Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

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 over 8 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.

Asked by Quentin about 9 years ago

I don't know how much your license suspension will affect your job chances with the USPS. You do need a valid driver license to be a letter carrier as far as I know. You said you have fixed the suspension for texting while driving recently. I don't know if you need to provide this information to the USPS proactively or only if they ask. I would think somewhere along the application process they'd ask you questions about your past driving history and possibly request a motor vehicle department drivers abstract which has your history of suspensions convictions violations, etc. Please be sure to answer all questions honestly and possibly have proof available that your license is no longer suspended. Good luck to you and put that phone down while driving. I understand it's tempting.

Hey I was wondering, I live in Texas and want to ship a letter to Scotland. It doesn't weigh much, it just has a Pokemon card. But I was wondering if I had to put 2 stamps on it or take it to the post office to be shipped a Certain way? thanks!

Asked by Izzy over 9 years ago

I'd recommend taking it to the Post Office to make sure you are paying the right amt. You should just be able to put it in a letter size envelope (if it fits) and seal the envelope well. A proper address should also be written on the envelope where the bottom line is the Country of Destination (in your case either UK or Scotland). My quick search says that a 2 oz. letter to Scotland would be $2.21. If you are interested, you can go to www.usps.com and search for calculate a price and after answering several questions you can get a rate. 2 stamps would be equal to .98 so that would be insufficient to mail to Scotland. The minimum price for international mailing is $1.20 I think. Thanks for writing and I always say it's better to put too much postage on instead of too little. This way you lessen the risk of an item being returned for insufficient postage.

I notice I have a different mail carrier.. How often does a route change for city mail carriers? Why would it change?

Asked by Cleopatra over 9 years ago

The main reasons for a mail route to change for a city carrier is because a route/assignment has come up for bid (Another carrier has retired/transferred/bid to another route) and one carrier decides to bid for the available route so they'd leave their current route. That is the most common reason. It's possible you could have the same carrier for many years or a route may be so large or undesirable that it's like a revolving door as to who delivers your mail. One other reason for a new carrier is if the office restructures the routes and different streets go to different letter carriers. Where I work I've only seen this a couple of times in 15 years. This would be more common if there was a lot of new construction in a town. Assignments or routes are awarded to the carrier with the highest seniority who desire it. That is how the bidding system works. Thanks for submitting your question.

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

Asked by Rose over 9 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.

I received a letter back and it has stamped on it BOXED CLOSED RETURN TO SENDER...DOES THAT MEAN THE P.O. BOX NUMBER IS NOT GOOD

Asked by Jeremy over 9 years ago

I'm not sure what it means, but I'd gather that the renter of the PO Box either stopped paying the fee on the PO Box and it was closed or that they closed it on purpose. They also probably didn't put in a forwarding address which is why the label said "return to sender". It means the PO Box number exists but is not currently in use.

If the adress on the envelope of the letter I'm trying to send dosent match my address will the mail man still take it?

Asked by Emely over 9 years ago

They should take it. I've never heard of that being an issue. As long as there is sufficient postage it should be accepted. I think most letter carriers don't even look at the to/from address on an envelope when they collect mail from a person or collection box. Furthermore, I know of no requirement to even have a return address on anything that is mailed. Thanks for your question.