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.
As long as you addressed the letter properly and affixed the correct postage the letter should make it to its destination 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. It's recommended that you put a return address in the upper left hand corner of the letter just in case it doesn't reach the intended recipient. This way the letter would be returned to you, the sender. A return address isn't mandatory.
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I don't know at all about the requirements for what vehicles are allowed for delivering US Mail. We use Postal-owned vehicles where I work. When I was first hired we sometimes used our own vehicles for mail delivery and didn't know of any requirements. We were only doing park and loop and foot routes with our own vehicles. The rural route carriers had privately owned right hand drive vehicles for mail delivery. I would recommend looking at the website or contacting the NRLCA, the National Rural Letter Carriers Association. I know that city carriers (which I am) would sign a CDOA which was a Carrier Drive Out Agreement that would stipulate what is required and what the compensation would be for using your own vehicle.
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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. If it seemed to be some type of phony diversion tactic, I'd try to get far away from the motorist pointing and then investigate safely.
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Do you possibly know me? I've recently had a similar situation on the route that I deliver and it is the first time that I encountered this. The previous owner only put in an individual forward, but the PARS (which is an automated forwarding system that intercepts forwardable mail before it reaches the letter carrier) was forwarding the new resident's mail as well because they had the same last name. I asked my forwarding clerk how to resolve this. She said that the family that left should just put in individual forwards for each family member. The mail also should be excluded from PARS so your letter carrier can look at each piece of mail before forwarding it (if appropriate). This seems to have worked okay as the new resident has been quite patient and I've heard nothing beyond the original, and valid I might add, complaint. I'd recommend speaking to someone at your PO explaining the situation, give them a list of all the valid names at your address and ask that the mail be excluded from PARS so the carrier can look at the mail and decide whether it should be forwarded or not. PARS stands for Postal Automated Redirection System. I hope this works out for you as you shouldn't be inconvenienced just because you moved into a residence where the previous people had the same last name.
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I generally don't wear winter boots but I wear rubber overshoes if there is snow on the ground. These are the same thing I'd wear if it were raining outside. The brand I use is Tingley and they come in at least 3 dfferent height overshoes. They aren't really warm so I wear thermal socks in the winter so my feet and toes don't freeze.
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I can't say for sure what should have happened with the check that was mailed to the wrong address. It is bad that the check was cashed by an unintended party. A letter carrier doesn't always know who lives at each address and there are many days where a replacement carrier or CCA (City Carrier Assistant) is delivering the mail. If I'm not sure that piece of mail should go the address on the envelope, I will likely deliver it anyway with a "?" written next to the name. Hopefully the resident at the address would put the envelope back in the mail if it doesn't belong to them and write "doesn't live here" on the outside.
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That sounds somehwat accurate. I am no expert when it comes to administering the ODL. It also seems to change from office to office as to what counts and what doesn't count for OT. In our office if you are next up to be asked in for your NS day and you are unavailable or refuse then you'd be "marked" for an 8-hour opportunity. As for where you'd be on the list the following week, it depends how many of the other carriers in your group came in on Tuesday. If all of the other three car came in (or refused) on their NS day it's possible you'd still be first for next week. In our office the total amt of OT hrs you worked for the quarter (which would include pieces on other routes) also affects where you are placed each week on the list for the NS day. Those with the lowest amt of OT hrs in a quarter are usually asked first for their NS day. I hope this helps a little bit but your office may operate differently.
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