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

can a postman retrieve mail i sent if it's still in the recievers mailbox if i request it?

Asked by Danny Boy over 10 years ago

I don't think so. The request has never been made of me but generally once mail has been delivered it would seem to be in the possession of the recipient even if they haven't actually retrieved the item from their mailbox. I've also never heard of anybody else having this requested so my advice for the future is be careful what you mail because it is almost definitely a one-way trip.

We live in the country and my husband planted lilies around our mailbox. The mailman is alergic to bees so he sprayed the flowers and killed them. Now there are weeds he wants us to cut. Can he stop delivering our mail if we don't? He can spray.

Asked by Kate Tonnies almost 11 years ago

I am not familiar with this situation on what the mailman is allowed to do or not with respect to spraying an area for bees and killing flowers and demanding weeds can be cut. I can tell you that the mailman does need to have unobstructed access to your mailbox with low/no risk of being stung by a bee that could affect his health. I'd say that he could suspend delivery to your house until the situation is fixed to his satisfaction. I just hope both parties will be reasonable and you won't worry about him being vindictive if you call the PO to discuss this issue with a delivery supervisor/manager/postmaster. I'm not sure what you mean by "he can spray". If you are asking, "can be spray?" I don't know this answer.

Wondering if mail is picked up from the blue outside mailboxes at the post office on a federal holiday (like 2-15-2016)? I figured I could drop it off tomorrow and it would be in the mail system and on its way one day earlier. It's a stamped envelope

Asked by DebB. over 10 years ago

I doubt that mail is picked up from the blue outside mailboxes on a federal holiday (02/15/16 Washington's Birthday, for example). I can only speak for where I work but I think there are no trucks with collection box mail going from most POs to a mail processing facility. At the PO where I work in Long Island, NY the building is shut on Sundays and Holidays (except for most of December when we deliver parcels from our PO) and nobody is emptying the blue outside collection boxes. In summary, whether you mail the letter this Monday (02/15/16) or Tuesday, (02/17/16) it shouldn't make a difference on the speed of processing it.

If you could change anything about your uniform what would it be??

Asked by Lulu over 9 years ago

I'm generally satisfied with the uniforms that we wear at the USPS and they haven't changed much since I've been working there. The only issue that I have with our uniforms that I can think of is that they are difficult to keep clean. I wear a satchel over my shoulder and carry mail in my arms so the shirt tends to get very dirty. The shoulder strap makes a mark on the uniform shirt where it rests. I admit that I don't wash the shirts as often as I should but they are hard to keep looking crisp nonetheless. I like the fact that we wear uniforms so there isn't much to think about wearing each day to work except the layering to keep me warm in the winter. Thank you for your question.

While driving the vehicle to make a delivery, another motorist points towards the back of your vehicle as if something is wrong. What do you do?

Asked by Tolu Akande over 10 years ago

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.

this isn't a trivia question but kind of sounds like one do you know what island in the US it would take up to three weeks to receive mail from in oregon

Asked by Megan over 10 years ago

I don't know the answer to this though not much surprises me regarding the USPS. While most mail is delivered domestically within about 4 days, I suppose there a reason some exceptions where it takes much longer. You can post this question again with the answer (if you know it) or email me privately daveabbey at aol dot com.

I had a question about EDDM. I recently had 3000 EDDM postcards delivered by 2 local post offices. It's been about about 2 weeks and I haven't heard anything as far as new clients go. Is there a way to verify they were delivered?

Asked by Rd77 over 10 years ago

I am not sure there is a way to verify they were actually delivered by the PO. In general, an EDDM should only sit for a few days at most from what I've seen at the PO where I work. I don't know if there is a specific time frame that they must be delivered after being received by the delivery PO. If you called the destination POs, I don't think there is much hope that whoever you speak to could verify if they were delivered or not. There is a good chance they wouldn't even remember it. Basically all I can say is that they should've been delivered, but can't recommend a way to verify that your EDDM postcards were delivered. EDDM stands for Every Door Direct Mail.