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.
If you want to apply to be a letter carrier, the process begins at www.usps.com and look for an employment or careers tab. It has been many years since I applied so I don't know the process now. There is an exam, interview, and medical (including a drug test). I don't believe the process is that difficult based on the quality of employees that I've seen get hired lately. If you are hired as a City Carrier Assistant (CCA), you can expect to start out just filling in where needed when routes are overburdened with mail or carriers are out for some reason (injury, vacation, jury duty, military service). It means being very flexible with your schedule and sometimes working as much as 7 days/week. We have regular mail delivery Mon-Sat and then some offices deliver Amazon.com parcels on Sunday. You can apply anytime for the position so I wouldn't necessarily drop college right away. Earning a degree can make you more marketable in other feels. Working as a letter carrier doesn't require any higher education as far as I know. When you start out the pay is approximately $16/hr and there are virtually zero benefits except a small amount of paid time off. There is hardly any guarantee of hours to work and it could take awhile before you become a full-time regular employee which can be worthwhile. I do really like the job, but I did get a bachelors degree many years earlier. I didn't know what career I wanted to have and ultimately wound up at the USPS when I was 27 years old with a lot of encouragement from my father and friends. Working safely and accurately are two important attributes to the job. Good luck to you and please post any more questions you may have!
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The answer depends on the individual letter carrier and their initiative to do this. I don't know of any rule that says what we should do if mail isn't being taken in at an address. I'm not sure why mail is left between the screen and front door instead of a door slot unless the door slot is too small or difficult to use. I have rarely taken mail back to the PO if residents are away. I just follow their directions and if they didn't inform me to hold the mail, I don't.
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I generally wouldn't do that unless I knew the neighbors were friends with each other and could be trusted to give the package to the correct recipient. I've never been in this situation since I can leave packages at a customers house without someone home to receive it. I don't know technically what we are allowed to do without your permission but we are trusted to protect the US mail and deliver it safely to the correct address.
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Andrew, you may want to email the vendor of the postcards to see the size of the white box. It looks like it would fit in the white box but I can't say for sure as I don't know standard address label sizes. I recommend doing this before ordering the cards because I don't know if they issue refunds. I see there is an area where your card customization needs to be double checked since there are no changes once the order is placed.
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Meter Maid
Is it tough to have a job that consists exclusively of ruining peoples' days?
MBA Student
How many years of work experience do you REALLY need before applying?
CPR Trainer
Why does the 'official' CPR method change from time to time?
The mailman should pick up any first class outgoing parcel just like they would any other item you wanted to mail as long as there is sufficient postage. An exception to this would be any item weighing over 13 oz that had postage stamps on it (as opposed to a Click 'N Ship label). This would be a Priority Mail item anyway, not First Class. This would need to be presented at a retail counter to be mailed due to security rules when mailing heavier items that may go on aircraft. I often pick up outgoing First Class parcels from a woman who sells items online and ships them from her house.
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Thanks for the compliment PK. I've been delivering mail for more than 16 years now. I've had a lot of personal ups and downs, mostly off the job, but glad to have continued to work and have the job security of the USPS. If you mean delivering mail for 7 hours, I think that would be hard for most people. But if you mean 7 hours street time that is a bit different because then you'd factor in loading time,lunch and breaks and travel time to/from your route. The route I deliver is approximately 6:40 total but only 5:20 Apprx is actually delivering mail. It's not too exhausting except if the mail load is heavy. My hints are to try to be as organized as you can, don't engage in too much small talk with the customers, and get a good nights rest and have a healthy breakfast. That all works for me. Everybody is different plus the difficulty of the route may vary between cities. I deliver on a flat terrain besides walking up steps to the mailboxes. If you have to walk a lot of hills that could make you more tired. Good luck to you and what might be a 7-hour route could take you longer or shorter based on the above factors.
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I don't think we should refuse delivery for that but I can't say for sure what we are allowed to do. As long as I felt that the door was secure enough and the dog wouldn't get out I would make the delivery. When you say you've never received a notice, do you mean you have never been told that the dog is an issue? I'm not sure what kind of notice you mean. Maybe the letter carrier refused mail delivery and never said the dog was an issue. I have a few places where I deliver to very loud barking dogs but I have never really had to refuse delivery due to this. It is often stressed by postal management to be very careful near dogs so I can understand if a letter carrier is apprehensive about it, but I can't say what they should do in the situation you described.
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