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

our mailman gives all tenants mail to lady at office to sort and put in boxes and even meets her down the road if she in big hurry is that proper?

Asked by mary about 10 years ago

I guess that's okay if the lady in the apt. office has access to the mailboxes. Some buildings and apt. complexes have different procedures about who delivers the mail. I don't know how that is determined. Where I deliver mail, any multi-unit building or complex has the mail delivered to each unit by a USPS employee. The building or apt. complex staff has no access to the cluster boxes. I can see how this differs because we generally don't deliver mail on university campuses to each students mailbox. The same would go for an extended stay hotel or long-term care facility. I just hope you haven't had delivery issues with receiving your mail from the lady who puts it into your box. This would be unfortunate because if you complained to the USPS about this, they may say ask the lady in the apt. office who may or may not be easy to deal with. Thank you for your question.

650 Votes

When do most mailman and women start their routes? Are there different times for different people? or is it the same for everyone?

Asked by Andrew over 10 years ago

It probably depends on the office where you work as to what time you start delivering your route. Where I work most deliveries probably start between 9:15 and 10:30 AM. It depends how long the letter carriers take to prepare their routes in the AM for delivery. Some routes get more mail than others or take longer to prepare in order for delivery. Also, some letter carriers are faster than others at starting their routes. I usually start delivery by 10AM and am finished around 4PM if the weather and volume of mail and parcels isn't out of line with what I normally get. Most of the letter carriers where I work start their tour at 7:30 AM.

648 Votes

I use the surge rival gloves for delivering mail but was wondering if there is a really good made glove that is good for hot summers as well ?

Asked by MailmanChris over 10 years ago

Chris, I'll be honest that I don't know anything about gloves to wear for delivering mail in the hot summer. I use my bare hands probably 99% of the time. I don't concern myself with the cleanliness of the mail whatsoever and it's never been an issue for me. I have noticed in very cold weather that I need to cover my extremities well so I just wear as warm gloves as I can but don't know any brand. Some coworkers use sealskin gloves. it is difficult for me to finger the mail with a gloved hand so I hold the mail in a gloved hand and keep the hand that I use to finger the mail in my pocket as much as possible with no glove. I don't do too well in the extreme cold. Thank you for your question.

647 Votes

Why is my mail all of the sudden being delivered to my home in Montpelier Vermont by a red mini van with Massachusetts license plates - BTW the plates are civilian style plane on mass plates

Asked by Craig almost 11 years ago

I don't know that it matters where the plates are from if someone is delivering your mail, but I'm by no means criticizing your question. Do you know if you live on a Rural Delivery route? If so, those carriers sometimes use a POV (privately owned vehicle) to deliver the mail. In the office where I work, the rural carriers used to use POVs but now they use the USPS-owned Long-Life vehicles, aka LLVs. The USPS sometimes leases vehicles if there is a shortage of company vehicles available. If you live on a rural route, it may be delivered by a Rural Carrier Associate (RCA) who may have their own vehicle for delivery. There are several variables as to why your mail is being delivered by a MA-plated Red Minivan but I can't say for sure.

647 Votes

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if u went to a door and a guy opened it droped straight 2 his knees and asked u to drop urpants would u

Asked by EJ over 10 years ago

This is a very immature question to ask on this site, but the answer is no. I'm not interested in men to begin with, but even it were a woman I don't think I'd get involved because it's not worth losing a job for a few minutes of fun. I keep it professional while on the clock. In my years of experience nothing even close to the scenario you described (with a male or female) has happened to me.

647 Votes

If I was to put mail in the outside mailbox at post office on a Sunday buy the box said mon-fri 5 does that mean it won't be picked up until Monday at 5? When can I expect it to be delivered

Asked by lynnie over 10 years ago

It depends on where your letter is being mailed to. I think nationwide most letters reach their destination in 2-3 days, but probably no sooner than that. The mailbox you deposited the letter into said collection is m-f at 5PM. That means that as long as the letter was deposited prior to box posted time, your letter will be dispatched that day for processing and transport. It's possible that the letter was collected before 5PM on Monday but that would be a decision made locally by the post office. If it was collected early someone would still have to go to empty the collection box at or after the posted time.

646 Votes

Do you think it's a wise career choice/ change to become a cca and tough it out to become a regular with the current usps financial situation?

Asked by Hobbz almost 10 years ago

It depends on what other job/career options you may have and how they compare with the USPS. I have somewhat of a bias because I enjoy working here and it has been a great career. I do realize, however, that being a CCA isn't easy and it's a non-career position and only pays moderately to begin (currently $16.06/hr). Regarding the USPS financial situation, I don't think that should impact your choice. The USPS isn't going away anytime soon. While I'm sure it's losing plenty of $$ often there is still as much work as I can remember. There will likely be changes that happen years from now but I don't know what they'd look like. I've never seen a layoff or RIF since I've been employed by the USPS. Good luck to you Hobbz whichever job/career path you choose.

646 Votes

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