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.
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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Marhsall, thanks for writing to this Q and A message board. In an apt. building, it is possible the mailman doesn't see the mail left in the mailbox to return because they may assume it is just tenant mail from a previous day not yet picked up by the resident. If you are putting back in the mailbox to be returned to sender, it should be marked accordingly (like "refused" or "person doesn't live here"). Is it possible for you to leave it outside the cluster of mailboxes to be returned? This way they will see it as a piece of mail that was incorrectly delivered or being refused. It is common for residents not to collect their mail each day which is why a mailman my not look at any mail that is remaining in a mailbox when they come to deliver a subsuquent days mail.
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Boo, I have never heard of this happening where somebody can reverse delivery on an item that has tracking. My inkling would be that this is not allowed even if it were possible. The only way you would get the letter back is if it was refused at the destination or the address was invalid. You could call 800-ASK-USPS or go to your local Post Office but I don't think that you will get a different answer. Upon further review I went to ehow.com where there is a column written with the title "How to Retrieve a Letter Already Mailed Through the Post Office". The column mentions a form called an application for recall of mail and the steps to fill it out. Also if you go to USPS.com and lookup Package Intercept that may help you as well. You have asked a good question as it got me to do a little research to learn that this service does exist for a fee. The fee looks to be 11.50 per piece. Thanks for writing.
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JD, good job for sticking with it for 7 years so far. There are many people who couldn't handle even one NE winter. I have trouble myself with the very cold weather, plus snow, and ice. The LLVs are horrible with snow in handling especially on any inclines. I have felt the way you have several times, and I have also felt the opposite as well (meaning I love the career). I admit it is difficult at times when you aren't feeling satisfied to stick with this career. Here is my advice, but keep in mind I don't know your personal living/financial situation. Being a city carrier and making apprx $50K+ a year seems to be a decent salary with benefits and union protections. I know it's a physically hard job, but you could apply to transfer to a less harsh area climate wise. My parents have been a big influence on me when I was on the verge of resigning on a few occasions. They said that it won't be easy to find a similar paying job without any special skills. I've also had to seek professional help in the past couple of years which has been worthwhile. This is probably more information then you want to know but as of now I am glad that I didn't go through with the rash decision of quitting the USPS. Have you thought about switching to the clerk craft? Would you rather maybe work inside as a Sales and Service Associate? There are pros and cons to that as well. I do feel bad for anybody who is unhappy with their position, but am hopeful they can stick with it and maybe their feelings will change for the better. I would have a very hard time working too long if I weren't satisfied at the position. Please try to keep your head up and dress appropriately for the weather. Thanks for writing.
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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.
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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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Regarding your question Joseph, I don't known what the official rule is on this. If I were the letter carrier who was collecting the mail from the blue collection box and you approached me with appropriate ID and the letter was easy to find, I'd return it to you. I can imagine some other carriers not being as accommodating to your request either because they don't want to help you or because we may not technically be allowed to. It's also not always so easy to find the person collecting the mail unless you are watching the mailbox for awhile because letter carrier doesn't always come at the time printed on the collection box schedule label. The time printed on the label is the earliest time of the collection but it could be hours before the mail is actually collected.
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