Ask a Mailman (City Letter Carrier) anything

1237 Questions

Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Someone is using my physical address for mail but asking the PO to hold their mail for pick up. He used to live at the property but sold it in Nov2016. He will not complete a change of address form and the post master will not help. What can I do?

Asked by GG almost 9 years ago

GG, I don't really have a suggestion for you. If it were affecting your mail delivery in any way I'd be quite upset and concerned. In theory, they shouldn't keep holding someone's mail for pickup indefinitely. I mean they shouldn't be able to have their mail held, pick it up, and then just put it on hold again. The solution for that person would be to rent a PO Box and have their mail forwarded to it. I know we often won't hold mail for individuals at a certain address. We usually hold the entire mail for an entire address but I can't quote you any internal policies on this because I don't know them. If any mail for the previous owner actually gets delivered to your house, I'd say that you should feel free to discard it since the PO isn't helping you at all. I know it sounds vindictive but the person who moved out or sold the property should either fill out a proper COA or just not care about any mail addressed to him at your current residence.

429 Votes

I thought of 1 more ?, sorry. If a carrier jumps onto my porch where there are no stairs and gets injured doing that, am I liable? To get to the stairs, one must cross my small yard & enter at far end, based on the direction he travels on his route.

Asked by Cathy over 8 years ago

I do understand what you mean. Your question is "If a carrier takes the 'shortcut' to your mailbox vs taking the stairs at the far end based on his direction of travel are you liable for any injury. I don't know the answer to this for sure but I'd hope not. We are covered by workers' compensation insurance through our employer (the USPS) and I don't know that the USPS or the letter carrier (individually) could file a successful liability claim against you as the homeowner. I can see if you were very negligent as a homeowner and maybe caused some type of tripping hazard to be left unattended perhaps there could be some liability, but I have really no insight on this.

428 Votes

What is the premise to scan flats and letters, it’s ridiculous in my opinion, and what if a house is vacant or on hold, my guess is on the scanner to hit “not on the route “when it prompts, any thoughts

Asked by jvitto48 almost 8 years ago

From what I understand, we scan the flats and letters to verify how long it takes mailpieces to get from somewhere to the delivery point. I haven’t heard this for sure. I agree it seems pointless and annoying. I make sure to take the time to do it properly though I don’t trust most of my coworkers to do it. Regarding what to do when it asks i feel the address is on the route, i usually put “yes” if it’s vacant or hold but I have to say I’m probably not consistent with that i do. I’d hit “yes”, then “end scanning” and then “no more to scan” if I had zero mailpieces with me. I’m not sure how it is in Massapequa but the communication as to what we’re supposed to do in any situation is quite half-assed and different supv may give different answers. I have so little faith in the supervisors to give the right information that I often don’t even bother asking. We had a service talk today about how to scan parcels that are on “hold”. The directions were completely the opposite of what we were told in the past. Besides that, I doubt they will repeat the service talk for the carriers who were off today or on vacation. I’m just venting but I think you can relate to my comments. Thanks again for writing and hope you liked my tangent.

428 Votes

Can you enter an open garage to deliver a package

Asked by Debbie over 8 years ago

I don't know the rule about this Debbie. I would guess that for the safety of the letter carrier it is recommended not to enter an open garage or backyard. I almost always will leave any packages at the front door. If the garage is open and the package can be left there I may consider doing that as well. We have never been told not to deliver a package through and open garage.

428 Votes

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gift for particular mailman instead of temp

Asked by Rose about 9 years ago

Rose, I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this question. If you would like to give a gift to a particular letter carrier, I'm sure it'd be appreciated. During this time of year (December holiday season), many people who I deliver mail to will give me a cash gratuity or gift of sweets or wine for example. It is never expected by me to receive a gratuity or gift but I follow up with a thank you card to the customer. If you're not sure when your particular letter carrier is working you may just have to wait until you see them to present them with the gift or leave it in your mailbox and hope they will get it. Please ask a follow up question of me if I haven't explained my answer clearly.

428 Votes

In less than two weeks I will be converted to full time on a T6 route. Do you have any tips or advice?

