, if so, what is the new address for the person in question. I receive these forms not too often. If I do get this written request, I just tell the registry clerk or supervisor what the status is of that name because I pretty much know all the names of people who receive mail on my postal route. As far as I know it's usually for a legal matter or debt recovery issue.