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

If a package is marked delivered on your account. And said it was in a parcel locker and I didn't get it who do I talk to?

Asked by JF over 10 years ago

Was there a key to the parcel locker in your mailbox? That would indicate as to where you should go to retrieve your parcel. If there is no key in your mailbox to access the parcel locker, then I'm not sure where your parcel would be. I'd speak with the letter carrier who serves your route or a delivery supervisor at the PO where the mail is delivered from. I don't have a lot of faith in tracking down parcels that are misdelivered or said that they are somewhere and they aren't. Sometimes it may show up in a day or two, but I don't know why it would show as delivered to a parcel locker and now you can't find it. I hope your package shows up.

I am expecting some mail in next few months at a house I own & rent to tenants. How can I ensure USPS will deliver it to that address? I do not wish to have it auto-forwarded to another address. Should I just leave a note for the mailman?

Asked by Dido over 11 years ago

If you don't have an auto-forward in effect for mail to go from the house you own to another address, then it shouldn't be a problem. I do think that leaving a note for the letter carrier is a great idea. If there is a forward on file then the letter carrier may not even see the letter before it is forwarded. The forwarding is often an automated system called PARS that redirects the mail prior to the original letter carrier seeing any mail to be forwarded. I hope this helps and thank your for the question.

Can I intercept my own mail during a pick up time at the mailbox outside the post office

Asked by Any name about 11 years ago

I don't know the answer to this question. I can only speculate as to what I might do if I was a letter carrier who was emptying out a collection box and approached by someone asking to intercept their mail. I'll let you know that the times posted on the mailbox are the "earliest" time that mail will be collected from that box. It could be a later time than is posted so you could be waiting awhile for the mailbox collection personnel. If someone could prove to me who they were (with ID) or I personally knew them and could easily find their mail, I'd probably give it back to them. Sometimes the collection boxes near a post office are pretty full and it would be too time consuming to look through it for a couple of letters that somebody wants intercepted. I'm sure there is other personnel who wouldn't return it to you under any circumstances, which is why I can't give you a definitive answer.

Im a new CCA and im wondering what the uniform regulations are if we dont have an offical uniform yet. Do i wear board shorts, collared shirt or what? How about shoes? Leather shoes are expensive, what can i wear instead?

Asked by mike about 11 years ago

Mike, I believe it takes several months before your probation is over and you receive a uniform allowance. I don't know for sure what the uniform regulations are, but the CCAs in my office where jeans and t-shirts mainly. They should tell you at orientation what is acceptable and not acceptable. The shoes must not be open-toed. I may have worn sneakers during my probationary period. The shoes that are purchased with the uniform allowance can easily cost $80 and up. Good luck to you and work safely.

i had "not nice words" with a substitute driver the other day and she threatened to stop my mail. Can she really stop it because we had words.

Asked by tn mom over 10 years ago

I don't know the answer to that. I can't imagine that there are too many situations to get into conflict with a customer. I would usually walk away from most situations that could get out of hand. Anyhow, they shouldn't threaten to stop the mail because of the "words" unless there was a physical threat made by you, which it doesn't sound like. If, by chance, you notice mail not being delivered, you could contact a delivery supervisor or Postmaster or manager to tell them what happened and ask why you didn't receive mail when you were supposed to. I hope that cooler heads prevail. I have a few jerky customers that I deliver mail too, but I don't let it bother me. They continue to get the exact same quality service as everybody else I deliver mail to. I hope that cooler heads prevail in your situation and that the mail service isn't interrupted. Thanks for writing with your q.

do mailman sometimes deliver the mail, then come back around and do the priority packages? Especially if it is a substitue mail carrier? Thanks.

Asked by mcmjuly over 11 years ago

Sure, sometimes a carrier may forget that they have a package for an address and come back later to deliver it. It's also quite possible that some Priority Mail arrived at the PO after a letter carrier has left to deliver their route. In that case, another (or even your own) may be around later to deliver the priority Mail, but it is sometimes just left for the next delivery day if it arrived too late at the PO to send someone out or they may not even have to be delivered that day.

I have read a lot of comments over mail men not delivering if there is obstruction impeding safe delivery without getting off the truck. But can the mailman leave my mail on the windshield of the car impeding access to my mailbox?

Asked by Sergio over 11 years ago

That is true Sergio. When a letter carrier is delivering from their truck and they can't access the mailbox due to a vehicle in the way or garbage cans blocking the mailbox, they can opt not to deliver the mail. I don't think they can just leave the mail on the windshield of the car impeding access to the mailbox. If there is a note on file saying explicitly that they can do this,maybe it would be allowed, but I wouldn't count on it. Generally, however, mail must be delivered to a mailbox or doorslot.