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.
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.
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Two good questions that are easy to answer. 1) there is no radio in the LLV which I drive. It's possible some postal vehicles have radios but not the one I use. Some carriers bring a portable radio with them or listen on their mobile devices to music or podcasts. I listen to podcasts while delivering the mail. I have one ear with the earphone in it and the other left open so I can hear any traffic or people looking to get my attention. We are probably not supposed to work with both ears covered.
2) I get both a pension and a 401(K) type program since I'm employed by a quasi-governmental organization. The pension is called FERS (federal employees retirement system) and the 401(K)-type program is called the Thrift Savings Plan. Along with Social Security, they make up the 3 "legs" of the retirement system under which I'm covered. The TSP offers a lot of potential growth because you can contribute a lot of your earnings plus the USPS matches some of your contributions. You choose how aggressive of an investor you want to be with your TSP contributions. Thanks for your questions and asking something I actually know about. Many of the questions here I can only answer by my experience not necessarily what the rules may be or how different people would act in a situation.
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I can't say for sure what happened to the letter, but if it were originally misdelivered it isn't likely to have taken more than a month and a half to get properly delivered to you. The delay could be explained if the original recipient held on to the letter for awhile without putting it back in the mail to be properly delivered. It certainly is possible that someone in your house took the mail and gave it to you later, but I don't know your household dynamics or relationships.
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I am not sure I can exactly answer your question properly. If the mail has already been sent, I don't know of any way to change the apt. number to the correct one. You can contact the sender so if they mail you anything in the future that they should address it with your correct apt. number. Since it seems like the mail has already been sent, you could leave a note on the mailbox of the apt. to where the mail was sent or you could could contact the post office to tell them there may be a piece of mail incorrectly addressed to another apt. # and that it should go to the mailbox that belongs to you. I don't know if either scenario will help as it probably depends on the willingness of your "neighbor" or the personnel at the USPS to assist you. I hope you get the mail you are waiting for.
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I don't know what is technically the protocol for a carrier reminding themselves that a house is on hold. You make a good point. Most of our carriers have hold notes or cards they sequence in with the mail nearby so when they arrive at the house on hold, they would know to skip it. The note or card is then brought back to the PO for use the next day. I just memorize it from when I prepare the mail in the PO in the AM, but I would usually have no more than 10-15 houses at once who are on hold and their mail usually is left behind at the PO so there would be nothing to deliver even if I forgot the house was on hold.
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I don't know but my guess would be 6 months or less. I don't know if there is still a test that needs to be taken to be hired as a City Carrier Assistant and how frequently the test is given. Many years ago, this exam wasn't given too frequently. Now I hear nothing about it so maybe it's an ongoing hiring process, where they are continuously hiring and training. From what I hear anecdotally, and what I personally see in my workplace we defintitely could use some new hires. It seems the demand for letter carriers exists, but the hiring of qualified candidates who make it through probation isn't keeping pace with that demand. Good luck to you!
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As far as I know, the break rules for city carriers are similar nationwide. We are allowed 30 minutes for lunch, up to 2 10-minute breaks plus unlimited comfort breaks (to use a bathroom). It really wouldn't be odd if the carrier was home 2-3 times a day but only one time should be more than 10 minutes (lunch time). Some carriers may have a lot of downtime on their routes if they move quickly or the mail volume is light, but my experience is that it's not a huge amt of extra time. I'm sure others will disagree with me. To answer your second question, a child shouldn't be riding along in a USPS vehicle. If the carrier is using their own vehicle that may or may not be against the rules. Either way, nobody but authorized USPS employees should be touching the mail and putting it into a community box. I'm not sure how much would get done or how much this bothers you, but you could always call the Post Office and speak with a delivery supervisor, manager or Postmaster.
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