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.
Congratulations on being hired as a CCA for the USPS. I can't say for sure that it's true that you won't get a day off. From what I've seen, the CCAs where I work often work 7 days a week but it seems after a couple of weeks they are given a day off. I don't know if there are any rules that you must be given a day off after working a certain amount of consecutive days. It may depend on the staffing level of your facility. I hope that you have chosen to join the NALC. Whether you have or not, a shop steward may have a better answer than I've given you on whether or not you are required to work unlimited days in a row. I'm also on a Facebook group for postal workers. One is NALC and the other is Postal Maniacs. If you join them, you could post this same question and get answers from actual CCAs. Good luck to you. Please work safely and deliver the mail accurately. Sunday delivery usually consists of Amazon.com package delivery, not regular mail.
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Sure you can. I don't see any reason why you couldn't do this. It's important to clearly write the letter carrier's name or "mailman" or something that makes it known it is for them. Postage shouldn't be necessary. I sometimes get notes asking me to hold the mail for them if they are on vacation and going away. This is a free service which is offered.
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The USPS is always warning us to steer clear of dogs and don't pet them even if the owner says "my dog doesn't bite". There are some dogs on the route I deliver which I trust to come up to me. I don't pet them but sometimes they will come up to my leg. For the most part i don't get involved with dogs. If we think a dog will bite us we are taught to use our satchel (if we are using one) as a shield between us and the dog. Another item we carry is "Back Off" Dog Repellent which we can spray at the face of a dog if we are bitten or about to be bit by a dog. The dog will usually back off and get disoriented. I have never been bit except for a nip on my legs which I didn't report to my supervisor. There are many dogs on the route which I deliver but most owners are very responible in not letting them out off-leash.
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1) The PO that I work in has a lot of space inside. There are high ceilings and the main areas in the back are the carrier section, mail distribution, and parcel distribution. I work in the carrier section mostly. This area has sorting cases where we prepare any mail that has to be manually sorted into delivery order. The cases have individual dividers that hold the mail for one or two addresses. We stand up to work at these cases although a stool is provided should we need it. The mail clerks sort mail into cases based on the address on the mailpiece. The clerks are scheme-trained which means they know which route delivers the mail for that address. The parcels are sorted the same way but it's a large area because we receive so many parcels to deliver. The letter carriers take a hamper on wheels and "sweep" the mail from the clerk distribution case and then bring the mail to our own assigned carrier sorting case and sort the mail there. We mainly organize the parcels as we load our delivery vehicle. The bulk mailing/dispatch clerk has his own office and the postmaster has an office. The registry clerk has an office also because that is where the registered and accountable mail is secured. Besides that everyone else mainly works on an open floor of sorting equipment and desks. The sorting equipment is all manual. Any mail automation is done at a more central processing facility and trucked to our PO.
2) I don't deliver to many packages that need signatures. When I do attempt delivery of such a package and the person isn't home to receive it, I complete.PS Form 3849 and leave it in the customer's mailbox. This notifies them that we have attempted delivery of an item requiring a signature and they may pick it up at the PO or we can redeliver it on a future date. If the form is signed by the recipient, we can generally leave the package without the person being home. I work in a very safe community so it's unlikely a package would go missing due to theft. I think it's more common for us to misdeliver a package than for one to actually get stolen.
I hope this answers both of your questions.
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I don't know anything about the particulars in how you get to your route and any rules associated with that. I guess you have a walkout route which means there is no vehicle for you to use and you get your mail from relay boxes around the city. How is it possible that you can't walk to your route but you are unable to walk to deliver your route? I assume it is because of your age. I agree that one mile is a bit of a long way just to get to your delivery route. For the average person it takes about 18-20 minutes to walk one mile. Since I don't know any rules that discuss the method of transportation to get to your route, I'd refer you to a shop steward or the NALC regional office that covers your area. They may know more but don't count on it. There are just some scenarios not covered in our joint USPS/NALC handbooks or manuals. I don't know if there is some request for accommodation that could be made based on your physical condition.
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Lisa, in my experience your mail should be processed normally so you need not worry. I don't often collect mail from the blue boxes as part of my assignment but if I saw regular mail in the Express Priority Blue Box I'd just put it with other outgoing mail in my postal vehicle and it'd be treated normally. I've never heard of outgoing mail being delayed by this. Thank you for your question.
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This happens sometimes if a route is divided up for the day and perhaps the "dividing line" is near your house. This happens a lot when we are shorthanded, so other carriers may deliver their own route and then a part of another route. I know it may look inefficient and random, but that's what happens when people do "pieces" on other routes. It is sometimes inefficient and random due to poor management or short staffing. Some POs face this issue more than others. It is especially common in the summer months when many co-workers go on vacation but it certainly can be an issue year round.
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