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.
Congratulations on being hired as a CCA for the USPS. I can't say for sure that it's true that you won't get a day off. From what I've seen, the CCAs where I work often work 7 days a week but it seems after a couple of weeks they are given a day off. I don't know if there are any rules that you must be given a day off after working a certain amount of consecutive days. It may depend on the staffing level of your facility. I hope that you have chosen to join the NALC. Whether you have or not, a shop steward may have a better answer than I've given you on whether or not you are required to work unlimited days in a row. I'm also on a Facebook group for postal workers. One is NALC and the other is Postal Maniacs. If you join them, you could post this same question and get answers from actual CCAs. Good luck to you. Please work safely and deliver the mail accurately. Sunday delivery usually consists of Amazon.com package delivery, not regular mail.
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Hello CP2015, I'm not sure what POCs are but I'll guess and say those are the amt of possible deliveries you have each day which sounds like a lot to me. It isn't easy to work outside in the summer when the sun is pounding down on you. While I prefer the heat vs the extreme cold, the summer can be taxing on your body. I'd recommend wearing a wide-brimmed hat to keep the sun off your eyes, face, and neck. I also recommend drinking as much water as you can even before you get thirsty. It sweats off of you pretty quickly so the more you stay hydrated the better you should feel. In terms of actually burning, I suppose you could apply sunscreen liberally with an SPF of 40+. Stay safe and thanks for writing.
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I don't know anything about the particulars in how you get to your route and any rules associated with that. I guess you have a walkout route which means there is no vehicle for you to use and you get your mail from relay boxes around the city. How is it possible that you can't walk to your route but you are unable to walk to deliver your route? I assume it is because of your age. I agree that one mile is a bit of a long way just to get to your delivery route. For the average person it takes about 18-20 minutes to walk one mile. Since I don't know any rules that discuss the method of transportation to get to your route, I'd refer you to a shop steward or the NALC regional office that covers your area. They may know more but don't count on it. There are just some scenarios not covered in our joint USPS/NALC handbooks or manuals. I don't know if there is some request for accommodation that could be made based on your physical condition.
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I don't know anything about cards that need to be submitted so that mail can be received at rural mailboxes, but I'm also not familiar with rural route procedures in general. I don't see why mail that has a valid address regardless of the name of the resident/business which is on the mail wouldn't be delivered unless the recipient refuses it. I have no authority as a city letter carrier to decide who qualifies to receive mail. I deliver mail to an address unless it's a previous resident or an unknown name which the current resident doesn't know or want to accept. It's very normal to have someone run a business from their home. I think it was proper of you to check with your local PO to ask about this but I wouldn't have thought you would receive the answer you did. If you wanted to, you could tape a small note inside of your mailbox saying "accepting mail for (name of business)". That would remove any doubt in the mind of a rural carrier whether or not the business name is valid at your address. To answer the first part of your q, I hope the postal worker wasn't drunk, just giving you wrong info.
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That certainly sounds fishy, especially with mail of a similar name to your Dad, and also nearby addresses. I suppose you could alert local law enforcement or USPS Postal Inspection Service but have no idea what their response would be. If mail arrives at your address with dad's name a little bit "off", he could open it and if it's anything like an unpaid bill he could either do nothing about or call the creditor and say that it's not him.
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I can't say for sure what your letter carrier would do if you wrote that note. I'm not even sure what I'd do. I don't always pay attention to notes written by customers because some of them are ones we aren't allowed to honor. An example would be "no junk mail". Who am I to judge what is or isn't junk mail. Furthermore, we are paid to provide a service by the mailer, not the recipient. I realize that isn't your question. I generally will put any package in a mailbox that fits. Other than that, I will leave it by the front door. I rarely come across any notice re: package placement for a customer but perhaps I'd leave it at the side of the house if it was easy and safe to access and didn't take much longer of time. As I say with most of my answers, I can't comment what another letter carrier would do. It wouldn't hurt to leave the note and see what happens.
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Sure you can. I don't see any reason why you couldn't do this. It's important to clearly write the letter carrier's name or "mailman" or something that makes it known it is for them. Postage shouldn't be necessary. I sometimes get notes asking me to hold the mail for them if they are on vacation and going away. This is a free service which is offered.
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