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

is it legal to write a message on the outside of the envelope of a letter im mailing ?

Asked by chaser about 11 years ago

I don't see why it wouldn't be legal. The important parts are that the destination address, return address, and postage are in the correct places and clearly readable. Besides that I believe you may write a message on the outside of an envelope.

They give my returned letters back asking me why i am returning it. Isnt that a breach of privacy rightt; flagging my mai? Do i have to explain harrassement to themnand why i am returning it?

Asked by donna faulkner almost 11 years ago

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.

This might be just my mother telling this to us as kids but if you have a community mailbox like in a neighborhood, is it illegal to walk up to him?

Asked by Jennifer over 10 years ago

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.

What percentage of mail carriers would you say, are female?

Asked by Rose over 10 years ago

Based on the office where I work, there are about 25% female carriers. I can't say at all what it is at other locations. Lately, the CCAs who have been hired are more like 50% female. Some of them are quite petite so I don't know how they do the job lifting heavy parcels and walking with loaded mail satchels. I give them a lot of credit. I believe you should be able to lift up to 70 lbs, but I don't think that is tested and I see some carriers give their heavier parcels to a parcel post driver to deliver. I don't think that is necessarily fair that they don't have to carry the same load as I do, but I don't care enough to speak up or cause an unnecessary conflict.

So I do a lot of business postcards for my online business. And I send them to churches, schools etc. what happens if it's a Saturday and the school or church or insurance office is closed. How do you deliver that Mail to them?

Asked by Andrew over 11 years ago

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.

I am from Paraguay and have sent four items to the US, all with tracking numbers. They went through the Miami ISC but it's been more than a month and there has been no further updates. What may have happened and what could I do?

Asked by renef09 over 11 years ago

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.

We are having our front steps removed for some landscaping and the mailman won't be able to get to our mailbox that is right by our front door. What do we do?

Asked by Melissa almost 10 years ago

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.