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.
I am not sure how you would apply for a specific PO to work at. More often than not I believe hiring is done by region that covers several different POs. For example, when I was hired in 1998, I had taken an exam which covered all offices which had ZIP codes which began with 117 and I was hired in one of them. You could go in to the Post Office and ask how to get hired in a certain area though I am not sure how much assistance one specific office can be since hiring is done through a more central HR office and not one local office.
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It is pretty rare that we would have to lift 75 lbs. Most of the heaviest packages are probably in the 30-40 lb. Range and even that isn't an everyday occurrence. Good luck to you.
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I can't tell you for sure that he is doing something wrong but from what you say it seems like it. In our office we have 30 min for lunch plus a 10-minute break while we are on our routes. Also, we are allowed whatever is necessary to use a restroom. maybe the size of his route is small that he doesn't need a full day to deliver it all. If that is the case, many supervisors might pick up on that and try to give that carrier more work. If you were to call someone, i would first recommend calling a delivery supervisor or postmaster depending how large your PO is. To be honest, they may just thank you for calling and do nothing, or they may approach the carrier and tell them to not park that long in one place at 3:30 PM. I rarely hear complaints about this but if someone is being so wasteful of the USPS $, I don't see any issue with bringing it to the PO attention.
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I can't say whether or not it is illegal to write "not at this address" even if you are actually living at that address. The only problem may come is if a letter carrier sees that you are regularly writing that on then mail, they may see that as you not wanting any mail with your name. That scenario isn't likely but just wanted to make you aware of that possibility. I would just ignore any piece of mail i dont want. There is no proof you ever got that mail unless you signed for it.
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As far as what far as what job would be a good alternate to a city letter carrier based on your medical condition, I think that working inside as possibly a retail sales and service associate would be good. The problem is that I don't believe they are hiring many workers for these positions when compared to letter carrier hiring. There are also custodial positions available in some offices, but that job requires much physical labor as well. I am sorry that I don't have any great advice for you as city letter carrier is the job most in demand. You could see if there are rural carrier associate positions available in your office or adjacent offices. Those positions don't require any walking except delivering parcels to doors sometimes, but much less than a traditional park and loop walking city route.
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Mail put in a mailbox on a particular day generally won't be delivered the same day. Usually it takes 1-3 days for a letter to be delivered domestically. Even if the origin and destination for the mail item are geographically very close to each other mail is usually processed overnight at a regional mail sorting facility.
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I have no idea about that rule. A package should be left in a place where the carrier deems it to be safe. I don't think it has fully go inside a mailbox to be delivered. If you have an issue with it, you may be able to ask the carrier about it next time you see them. it may result in you just getting notices to come pick up a package at the PO
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