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 would like to write a letter to a mailman in anothet city. I know which office he works in...If I address it to him with the office address will he receive it? Or is there a certain way I can address it so they know it's for an employee?

Asked by EG almost 10 years ago

I think there's an excellent chance that he will receive a letter if you adress it to the post office in the city where that letter carrier works, saying "Attention: (Letter Carrier ______)" on the top line of the address. Either the clerk or the supervisor/postmaster that handles internal mail should give the letter to the letter carrier. It's possible that an office my frown on having personal mail sent to a letter carrier in an office but I don't think it should be an issue as long as it's not a frequent occurrence. I've never come across this situation so I can't say for sure it will work, but I think it should. Thank you for your question.

If i put a note onmy mailbox saying, "Please Do Not put packages in mailbox and do not bring to door! please put in box on the right side of the house." would the mailman put it there and read the note or just ignore it and bring it to the door??

Asked by plzanswer over 10 years ago

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.

Makes sense to start on a Saturday, but bid states 02/19. Thanks for the insight

Asked by jvitto48 over 10 years ago

You're welcome. I just always like to state here that I have never read the National Agreement between the USPS and the National Association of Letter Carriers so a lot of what I say is based on what I've seen at my particular PO as well and by attending some local union meetings. I do a little research online but I'm not lawyer and am not dedicated enough to research deeply to see if there are rules on certain issue mentioned in the National Agreement. Congratulations on getting a route assignment.

I sent off my probation payment and it came back saying boxed closed. I dnt knw what that means could u tell me please

Asked by suboo over 10 years ago

I think that it means that the PO Box where the probation payments were accepted has now been closed. That seems odd considering its for probation and I'd think the department would want their payments. I'd recommend emailing or calling the probation department to verify you have the correct address for them. It's possible that the USPS returned it you by mistake and the PO Box isn't closed. It's best to follow up directly with the probation office.

What draws the line with that I can and can't ask the mail-carrier? More specifically, I wanted to ask them about potential lawn-care leads on their route. Im a college student starting small-time gig in a competitive market.Is this Exploitation?

Asked by Dr. Ninja_Cowboy almost 10 years ago

In my opinion you can ask a letter carrier anything you want but you may get a whole variety of replies that run the gamut from helpful to not being interested. I don't know any rules on what they can and can't help you with but the letter carrier should always protect the confidentiality of the customer and any mail they receive. That is pretty sacred. To give you a personal answer, nobody has ever approached me about getting leads about anything except maybe real estate agents. To be fair, I wouldn't be interested in helping anybody get potential leads for anything. I feel it is entirely unprofessional to do. A real estate agent may say to me I'll give you a referral commission if I know of anybody selling their house. I may accept their business card but not do anything else. To sum up, I don't know what you can and can't ask a letter carrier, but I feel it's unprofessional and possibly unethical to assist salespeople working in the area.

Carrier injured been on partial duty for Two years has been deemed unable to carry by doctor. When must she vacate the route. As of now she is casing for 40 min in the morning so I am not made full time. Frustrated cca

Asked by Bronco mail almost 10 years ago

Bronco, I can't give you any definitive answer on this because I don't have knowledge of workers comp/OJI rules with respect to delivering a route or holding a route. I think because it was an OJI, the carrier's route is protected indefinitely unless they voluntarily give it up or retire on disability. This is a comment made with no reference to documentation so I don't know that I'm correct. I know being a CCA is not very desirable but if you have patience then eventually you will become a full-time regular. The size and seniority of your office makes a big difference in how quickly you will become regular. Your union (NALC) rep may know a little more about this subject but I make no promises about that either. Furthermore, they will correctly want to protect that route for the injured carrier as much as they are allowed to. This is probably not the answer you wanted to hear but it's my best guess. Patience is a virtue.

I've been having a very hard time with my mailman. One day last winter, he threw my mail on my concrete step in the snow because he said it was to snowy, it wasn't at all! I've had numerous bills and mail that never was delivered. who do i call?

Asked by Linda over 9 years ago

As much as I hate hearing stories like this I know it all too much to be true. We have many employees who don't care about delivering mail properly or accurately or have an attitude. Unfortunately I don't know how effective complaining about a letter carrier is. Our management often is indifferent or powerless to effect major changes in someone's work ethic. I know this sounds damning of many co-workers but I just get that feeling at times. I don't mean to sidestep your question but wanted to explain that none of this surprises me. I'd start by contacting your local post office and ask to speak with a delivery supervisor or manager. Tell them your story but don't exaggerate it. If your service continues to be poor or you don't think you're getting mail that you're supposed to or that items you mailed aren't getting to their destination, I suppose the next step would be to contact the USPS Consumer Affairs division. I honestly don't know how effective any of this is, but worth a try. Hopefully I'm wrong in the not-so-rosy picture I painted. If you visit www.usps.com maybe there will be information on how to contact your local PO with a complaint because it's not always so easy to find the phone number of your local PO. Linda, thank you for your question.