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.
Jasmine, it depends on a few factors such as: the history of the area with regards to packages being safely left unattended, whether the sender asked for a signature of the recipient, and if the the sender asked for the parcel to be delivered even if there is no response. For example, the town where I deliver mail is very safe with regards to theft so I'll leave almost every parcel whether or not there is someone home to receive it. In other towns/cities this may. It be the case and the letter carrier would then leave a PS Form 3849 advising the recipient that we attempted delivery of a package and nobody was there to receive it. The 3849 says that the recipient can either sign for re delivery or pickup the package at the Post Office. We deliver packages sent by Amazon.com and they want their packages delivered even when nobody is home (at least where I work in Long Island, NY.)
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Linda, thanks for writing and I'm sorry that you are going through an unfortunate situation. I don't know why your new mailman wouldn't be delivering all of the mail to your house. If he's not delivering it to your house, I wonder where it is going. It is not legal to be doing anything else with the mail except deliver it to the proper addressee. You spoke with the Postmaster, not the Postmaster General. The PMG is the top administrator of the USPS in Washington, DC. Have you asked your mailman what may be happening to your mail? I doubt that you will get any type of satisfactory answers. The next step if you don't get any satisfaction from your local post office is to try to contact the region or area office that oversees your post office. Another option is the Postal Inspectors who would investigate any criminal activity like mail fraud or theft of mail. I don't have a lot of conifdence in these offices really doing too much in your situation but if you feel it is serious enough I wouldn't think twice about reporting it. Thanks for writing.
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Hello Joy. The area where you took the photo is probably serviced by a rural carrier or HCR (highway contract routr). These positions are different than the one I am employed as even though we all serve the same function. It makes sense to me that the barrel would be used for packages because I don't think carriers are required to deliver mail to a house that is more than a certain amt of feet from the road. The barrel is a convenient way for the customer to receive packages without having to drive to a post office which is many mlies away and has limited hours. It would also protect the package from damage in inclement weather. I can't confirm this is what the barrel is for.
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Kathy, I can only guess that Ken was being followed by a supervisor in another USPS vehicle doing a route inspection. They are usually done about once per year on city carrier routes to see how long it takes a carrier to do their route and if they are doing it properly and safely. Sometimes they will ride in the same vehicle as the carrier and sometimes behind in another vehicle. If the mail volume has increased significantly then the carrier may be allowed more time to complete their route or may have some territory taken off the route to allow the assignment to stay within the normal window of an 8-hour work shift. There may have been another reason for Ken being followed though I'm not sure what it could be. (Possibly a mechanical issue where Ken asked someone to come out and rescue him if the truck broke down, though that call is usually made after the fact).
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I don't know the answer to this question. In the PO where I work, the supervisors manage when bulk mail is distributed for delivery and we will deliver it on that day unless there is some extenuating circumstance why we can't. I notice that most bulk mail that comes to our PO is usually delivered within 3-4 days, often earlier. 10 days seems like an awfully long time for bulk mail to be sitting around no matter the time sensitivity or not. When your mailing is given to a BMEU (Bulk Mail Entry Unit), do they have any straight answer either? I agree that this is poor service if you can't get any range of time or reason why it's taking so long to be delivered. I do acknowledge that bulk mailings do get put to the bottom of the list as far as priority of which class of mail to deliver, but there isn't a huge amount of First-Class Mail and Periodical mail to go through that a bulk mailing should take so long. I'm just speaking from the perspective of where I work and can't really comment on the operations of another post office.
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Matt, I am not familar with any real details about where a mailbox has to be with regards to steps. I just know that the box needs to be accessible to the letter carrier. I have never heard anything about steps being an issue. You may call the post office to ask if there is any regulation about the placement of a mailbox or mail slot. If they give you an answer that seems like it is made up, you may ask to see where this regulation is in writing or ask for the number to the regional or area office that oversees your local post office. Without having any more information than what you provided me, I'd say that the request by the mailman is invalid, but I just want to reiterate that I'm no authority on all of the rules on this subject. Thank you for writing.
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Emily, I'm not sure what combination lock you are referring to. Is it one of those old fashioned ones on a PO Box? Whether it is that one or one on a mailbox at your residence won't change my answer. I was just curious. I haven't heard that it is technically illegal to hand someone mail but I'm not versed in the legalities of this subject. I can see that the USPS may be hesitant in handing mail to someone without confirming their identity or being personally known to the employee. If you have a physical disability which prevents you from getting your mail, it would make sense to have some alternate method provided but I don't know how far the USPS is required to go in accommodating you. If you are unsatisfied with the response from your local PO, I would recommend going up the chain at your PO such as talking to the Postmaster or their boss. I don't know what their response will be given the varied nature of our personnel.
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