Ask a Mailman (City Letter Carrier) anything

Are mail carriers allowed to take mail truck home everyday during their route? Curious because my neighbor does this daily and usually in his truck for a bit like 10-15 min then goes in his house for 20-30 min. Then leaves.

Asked by Anna about 10 years ago

I believe it's allowed for a letter carrier to take home the mail vehicle to your own residence as long as it's within a reasonable distance of where you deliver the mail, I delivered mail to a letter carrier's home who delivered mail on a nearby route. He'd bring his vehicle home daily (I could set my watch by him) and eat lunch. Our normal lunch break is 30 minutes and that includes the time it takes to get to and from your postal route. If the carrier was there for more than 30 minutes, that may not be appropriate but I can't really speak for anything that I don't personally know since the rules are so often enforced arbitrarily.

554 Votes

When a mail carrier oppts for a specific route does he get that routes day off? Or will hes day off keep rotating as usually scheduled?

Asked by joe almost 10 years ago

I don't know how this works in all offices, but I can tell you what happens in the office where I deliver mail in Long Island, NY. This may not be a nationwide policy. When a letter carrier (usually an unassigned regular or CCA) opts, or holds down, an assignment they get that assignments day off. Our office has mostly rotating days off so that won't change. What may change is the "days off" group that carrier falls into. This is usually a low impact issue when a carrier opts for a group since almost all of us have rotating days off. Only 2 assignments at the PO where I work has 2 assignments with fixed days off (Saturday). The remaining 40 (approximately) assignments have rotating days off. Thank you for the question.

554 Votes

Hoping you can solve a debate for me & wife. Her friend's hubby is a carrier & brings home "extra coupons" for her & my wife. Claims they are undeliverable & will go to "dead mail" & just going to be shredded & Postmaster approves. I say it's illegal

Asked by CaliDad over 10 years ago

It is true that we send all non-deliverable mail which was sent as Presorted Standard rate (and not requested to be returned to the sender) to be recycled or shredded as far as I know. I don't know if it's illegal or not to take extra coupons to give to customers who request them, but I wouldn't get involved in doing that. Nobody has ever really asked me either to do that for them. I have taken Dunkin' Donuts coupons out of the circulars which were extras or non-deliverable. I know this doesn't settle your dispute. I am more disgusted by co-workers who feel that these weekly circulars are sometimes not that important and may not deliver them or make sure that everyone gets one. My attitude is that a mailer is paying for them to be delivered and that's our job whether or not the customers want them. Some other coworkers probably take home coupons that otherwise would be recycled. Again, they probably shouldn't, but never heard any repercussions for doing so. Thanks for your question.

554 Votes

if my supervisor ask me to drive a vehicle, can I tell him that I prefer to do some work that doesn't require me to drive?

Asked by David over 10 years ago

David, you certainly may say you prefer a non-driving delivery assignment, but I don't know if that will be honored. Quite honestly driving a postal vehicle is sometimes a fundamental part of the job, I know you were hired in Manhattan so that driving a postal vehicle may not be as vital. If you don't want to drive a vehicle, you are of more limited use to the organization which relies on the flexibility of the CCA workforce. I don't want to get your hopes up that it will be fine to avoid driving s postal vehicle all of the time. The truth is I don't know how it works in Manhattan, but most communities around the US would likely need you to drive.

554 Votes

Thank you for your response! I already contacted the property manager and he told me to contact USPS, which I did over the 1-800... and they asked me to call the local Post office, I called and the lady just put me on hold and then hanged up.

Asked by Isaac over 10 years ago

You're welcome Isaac. I'm sorry you didn't have a good experience with your local PO. I would recommend trying again as it's possible that the call was accidentally disconnected. Some offices are quite shorthanded but that doesn't excuse them for not just taking down some info, talking to your letter carrier when they have a chance and then getting back to you. You have a right to get your mail at a secure location in the centralized mailbox unit and I'm not sure what the reason for this foul up is since I don't have all of the facts.

553 Votes

I have had an issue with my mail carrier and filed a complaint against her, but she is still delivering mail. So I had my mail fwd to a PO Box. The carrier left a Vacant card in my home mailbox and now stops and checks it all the time. Why?

