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.
I am not familiar with any rules that would or wouldn't allow this. On the surface it seems odd that you wouldn't be able to receive your mail directly from the USPS, but this may be the way the condo is set up. When you say an owner operates a rental business in her unit, do you mean she arranges for people to rent other condo units short-term, kind of like a rental agent? Either way, I'm not sure how this affects mail delivery. An alternative to having your mail delivered to this single unit would be to rent a PO Box. Sure it is more costly than just getting your mail delivered to the condo complex, but there is reliability and privacy/security with a PO Box.
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I don't believe that is normal or allowed in a USPS vehicle. I wouldn't risk taking a civilian (non-USPS employee) in the USPS vehicle. I can't quote any rules on this but I can't imagine the USPS would take any responsibility should the non-employee get hurt while in that vehicle. It sounds even more suspicious that this friend is bringing a bully breed dog along. I once had my nephews and parents walk with me along the postal route for approximately 45 minutes to show them what my job is like. I didn't receive approval from my supervisor to do this and, after the fact, I realize it may not have been proper to have them accompany me while delivering mail. My nephews were very young at the the time and I carefully watched as they put the mail in the mailbox on several occasions. It's up to you whether or not you want to report this to your local post office that the letter carrier works out of. I don't know if the supervisor would care or do anything but I can't imagine that this is allowed or condoned. If the friend just came along and didn't go into the USPS vehicle, it may not be as clear whether or not that is allowed, but it certainly seems inappropriate. In my work environment, I just stick to the rules as much as I can without drawing attention to myself and stay out of trouble. Thanks for the interesting question.
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I don't know anything about how a route is established and what it would take to get it changed from a riding route to a walking route. Do you know if they are city or rural letter carriers who deliver your mail? Normally if a carrier is driving in a delivery vehicle and the mailboxes are at the street they should be able to approach and leave the mailbox without having to get out of their delivery vehicle to affect delivery. If a car is parked in the way and the letter carrier can't reach the mailbox without getting out of their delivery vehicle they have the option to skip delivery and attempt it the next day hoping there will be clear access. I am not familiar with an area where some houses are riding and some are walking when they are near each other. Usually it's one or the other. For example, all of my deliveries are to a mailbox which is usually attached to an actual residence so I walk between delivery points. Other carriers stay in their delivery vehicle and put mail in mailboxes which are along a road or curb. This is also known as curbside delivery. My suggestion would be to call the post office and speak to a delivery supervisor or manager about this. I don't know if they will be of any help. Is it possible for you to move your car or even the mailbox so the letter carrier can more easily gain access to the mailbox? You shouldn't have to go without mail delivery but there are certain regulations to be followed so the letter carrier can do their job in an efficient and safe manner.
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I don't have any insight on how to transfer to other offices besides eReassign or asking for a mutual exchange transfer (which are advertised in The Postal Record). One suggestion I have is to call any office directly that you may be interested in to see if there are openings. I don't know how this would be any different from eReassign. Mutual transfers aren't so easy because you have to find someone from the area you want to transfer to who wants to go to your area. Also, there is an issue with the seniority dates that are assumed by the transferees which I don't know about. Good luck, be patient, and I predict you eventually get a transfer. What's wrong with Long Island? I love working here but know it's not for everyone partially due to the cost of living.
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I think it is inappropriate to solicit your own business while delivering a route for the USPS. I haven't heard of anyone being disciplined for doing this, but I would think that it is technically not allowed. I know of a couple of co-workers who do home improvements, landscaping, or sprinkler work as side jobs but don't know if they actually try to get business while delivering mail. If they want to do a postcard mailing to try and get business I suppose that would be fine as long as proper postage was paid for the mailing and they didn't just put their own postcards in mailboxes while delivering the mail and not affixing postage to it.
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I only wish I had the problem of being asked out on dates! Just kidding, and I don't mean to make light of your question. You shouldn't have to feel uncomfortable when the letter carrier comes into your office. They shouldn't be flirting with you or asking you out on dates unless it somehow seems that the feeling would be mutual. It's not a bad idea to make it clear that you aren't interested in going out with him. I know that is easier said than done. You could call the delivery supervisor or postmaster to report this but I have a feeling that might make things worse. His behavior seems quite unprofessional. I don't think it's forbidden to ask a customer to go out socially, but they shouldn't push the issue or make the customer feel awkward if they aren't interested. To answer your question about locating your home address, we don't have access to any better resources than one would have doing an Internet search. If he ever showed up at your house unexpectedly, I think I'd alert law enforcement that you may have a stalker and to let them know where he knows you from. Maybe they could tell this letter carrier to knock off that inappropriate behavior. Furthermore, we shouldn't be using information we see on mail to get information for our personal use. That is also unethical and may violate some privacy regulations. I wish you well and that the creepiness will cease.
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As long as you addressed the letter properly and affixed the correct postage the letter should make it to London correctly. When letter carriers pick up outgoing mail we generally just put it in a basket with all of the other outgoing mail and a processing facility sorts the mail based on where it is going to. If you still have the letter, please put the country of destination (UK or England) on the very bottom line of the address. I'm sure the Royal Post is reliable just like the USPS is.
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