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

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I have had a hard time finding Letter Carrier positions on the USPS website. Are these jobs hard to come by or is there a specific job title I am failing to look for? Thank you!

Asked by LTJR about 12 years ago

The correct title would be "City Letter Carrier" or "City Carrier Assistant". Most areas are now just hiring CCA (City Carrier Assistant). I don't know the procedure how each district, or performance clutster as they are (or were) called, decides when and how many CCAs to hire. Under the careers section of USPS.com, you can search for job openings in a certain geographic area and then choose "delivery/customer service". To apply for these positions, I think you have to set up an account with USPS.com. Another position that you could look up is "Rural Carrier Associate" or RCA. I hope this helps you.

Can letter carriers deliver mail in their own vehicles

Asked by Bailey almost 12 years ago

From what I understand, most city carriers that need a vehicle to deliver the mail will use a USPS vehicle. We do have CCAs that use their own car to deliver the mail on walking routes when there aren't any USPS vehicles available for them to use. They can get reimbursed for some of their expenses when doing this. In some offices rural letter carriers have no choice but to use their own vehicles to deliver their rural routes. For ease of maintenance and not having to wear down my own vehicle, I definitely prefer using a USPS vehicle at work. I don't have a choice in the matter. Gasoline is paid for using a fleet credit card and maintenance is handled by a contracted mechanic. Thank you for your question.  

If I sent a letter to the wrong address, or address that doesn't exist, how long would it take, approximately, for me to receive it back?

Asked by BP about 12 years ago

I would guess about 2 weeks if you were to get it back at all. Theoretically if you sent it to the wrong address and it was delivered there, it is conceivable that the recipient may not return the letter to the mail carrier even though they should.  If you sent the letter to an address that doesn't exist, the item should be returned with the endorsement "No Such Street" or "No Such Number". I am just not sure of the actual time frame it would take for it to get back to you. It may depend on the workload of the nixie (not deliverable mail) at the destination PO. Thanks for your inquiry. 

Thanks for that answer! And while i'm here,also wondering how some VERY profitable tv preachers can mail with free postage under "non-profit organization"?

Asked by DwB44 almost 12 years ago

Youre welcome. I try to give put proper information and not make up something if I don't know the answer (which I have learned on this website is actually many things.) The TV preachers don't get free postage at all, nor does any non-profit organization. These charities or organized religions register with the IRS as non-profits and then can mail with the USPS at a reduced rate. These mailings have to be prepared in a certain way and be in a certain quantity. Also, these mailings aren't given any preferential treatment as a first-class letter or magazine would be given. It is true that many non-profits (including the TV preachers you speak of) are known to make plent if money, have high cost structures and pay plenty of money to those at the top. The USPS doesn't judge that when issuing a non-profit mailing permit. They just look for the proper paperwork to be a non-profit and also make sure the mailings are prepared accordingly. Thank you for that thought-provoking question. 

What recourse do I have:
I had dvd delivered to a friend. He didn't get it although tracking said it was delivered. Called located po. Super said mail carrier said gave it to woman. It went to wrong address. Woman says she doesn't have it.

Asked by Cher about 12 years ago

I have to tell you that I don't know what recourse you have in this situation since the woman who says she doesn't have it probably can't be held accountable for actually having it. How does the super know it went to the wrong address? I'm just curious since I'm not sure how this whole chain of events can be verified. I'm sorry that I can't help you further and it is very difficult to get an item back that is misdelivered if the actual recipient doesn't admit to having it. Even if you called a local post office to file some type of complaint about this, I don't know what help they would be.

Got hired and going to be the only CCA in our small office. What are your suggestions on me becoming a career carrier down the road? Our office does not offer it because it s small.

Asked by JDK over 12 years ago

Congratulations on getting hired as a CCA. I understand what you are saying that your small office won't have any openings for a career position anytime soon. I don't know if there are offices in the nearby area where you could inquire as to whether they would have any older carriers retiring soon which would create more internal movement. I'm sorry but I have no knowledge about the process for converting from CCA to regular carrier, except a lot of patience. I wish you well in your new position.

With parcel deliveries becoming so ubiquitous thanks to internet shopping, I have often thought that a mailbox similar to the USPS blue mailboxes might be a good and secure way to delivering parcels. Do you know how these actually work?

Asked by David about 12 years ago

David, you are correct about parcel delivery becoming ubiquitous. When I started at the USPS in 1998, there was so much actual mail to be sorted and delivered with only a few parcels. The pendulum is definitely swinging the other way and I truly can envision a time where mail becomes very insignificant compared to parcel delivery. Right now, we seem to have a fair amount of both. In developments that have cluster delivery boxes (usually apartment buildings or condominium complexes) or in a PO lobby we do use parcel lockers. I don't know how it would work with having boxes on the street similar to the USPS collection boxes used today. Currently the parcel lockers work this way---If a customer has a package to large to fit in their regular delivery receptacle, the carrier will put the package in the parcel locker, lock it with a key they have and put a separate specific parcel locker key in the regular receptacle of the parcel recipient. When the postal customer goes to retrieve their mail, they will see the parcel locker key and use that key in a specified parcel locker. Once they insert the key and turn it, that key stays in the lock, the locker opens and the customer retrieves their parcel. It is a very efficient system as opposed to going to the door of a customer (in a centralized delivery environment) to just use the parcel lockers.