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

Thanks for your helpful blog. Few questions!
I have a interview in a week as cca1.
1) What should I wear for interview?
2) How soon can you become a regular employee?
3) Do you get better hours when you become a regular employee? Can you refuse O/T?

Asked by Andy b almost 11 years ago

Andy, I am glad to write this blog of my experiences and advice as a letter carrier for the USPS. To answer your questions:1) I'd wear a suit if you have one, or ar least a shirt and tie with nice pants and shoes. Try to be clean cut, ambitious, professional and polite. I don't know how much appearance counts in a USPS interview, but it can't hurt to take the above advice. Be on time and respectful of the interviewer.

2) Becoming a regular from a CCA is usually just a matter of waiting until there is a vacancy in your office or station that remains unassigned to a regular carrier. Then it may take a month or two to become a regular carrier. The time that it takes for a CCA to become a regular carrier depends on the staffing and turnover where you are assigned to work. I can only speak for my PO, but I've seen it take as little as one year and as much as 8 years (that is when we had PTFs (part time flexibles, a precursor to CCAs) to become a regular employee.

3) When you become a regular employee, the hours get much more stable and predictable. You generally work 5 8-hour days per week with set hours. As a CCA, you pretty much work when they want you and for as long as needed per day. There aren't many rights for a CCA with regards to hours except if they are "holding down" a regular assignment for a rte that is temporarily vacant due to illness or vacation. As a regular employee, you can refuse OT if there is enough staffing to cover all of the assignments in a day. The management can mandate carriers to work OT if they are short handed and those who want to work OT already will be working some amt of OT. The rules for this are a little complex so I won't go into it here.

Thanks for your questions and good luck Andy.

931 Votes

I bought some things on eBay Then later, I noticed that I made a small mistake on my shipping address. The zip codes, state, and city are all correct, but i misspelled my street address by a letter off. Will my deliveries still be able to reach me?

Asked by Luan over 12 years ago

In most cases, if the error is that minor and the misspelled street doesnt match another street in the same ZIP , the delivery should still reach you. Misspellings occur all the time with mailed items and letters. 

930 Votes

I wrote wrong street adress(I missed some letters) but zip code I wrote correctly. I will get my package or not?

Asked by Mikas almost 12 years ago

Mikas, I think it is very likely you will receive your package as long as the clerks in your PO can figure out which street you meant to put in your address and that it isn't similarly named with another street in the same ZIP code. The ZIP code is definitely a very important piece of the address to get correct because that will result in at least getting the package to the right PO building and the staff there will hopefully (and likely) be able to figure out the intended address.

930 Votes

What does the carrier or post office do if my home-based business gets too much mail to fit in my cluster mailbox (on a regular basis)? I can potentially see getting two or three crates of mail daily.

Asked by James over 11 years ago

I am not sure what your post office or letter carrier will do if you are unable to provide a large enough receptacle for your daily mail delivery. Since you live in a place with only cluster boxes, it seems you have no choice in the matter. If I were able to get to your actual unit or apt. door, I'd likely leave the mail by the door and maybe ring your doorbell. I don't know the procedure for where you live and from what I hear on this Q and A board and from other msg boards, the delivery procedure is far from uniform in multi-unit dwellings. One option is to rent a PO Box which come in different sizes, but that would require an extra cost and a trip to your Post Office on a regular basis. If you stop in to your local post office and present this question to a delivery supervisor, hopefully they can give you a better answer. Good luck with your home-based business.

929 Votes

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can i take my to the mailman to ship off or take bato that specific location

Asked by juan over 11 years ago

You can give a mailman any package that has the postage paid on it either via a computer printed label (such as Click 'N Ship) or a label where the recipient will pay the return postage. In the latter case, the label will clearly say "No Postage Necessary If Mailed Within The United States". Every letter carrier should accept the package no questions asked. The exception to this would be a city letter carrier who may not have a USPS vehicle which they are operating from and are unable to bring the package back to the Post Office. In that case I believe you can go to www.usps.com to schedule a package pickup. Thanks for writing.

928 Votes

Is it usual for mail carriers to run late on routes? My mail is usually here early in the AM but has not yet got here yet.

Asked by Hello over 12 years ago

Sure it's common to run late. It's possible the carrier had another assignment to do before starting their regular route. Also, if staffing is short, a route may be broken up into several sections and a carrier will do that section for overtime which could vary the delivery time greatly. Thanks for the question. 

928 Votes

Is it common for mail carriers to deliver all day and into the night? For example, my mother who works for usps recently worked from 6am until after 10pm. It is holiday season but still...that is a horribly long day!

Asked by Lili over 12 years ago

I agree Lili that 0600-2200 is a terribly long day. A normal shift for a regular postal worker is 8 hrs plus :30 lunch. There is often OT available but for most "regular" employees it shouldn't be mandatory. n my office it seems that some of the CCAs (city carrier assistant) have worked as long as 12 hours, but in don't think that is too common. This holiday season seems to have been very heavy with the parcel deliveries which would extend our delivery day. It's possible your mother's office is shorthanded which is why she is working so many hours. During the 4 wks around Christmas, the work/pay rules are suspended which require double time to be paid after 10 hrs of work (8 hours if you are working on your scheduled day off). For this reason, the mgmt isn't as pressured to limit the hours worked, and the truth is that the mail needs to get delivered somehow.

927 Votes

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