Asked by Mr FullTime almost 9 years ago

Congratulations Mr. fulltime. That's a clever name. As far as any tips or advice I have a few. First, you are there to serve the residents or businesses on the routes, not the regular carrier who normally does the route. This means you don't have to do any favors or anything that the regular asks you to do for the customers. Please just be conscientious about delivering the mail properly and accurately. I'd recommend not going too fast just to get the route done. It's best to go at a consistent moderate pace and don't waste time on your cell phone texting and talking to people when you should be focused on working safely and efficiently. If you aren't sure about a certain delivery or maybe how to do a route, you can ask the regular carrier and hopefully they will help you. I have a route which I deliver daily, but when I have a non-scheduled day, the T6 delivers it. I give my "floater" or "comp person" the information they'd need re: houses where there are vacancies or forwards or dogs to be aware of. If the regular carrier comes in for his non-scheduled day for OT, it's possible (depending on how your office operates) you could be "bumped" off that assigned route for the day and deliver another route in the office. My advice would also be to try to stay out of any office politics if possible. Having the same route to deliver daily, I don't need to know much about what else is happening at the PO. Good luck to you, sir!

428 Votes

How do you get the USPS OIG to investigate? A carrier tech never delivers catalogs. I have tested and confirmed they did not deliver at least 12 over 2 years. All other carriers have passed my tests 100%. This one fails 100%. USPS OIG does nothing.

Asked by USPS Abused almost 9 years ago

I don't know anything about getting OIG to investigate anything for the USPS. I think they may have a tip hotline that can be called but I don't know if they will place your tip on any high priority. I would call that carrier a sleazeball for not delivering anything that should be. It is illegal plus the only reason our job exists is because items are being paid for that we should deliver. I have the impression that so many employees (including management) don't care at all about proper delivery of mail and what gets discarded or has the proper postage. There is so little oversight as to what we do on a daily basis unless we do something egregious or work unsafely. I'm sorry to be so negative. It's important to me that every piece of mail that is properly addressed is delivered, no matter if it's a catalog, weekly supermarket flier, or birthday card. It's all mail and should be handled accordingly.

427 Votes

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Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

Someone is using my physical address for mail but asking the PO to hold their mail for pick up. He used to live at the property but sold it in Nov2016. He will not complete a change of address form and the post master will not help. What can I do?

I thought of 1 more ?, sorry. If a carrier jumps onto my porch where there are no stairs and gets injured doing that, am I liable? To get to the stairs, one must cross my small yard & enter at far end, based on the direction he travels on his route.

What is the premise to scan flats and letters, it’s ridiculous in my opinion, and what if a house is vacant or on hold, my guess is on the scanner to hit “not on the route “when it prompts, any thoughts

Can you enter an open garage to deliver a package

Also on Jobstr...

gift for particular mailman instead of temp

In less than two weeks I will be converted to full time on a T6 route. Do you have any tips or advice?

How do you get the USPS OIG to investigate? A carrier tech never delivers catalogs. I have tested and confirmed they did not deliver at least 12 over 2 years. All other carriers have passed my tests 100%. This one fails 100%. USPS OIG does nothing.

Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

Someone is using my physical address for mail but asking the PO to hold their mail for pick up. He used to live at the property but sold it in Nov2016. He will not complete a change of address form and the post master will not help. What can I do?

I thought of 1 more ?, sorry. If a carrier jumps onto my porch where there are no stairs and gets injured doing that, am I liable? To get to the stairs, one must cross my small yard & enter at far end, based on the direction he travels on his route.

What is the premise to scan flats and letters, it’s ridiculous in my opinion, and what if a house is vacant or on hold, my guess is on the scanner to hit “not on the route “when it prompts, any thoughts

Can you enter an open garage to deliver a package

Also on Jobstr...

gift for particular mailman instead of temp

In less than two weeks I will be converted to full time on a T6 route. Do you have any tips or advice?

How do you get the USPS OIG to investigate? A carrier tech never delivers catalogs. I have tested and confirmed they did not deliver at least 12 over 2 years. All other carriers have passed my tests 100%. This one fails 100%. USPS OIG does nothing.

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