Ask a Mailman (City Letter Carrier) anything

1237 Questions

Last Answer on February 18, 2022

will a letter be delivered if name dont match address i changed my address but it will take 10 days my cousin sent a check to me at my new address but it never showed

Asked by mightyken8 over 12 years ago

I am not sure if it will be delivered or not. Sometimes a letter carrier will just deliver a letter as addressed and sometimes they will wait until they see new mail coming in via a change of address order (usually a yellow sticker with the new address on it). I am not sure whether the check will be delivered or not. If not, I hope your cousin receives the check back and then re-send it when you are sure that you are getting mail at your new address.

1020 Votes

How do you make sure you get up in the morning? Do you have a lot of alarm clocks going off at different times? Do you have someone give you a wakeup call?

Asked by JTDN almost 13 years ago

My brother works at a PO and I believe he uses the many alarm clocks method (including one across the room). There are apps that will give you a wake up call. I just set one alarm and Try to get 8 hrs. Sleep so getting up and to work on time isn't too hard for me. Promptness and attendance is an important part of staying employed.

1019 Votes

hi, mailman on my route tdy (main mailman is great guy) was rude/dismissive 2 me, asked him 4 his name he evaded ?, told my this was his street and he didnt give a fck who i was. don't feel safe w/him in my building or handling my mail. any recourse?

Asked by brimfield over 12 years ago

I apologize on behalf of the USPS for such bad behavior by the letter carrier. Did you ask him something that may have bothered him. Were you polite to him? Either way, he should not be rude to you and I don't think it's appropriate for him to curse either. My only suggestion is to call the PO where he works and speak to a delivery supervisor. I'm not sure that would resolve anything. They are sometimes ambivalent about this.

1019 Votes

I was wondering if letter carriers are trained to close the hinged lids on vertical wall mounted mailboxes? I've had many carriers over the years and none of them has ever closed the lid. As a result, whenever it rains my mail gets drenched.

Asked by Contos almost 12 years ago

Great question. Since it has been many years since I have been trained to be a letter carrier, I don't remember if I was trained to make sure the box is closed. Personally, it is just common sense to close any mailbox if you can. What I mean is that sometimes the mail is too "tall" and would prevent a lid from closing completely, but I would still close the lid as much as I can. To be honest, I don't think training is that thorough when it comes to being a letter carrier. I have seen carriers just put the mail on the ground in front of a house (not even rubber-banded) because they couldn't find a mailbox or doorslot. I have also seen the mail delivered but hanging out of the mailbox in a very messy fashion when there was clearly enough room to fit it all in. Granted some mailboxes are quite small and it is impossible to fit the mail entirely inside, but I've never heard a customer complain about the mail hanging out of those small boxes. My suggestion would be either to call the PO and speak to a delivery supervisor about this or put a note on the mailbox saying "please close lid after delivering the mail". By the way, I am presuming that your mailbox is deep enough to fit even catalogs and magazines. If this isn't the case, then I do understand the mailbox lid not being closed.

1018 Votes

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If I dropped some mail that I was going to hand deliver in the post office box by mistake, can I get it from them if I wait for them by the box?

Asked by Melva about 12 years ago

I don't know the answer for sure about this. It may depend on the actual carrier who comes to empty out the blue collection box as I am not sure of the rules that cover this. I know if I were the carrier who was emptying out the box and you could prove who you were and it matched a return address, I would likely return it to you. If there was no return address but you could still somehow prove it belonged to you, I also would likely give it back. But just to reiterate, I don't know the rules that cover this and it may also be up to the direction of the letter carrier.

1018 Votes

If the zipcode is wrong, one city over, will i still get my package?

