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

I left a letter in my landlords mailbox in a stamped envelope with my return address and her receiving address when she checked the box her mail was there but my letter wasn't what happens if mailman took it thinking it was outgoing mail

Asked by Kate almost 11 years ago

From what you described there should be no problem in your landlord eventually receiving the check. It's possible that the letter carrier took the envelope thinking it was outgoing mail. Since it had a stamp on it and the landlord as a receiving address, they will likely get the check in a couple of delivery days. If a letter carrier sees an unstamped envelope in a mailbox they will often take it as outgoing mail without looking at the destination address. Thanks for your question.

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.

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.

My usps delivery woman, who is my aunt, took my packages to her house and gave them to my uncle so they could go through them. My uncle brought my packages and shortly after she deliver my paper mail to my mailbox. How illegal is this??

Asked by justin over 11 years ago

I have no idea why your aunt would take your packages to your uncle's house and he would open them? That sounds illegal to me unless you have some sort of relationship with them to allow this. I'm assuming you don't live together and aren't happy about this. Your aunt must also live nearby. Was anything missing from the packages? You could start by asking your aunt why she did this and tell her not to. You could also mention it to a delivery supervisor at the USPS where she works. I don't know what kind of family tension you want to cause but if something is actually stolen you could call the police to file a complaint. I also have no idea how far that would go. Whatever you do, it sounds like a real sleazy thing for your aunt and uncle to do and I would never imagine doing this.

Our carriers (town of 7k) leave "HOLD" notes in our home box when we request our mail held. Anyone can figure out which houses are easy targets for theft with that info. Is that protocol?They say they can't remember not to leave it otherwise.

Asked by KC D over 11 years ago

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.

RECENTLY A CLOSING OF ALL OF NASSAU AND SUFFOLK WAS DUE TO BAD WEATHER! MY ? WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THIS HAPPENED HERE IN LONGISLAND? AND OR WHERE CAN I FIND A HISTORY OF INCLEMENT WEATHER CLOSINGS FOR NASSAU AND SUFFOLK. THANKS DAVE!!

Asked by ROGER over 11 years ago

Yes, we were closed in Nassau and Suffolk for Tuesday Jan 27 due to a pending snowstorm. I believe NY city POs were closed as well. I think it was a good move based on what actually fell where I deliver the mail. The roads were at least passable and most customers had shoveled their walkways to their doors and driveways. Otherwise, delivery of mail may have been extremely difficult. Now to answer your question. I don't remember a time where we were fully closed due to a snow forecast. There have been times where we have come to work and found the road conditions too difficult or unsafe to deliver the mail. I know of no database that has information about the history of when we were closed for an entire day. On Monday, I delievered apprx 80% of my possible deliveries before we were told to return to the Post Office and not report back to work until the morning of today 01/28/15. I'm not a fan of delivering in snow and ice, but we make do the best we can.

I live in a residence, never closed, but have had three occasions recently when an item wasn't delivered with a reason listed in tracking as business closed. Why?

Asked by jayking@gmx.com over 10 years ago

That is interesting to hear yet not surprising to me. There are certain parcels that are supposed to have a scan on it whether or not it's actually delivered on a particular day. Amazon.com parcels are one of these types of parcels but it may occur on other parcels as well. I don't think it's right for the USPS to be doing this because it is misrepresenting the status of a parcel. In your case the fact that you live in a residence that is never closed makes it even more wrong to be scanned as "business closed". Sometimes a letter carrier may forget to deliver a parcel or it is missorted to another route and there is no time to get it correctly delivered on the same day. In this case, it might be scanned "attempted" or "business closed". In my opinion both of these scans are wrong and misleading to the recipient and/or shipper. I hope you have at least received the parcel the next delivery day. I've never been asked to scan a parcel wrongly and would refuse to do so. You may see this more lately as the volume of our parcel business for the month leading up to Christmas is probably double or more our normal parcel load.