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 had 20 certified letters, what is the time variance to get it done. Is it 3 minutes per letter

Asked by jrvitto48 almost 10 years ago

I don't know how long you get to deliver a certified letter, but 3 minutes sounds reasonable to me per address. If the recipient is not home, it does take time to fill out a PS Form 3849 properly to leave in their mailbox. If the recipient is home, they need to sign the MDD and possibly a return receipt which also takes a bit of time. It also takes time to wait at a customer's door once you ring a door bell or knock. My general answer is however long it takes you to properly attempt/deliver a certified letter is what it takes. I don't know of any official time variances. I don't fill out PS Form 3849 in the office because there is a chance you won't need to leave a notice so it's wasting time to prepare them in the office before attempting delivery.

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 kirk about 9 years ago

This question has been asked verbatim before. I don't know if this is a joke or a trick. I may safely pull aside when I can if it's believable. At that point I may get out of the vehicle and investigate what is being pointed out. At all times I'd be keeping my personal safety as a priority. There are times when my rear liftgate has popped open. It'd make sense if someone pointed that to me but it's never happened yet.

What brand winter. It's do you wear?

Asked by Hobbz over 9 years ago

During the winter I wear whatever brand clothing makes the USPS uniforms that I purchased. We have only a few choices about the brand of clothing we buy from authorized uniform vendors. I wear whatever will keep me warm and dry from head to toe. I've found that it's best to dress in layers and bring more warm clothes than you may need so you're not caught outside freezing or wet.

How does one qualify for retirement? Do you need 20 years or 30 years? Or its dependent on age?

Asked by Dee over 9 years ago

Dee, hello again! This is a question that I can't answer directly, but can suggest some websites to look at. The one I looked at is opm.gov and click on the tab "retirement" and "FERS Information" once you are converted to a career letter carrier you'll be employed under the Federal Employees Retirement System. Your age and years of service determine when you are eligible to retire and how much of an annuity you will receive. Trust me when I say it's not a terribly generous system when it comes to receiving a monthly payment. You would, however, qualify to receive Social Security and 401(k) type funds at certain ages. The key is to put as much of your income as you can into the Thrift Savings Plan, which is similar to a private employers 401(k) . Some people can retire with just 20 years of service at a certain age but the FERS annuity may be quite paltry.

Been getting message on scanner when scanning a parcel on street, "is this a duplicate mail piece" scanner icon says no, so when l press enter it goes to barcode so l scan delivered. Is that right, bc when I hit yes in another instance comes up 2,

Asked by jrvitto48 almost 10 years ago

You are doing it correctly by choosing "no" when the question comes on the MDD asking "is this a duplicate mailpiece". The next screen should say "label scanned in error" and then let you choose "delivered". I get this message when I accidentally have scanned a mailpiece twice in a row. The scanner is asking if you have 2 mail pieces with the same USPS tracking number which shouldn't happen. It has nothing to do whether or not it was ever scanned in the office by a clerk. The MDD doesn't hold that information. I think the only time you'd get two packages with identical tracking numbers is if the mailer printed out the same label twice and attached it to two separate items. This would be cheating the USPS out of revenue. I've seen this happen before but it is rare.

My neighbor's moved and did not forward their mail. Now that their mailbox is full the postman delivers it to my mailbox. Is this wrong? The mail is piling up and spilling out all over the street. The mailbox won't even close anymore.

Asked by Regina Reyna over 9 years ago

The letter carrier shouldn't be putting your former neighbors mail in your mailbox just because they moved out without putting in a forwarding request. After all, it's not your mail and you have nothing to do with it. After awhile, the letter carrier should empty the mailbox, discard any standard mail (advertising mail of a certain class) and return any first and second class mail as "unable to forward" to the sender. At the PO, that address or unit should be marked as "vacant" so no mail is left there unless a new tenant or homeowner moves in. We shouldn't be delivering mail to addresses known to be vacant. You may leave a note note mailbox saying something to the effect "please don't leave any mail for (insert your neighbors name and/or address) in my mailbox. Thank you." If that doesn't work, you may contact your post office and mention this to a manager or delivery supervisor. From what you've described , the letter carrier(s) serving your area is quite unprofessional and doesn't care to address the issue of the mailbox overflowing.

I was wondering if you would know how I would go about trying to find the last name of a letter carrier from 1967 in Brooklyn, NY.

Asked by Barbara almost 9 years ago

Barbara, I have no idea how that information would be found with the USPS. I also don't know If those type of HR/Personnel records are public. Before 1971, the USPS was the Post Office Department, an executive branch of the US Government. Even if the information was available I don't know who would be helpful enough in the current USPS HQ or Human Resources Department to look this up. It would seem like a needle in a haystack and I don't have confidence you'd get anywhere in your search. This is based on my personal observations of my employer, not through any knowledge of your specific question.