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.
It should be a very straightforward process as to who is awarded an assignment. Seniority is usually the main determining factor. In your case I don't know why they would say you won the bid and then later say someone higher in seniority bid for it. I would ask to see evidence of the bid and that it was submitted in time by the person with more seniority than you. I've never seen this conflict happen before where I work. If you can bid for other offices in your city I thought the process was fully automated. I am not sure what advice to give you. A union shop steward may be able to help you but maybe they are involved in person with higher seniority get assigned to the route that you got.
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I wish. LOL. I’m sure there are some that do get hit on often and some carriers may be the ones doing the flirting. I think it’s inappropriate to do if it’s excessive or the person being hit on feels uncomfortable and if it’s unwanted. I rarely have been hit on or flirted with. I mostly just do my job and try to stay professional. There are certainly cases of carriers meeting their future mates either at work or on the postal route. It’s all good when the relationship is getting on well. I’m sure it can be uncomfortable or ugly if it doesn’t end well. Good question by the way.
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I've never worked in an urban environment to deliver mail so I can't speak from experience. While it's true you may not have the advertising circulars that you deliver so much of in the suburbs you could have a larger route even though the mail volume per house is lower. Some cities have routes where you use a pushcart and don't have a vehicle to seek shelter in when the weather gets very bad. Is it possible the streets are crowded so it's not always easy to find parking for your postal vehicle if you even have one? Please also consider that you will likely lose your bidding seniority if you switch offices. This may not be important to you of haven't been at the USPS very long. Living closer to work may be a valid convenience for transferring. I'm quite happy working in the suberbs. The neighborhood where my route is can be pretty quiet at times which is what I enjoy. There are probably pros and cons to each work environment and if I was originally hired to work in a more urban environment I may have been fine with that. The decision you make is personal. I hope you feel you make the right move whichever action you choose to (or not to) make.
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Deee, I don’t know the answer to this question. On the NALC website there is a CCA resource guide. In a section I looked at it didn’t seem to mention anything about the number of consecutive days you could be scheduled to work. We have several CCA in our office and I’m pretty sure they try to give them off one day per week, but I don’t know if it’s mandated or not. During the busy time they may work more than 7 days/week. If you have a shop steward that you could contact they may have the proper answer for you.
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I don't know that they can become a full fledged supervisor as a CCA (city carrier assistant) because that would mean being hired into a career position. A CCA is a non-career position. I've seen at least 2-3 times at the office where I work where a CCA has become a 204(b) which is an acting supervisor. It surprised me at first when this happened but I didn't have an issue with it as I had no desire to be a supervisor/manager. Some coworkers feel it's a bit absurd. The truth is that our staffing levels are so low across the board that nothing surprises me as to who goes where and does what. In our office we currently have one CCA (pregnant) who is doing the work of a 204(b). I don't know her plans once the baby is born and she comes back to work.
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Definitely not, KDS4444. Restricted Delivery service is very specific that the signator be the addressee and nobody else. We may not release the letter unless we have positively identified that the named addressee is the person signing for the letter. This is the service that the mailer has specifically requested. In my entire career, I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve had a restricted delivery item to attempt. I don’t know if it’s more common for you. I recommend not fabricating anything when attempting to deliver a Restricted Delivery item. I’d leave a PS3849 if the named addressee isn’t available to sign for the item. Thank you for your question.
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Thanks Jessica. It’s not me in the photo. I’m not sure if I could put up a photo (I mean I don’t know if it’s an option). I wouldn’t put one up though because I’m not authorized to speak on behalf of the USPS and would prefer my id isn’t known to anybody who may call me out for doing this and tell me to cease or possibly discipline me. It also allows me to be openly critical and honest where I feel it’s warranted. I’m sure the letter carrier liked that you came onto him. I don’t think I’d mind either if I liked the woman. I will now call you “homewrecker”. Absolutely just kidding.
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