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.
In the LLV, which is the most common vehicle for delivery that is used, there is no second seat. The exception to that is that at our post office we up have 1 Long Life Vehicle with a seat in the cargo area which is behind the mail tray that is in the front left of the vehicle. We use that vehicle as a spare in case one breaks down or is needed by auxiliary help. The other reason it is used is when a supervisor comes with you for the day to inspect your route delivery. Sometimes they will follow you in their own car, but they often will just sit in the second seat. The cargo area opens up to the drivers area with a sliding door which I leave open all of the times.
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If the mail arrives at the PO for delivery on the Saturday and the recipient's office or building is closed, we hold the mail at the PO until the following delivery day (usually Monday) and deliver it then. We will do the same thing if a business or institution is closed any other day of the week. We will hold the mail until the next delivery day that they are open. On some occasions the facility will have a door slot or mailbox. In that case we can deliver the mail anytime since there is no need for the facility/office to be open to receive mail delivery. Thanks for your inquiry.
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I am thinking it may be held up in Customs, but am not sure if that happens before or after it gets to the ISC, or is maybe based in the Miami ISC. Do you know if the recipient is still looking for their items? Sometimes it doesn't get any more bar code scans before it is delivered but actually has been delivered. You could go to www.usps.com and maybe do an inquiry as to where the items could be but I don't have a lot of confidence that you will get any more info than is what you already have.
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If I were in motion, I'd safely pull over, put on my four-way flashers, and then get out to investigate. It's possible that my gas cap is hanging out the side of the LLV, the back gate isn't secure, or maybe I'm dragging something. It could also be something that I haven't thought of. If the motorist is still around I'd ask them what they are pointing out.
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You don't need to explain to any USPS employee why you are returning the mail. It is none of our business. As long as it is an unopened, first-class letter, you should be able to just write "refused" on it and have it returned. Personally I would just discard any unwanted mail. I've received debt collection letters in the past and have just ignored them and not returned them. There are certain classes of mail where we won't return to the sender because the sender has paid a pre-sorted standard rate (which is lower than the first-class rate). In that case, we just recycle any unwanted mail.
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If it is a temporary change, you could put a replacement mailbox or cardboard box (or anything labeled US mail) in an area visible and accessible to your letter carrier. I had a resident recently move the mailbox to near his garage because his whole front steps area of the house was being ripped out, expanded, and rebuilt. Your letter carrier shouldn't give you a hard time about this. If you get a chance you can mention it to them ahead of the construction beginning, or post a note by your present mailbox that you'll soon be providing a temporary alternate area to deliver the mail. Thanks for your question and consideration.
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As a general rule, I think a letter carrier should be delivering mail to a mailbox unless they know or trust the person asking for the mail. If you are asking if they can bypass a house and not deliver mail at all, the main reason for refusing to deliver mail would be that the carrier feels their personal safety is in jeopardy due to a dog or other unsafe condition. They can also refuse to deliver the mail if safe access or access in general (door to an apt. Building is locked for an example) to the mailbox can't be assured. I don't know if the situation occurred to you which brought up this question. It is rare that I ever don't deliver mail to an address. Even if it's an unsafe construction area, I may give the mail to one of the workers who will put the mail in the mailbox.
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