Asked by Jr about 10 years ago

I can't say why your letter carrier does what you are mentioning. It's unfortunate that you have an issue with her. By saying that she is still delivering mail, I assume you mean that she still is working for the USPS as a letter carrier but not physically delivering mail to your residence because your mail is being forwarded to a PO Box. A vacant card is appropriate to be put in your mailbox so that anybody who is delivering mail on a route that includes your address would know not to leave any mail in it. It's also unfortunate that you have to now go to a PO Box to retrieve your mail plus pay a rental fee. Is it possible that the letter carrier is checking the mailbox to make sure no mail has been accidentally left there by someone else? I doubt that is the case because it seems like you and her were in a conflict and that she probably isn't going out of her way to help you. While I'm only hearing one side of this conflict (yours), I can certainly say there are some bad workers for the USPS and nothing would surprise me about the actions of some letter carriers.

553 Votes

Can mail be forwarded to an address out of state if the person is not physically living in a residence in that state, due to health issues. Secondly, would that affect the persons medical benefits or tax issues in any capacity when filing taxes, etc

Asked by JVITTO48 over 9 years ago

I can answer your question in two parts. The first question you have is about whether or not mail can be forwarded to an address out of state even if the person isn't living in a residence in that state. Mail can be forwarded anywhere that the USPS delivers to as long as there is a proper change of addresss authorization/request submitted to the USPS. The easiest way to do this is at USPS.com .

As far as affecting and medical benefits and tax issues, I'm not qualified to give you an official answer. It probably depends on the source of the medical benefits. Some state public health assistance programs like Medicaid may require the recipient to live in that state. It doesn't necessarily mean their mail can't go somewhere else. I don't know about tax issues either. It shouldn't matter when filing a federal tax return, but I'm not sure about different state tax laws. There are probably 50 different answers to that.

551 Votes

Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

Are mail carriers allowed to take mail truck home everyday during their route? Curious because my neighbor does this daily and usually in his truck for a bit like 10-15 min then goes in his house for 20-30 min. Then leaves.

When a mail carrier oppts for a specific route does he get that routes day off? Or will hes day off keep rotating as usually scheduled?

Hoping you can solve a debate for me & wife. Her friend's hubby is a carrier & brings home "extra coupons" for her & my wife. Claims they are undeliverable & will go to "dead mail" & just going to be shredded & Postmaster approves. I say it's illegal

if my supervisor ask me to drive a vehicle, can I tell him that I prefer to do some work that doesn't require me to drive?

Also on Jobstr...

Thank you for your response! I already contacted the property manager and he told me to contact USPS, which I did over the 1-800... and they asked me to call the local Post office, I called and the lady just put me on hold and then hanged up.

I have had an issue with my mail carrier and filed a complaint against her, but she is still delivering mail. So I had my mail fwd to a PO Box. The carrier left a Vacant card in my home mailbox and now stops and checks it all the time. Why?

Can mail be forwarded to an address out of state if the person is not physically living in a residence in that state, due to health issues. Secondly, would that affect the persons medical benefits or tax issues in any capacity when filing taxes, etc

Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

Are mail carriers allowed to take mail truck home everyday during their route? Curious because my neighbor does this daily and usually in his truck for a bit like 10-15 min then goes in his house for 20-30 min. Then leaves.

When a mail carrier oppts for a specific route does he get that routes day off? Or will hes day off keep rotating as usually scheduled?

Hoping you can solve a debate for me & wife. Her friend's hubby is a carrier & brings home "extra coupons" for her & my wife. Claims they are undeliverable & will go to "dead mail" & just going to be shredded & Postmaster approves. I say it's illegal

if my supervisor ask me to drive a vehicle, can I tell him that I prefer to do some work that doesn't require me to drive?

Also on Jobstr...

Thank you for your response! I already contacted the property manager and he told me to contact USPS, which I did over the 1-800... and they asked me to call the local Post office, I called and the lady just put me on hold and then hanged up.

I have had an issue with my mail carrier and filed a complaint against her, but she is still delivering mail. So I had my mail fwd to a PO Box. The carrier left a Vacant card in my home mailbox and now stops and checks it all the time. Why?

Can mail be forwarded to an address out of state if the person is not physically living in a residence in that state, due to health issues. Secondly, would that affect the persons medical benefits or tax issues in any capacity when filing taxes, etc

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