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.
It's a very good question with a pretty easy answer. In our office, besides the regular letter carriers who deliver the same route daily, we have a group of carrier technicians (aka floaters) who deliver the mail when a carrier has a day off during the week. As much as mail is delivered Mon-Sat most carriers are only obligated to work 5 of those days. To also help fill the gap when a carrier is sick or on vacation or out for any reason a CCA (city carrier assistant) can deliver the mail. If we are very short-staffed (common in the office where I work), we deliver our own routes and then take part of the vacant route and deliver that, usually for OT pay. That is usually :30-1:00 of additional delivery time but could be longer.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Who%20delivers%20the%20mail%20if%20you%20are%20sick%20or%20on%20vacation%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/15648)
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.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Actually%20had%20two%20questions%20for%20you%3F%0A%0A1.%20Is%20there%20radio%20in%20the%20mail%20delivery%20truck%20that%20you%20can%20listen%20to%20when%20driving%3F%0A%0A2.%20Do%20you%20get%20a%20pension%20or%20a%20401k%20since%20you%20work%20for%20a%20company%20ran%20by%20the%20government%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/16119)
I will certainly tell you my experience, but keep in mind that everybody is different in how they handle a job and how hard they want to work and under what conditions. To sum up before I get into the details, I really like the job a lot, but the management and some co-workers aren't so great. When you first start out as a letter carrier, you will likely be a CCA , a city carrier asst, which doesn't guarantee you too many hrs/week, lower pay ($15.50/hr apprx) and minimal benefits. As time goes on and others retire or leave the USPS for various reasons you'd become a FT regular letter carrier with a guarantee of 40 hrs/wk minimum plus health, retirement, paid time off benefits. The pro of the job for me is that you get decent pay and benefits and security for a job that requires a low amt of education (though I do have a college degree), exercise on walking routes and much of the day (apprx 6 hours) away from the office not having to deal with co-workers or management who can be vile or aggravating. There are some very nice people I work with. I generally just see my co-workers for a couple of hours in the AM and maybe 10-20 minutes before we go home at apprx 4:30 PMG. Over the years I've had some health issues which required extended absences. While I can't say the employer was great to deal with during the absence I didn't worry about losing my job and was paid for some of the time I was out (using paid sick leave). Depending on where you work geographically, weather can be issue and you need to be prepared to be outside for many hours per day. The staffing at my office has been a bit low for awhile and there is a lack of quality workers replacing them. This has resulted in a lot of Overtime work available (a good thing or me), but also a lot of mandatory work even for those who don't want it (not so good). It's also difficult to get time off unless you have a vacation block picked out. I also happen to be a bit of a perfectionist with regards to delivering mail accurately and this job works well with my organizational skills. From my experience, more people like to be negative about the job than positive. I understand some of their complaints and feelings, but I choose to be positive and grateful for what I have and not dwell on the little stuff. I tune out then negativity the best I can and do my job. Good luck to you and please ask any more specific questions if you have them.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=I%27m%20considering%20looking%20into%20a%20job%20with%20the%20Postal%20Service%2C%20I%27ve%20read%20a%20lot%20of%20negative%20reviews%20online%2C%20but%20would%20like%20to%20know%20first%20hand%20what%20it%27s%20like%20working%20for%20the%20postal%20service.%20Can%20you%20tell%20me%20your%20personal%20pros%20and%20cons%20of%20the%20job%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/14840)
I think what you are asking me is if your landlord can put a stamp on an envelope and put it directly in your mailbox. I don't know the answer to that but mail should probably be processed through our mail delivery system. By putting postage on the envelope they are paying to have something put in a mailbox so I'm not sure that it's technically wrong. There is a possibility that if its in your mailbox with uncanceled postage on it, a letter carrier may assume it's outgoing mail and take it with them as we usually don't look at the destination address for outgoing mail. Thank you for writing.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Can%20my%20landlord%20put%20a%20stamp%20on%20an%20envelope%20and%20post%20it%20to%20my%20residential%20%2F%20home%20mail%20box%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/15422)
Zookeeper and Animal Trainer
Why are some people so protective of endangered species?
Bracketologist
Why have there been so many 15-2 upsets, but no 16-1's?
Wills and Estates Lawyer
Can I leave everything to my pets?
If you mean that you live in an apartment complex or community where it is served by a cluster box which contains many addresses then I can tell you it isn't illegal at all to walk up to a letter carrier. It actually never is unless you plan to threaten or harm the individual and that could result in you doing something illegal. If we are putting mail into a cluster box (aka NDBCU) it could be annoying to us if we have a lot of mail to sort plus we may not give you your mail directly. I hope this answers your question.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=This%20might%20be%20just%20my%20mother%20telling%20this%20to%20us%20as%20kids%20but%20if%20you%20have%20a%20community%20mailbox%20%20like%20in%20a%20neighborhood%2C%20is%20it%20illegal%20to%20walk%20up%20to%20him%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/16191)
Usually a point of delivery that has been establish (whether it be a group of cluster boxes in a trailer park or individual mailboxes at each trailer) doesn't get changed easily. I wouldn't accept a request like that to be made as that makes us less efficient and if it's done for one customer, others could claim they want it delivered to the house as well.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=I%20can%27t%20seem%20to%20catch%20the%20mail%20lady%20delivering%20the%20mail%20at%20our%20trailer%20park%20in%20the%20mailbox%20can%20I%20get%20her%20to%20deliver%20the%20mail%20to%20my%20house%20instead%20of%20putting%20it%20in%20the%20box&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/16096)
Phil, it sounds like you were using our EDDM Retail service which allows mailers to target an area of the town with a simplified (unaddressed) mailing which would go to each address on a route or group of routes. EDDM stands for Every Door Direct Mail. It has been very popular since it was introduced by the USPS several years ago. It is very bad that a postal carrier would deliver it to just one address though I have heard this complaint before. I don't know what your rights are re: a refund of the mailing costs. I'd contact your local postmaster or escalate to our consumer affairs department (which I think we have) to try and make sure it doesn't happen again. I don't believe you are eligible for any damage beyond the cost of the postage, but I could be wrong about this. Hearing a complaint like this doesn't surprise me as I get the impression that these mailings (EDDM) aren't treated as well as addressed mail but absolutely should be. We are paid to deliver the mail accordingly. I'm sorry that you had this bad experience with the USPS and hope you would give us another chance.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Postal%20Carrier%20delivered%20over%20150%20postcards%20to%20ONE%20hotel%20that%20I%20paid%20to%20deliver%20to%20every%20home%20and%20business.%20What%20are%20my%20rights%20for%20damage%20caused%20to%20my%2015%20businesses%20I%20represent%20that%20depend%20on%20revenue%20from%20it%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/15446)
-OR-
Login with Facebook (max 20 characters - letters, numbers, and underscores only. Note that your username is private, and you have the option to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
(A valid e-mail address is required. Your e-mail will not be shared with anyone.)
(min 5 characters)
By checking this box, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to Jobstr.com’s Terms and Privacy Policy.
-OR-
Register with Facebook(Don't worry: you'll be able to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
Browse Jobs
Host a Q&A
Search
Submit Your Question
Host a Q&A
Last 7