Asked by kaylee almost 12 years ago

Not necessarily. Did you put the right name of your community but the wrong ZIP? If so, there is a good chance that the PO at the wrong ZIP city will cross it out and then the package will be sent to your community where it will then be delivered. If the name of the town and ZIP is incorrect on the package, and nobody at the receiving PO recognizes the address as belonging to your community then they may return the package to the sender as "NSS" meaning No Such Street or "NSN" meaning No Such Number. A lot may also depend on how savvy or caring the personnel is at the PO that originally receives the package to have it rerouted to your town where you could then get it delivered. I hope it works out for you. in the future, please remember that a correct ZIP is very important in an address. Thanks for writing!

1017 Votes

What did you do uniform wise before you got your uniform allowance? Did you buy anything with your personal money? If so what? What did you buy with your first allowance?

Asked by Bradan over 11 years ago

I think it was about 3 months (probationary period) before I received a uniform allowance. I think I dressed mostly in blue and wore jean shorts or blue jeans as a uniform for the lower part of my body and a dark t-shirt for the upper part. It was during summer months so outerwear wasnt too much of an issue but I probably had a rain jacket and baseball cap. I don't think anything had the USPS logo on it. I can't remember if I bought anything with my own money but probably would have, if necessary. With my first allowance (which was higher than subququent years), I probably bought long and short sleeved uniform shirts, a winter jacket, shorts and pants, shoes, and a baseball bap. It has been quite a few years but this is a guess as to what I bought. I know the items can be a bit pricey and eat up a uniform allowance quickly. On Long Island, NY where I deliver mail there used to be actual uniform stores that we could go in to and purchase our clothing. The one closest to wear I work/live has closed so I spend my entire yearly uniform allowance online. Some vendors will offer you a 10-20% spending bonus if you use the entire allowance at one time. I recommend purchasing items that will keep you warm and dry in bad weather even if it means spending out-of-pocket having used up your uniform allowance. It is difficult for me to work in the cold and always have to layer up properly in the winter. I don't know where you live if this is a factor or not. Good luck in your postal career and keep your head up even if management doesn't treat you like they appreciate you.

1017 Votes

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Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

will a letter be delivered if name dont match address i changed my address but it will take 10 days my cousin sent a check to me at my new address but it never showed

How do you make sure you get up in the morning? Do you have a lot of alarm clocks going off at different times? Do you have someone give you a wakeup call?

hi, mailman on my route tdy (main mailman is great guy) was rude/dismissive 2 me, asked him 4 his name he evaded ?, told my this was his street and he didnt give a fck who i was. don't feel safe w/him in my building or handling my mail. any recourse?

I was wondering if letter carriers are trained to close the hinged lids on vertical wall mounted mailboxes? I've had many carriers over the years and none of them has ever closed the lid. As a result, whenever it rains my mail gets drenched.

Also on Jobstr...

If I dropped some mail that I was going to hand deliver in the post office box by mistake, can I get it from them if I wait for them by the box?

If the zipcode is wrong, one city over, will i still get my package?

What did you do uniform wise before you got your uniform allowance? Did you buy anything with your personal money? If so what? What did you buy with your first allowance?

Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

will a letter be delivered if name dont match address i changed my address but it will take 10 days my cousin sent a check to me at my new address but it never showed

How do you make sure you get up in the morning? Do you have a lot of alarm clocks going off at different times? Do you have someone give you a wakeup call?

hi, mailman on my route tdy (main mailman is great guy) was rude/dismissive 2 me, asked him 4 his name he evaded ?, told my this was his street and he didnt give a fck who i was. don't feel safe w/him in my building or handling my mail. any recourse?

I was wondering if letter carriers are trained to close the hinged lids on vertical wall mounted mailboxes? I've had many carriers over the years and none of them has ever closed the lid. As a result, whenever it rains my mail gets drenched.

Also on Jobstr...

If I dropped some mail that I was going to hand deliver in the post office box by mistake, can I get it from them if I wait for them by the box?

If the zipcode is wrong, one city over, will i still get my package?

What did you do uniform wise before you got your uniform allowance? Did you buy anything with your personal money? If so what? What did you buy with your first allowance?

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