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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1237 Questions

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Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

Why would my mailman have a rider with him today. Sitting in a short seat right in the middle?

Asked by L. about 8 years ago

There are two reasons I can think of that there would be a rider in the middle seat. The first reason would be that a supervisor was riding along for part of the day which they may do once a year or so. Sometimes they just follow along in their own vehicle. The other reason would be if a new hire (CCA) was learning on the job from a carrier trainer and going out to deliver for the day with the trainer. Those are the two reasons I can think of. I guess another reason is if there were many packages to be delivered a helper could ride along but I’ve yet to ever see that in my office with a regular LLV (long life vehicle). That is usually done with a larger delivery vehicle or our new Dodge Promasters. Thank you for writing in with a question.

Is it true it's legal for the mail truck to run a red light

Asked by Henry almost 9 years ago

I have never heard that before and I'd say it's not legal for a USPS vehicle to run a red light. We are supposed to follow the traffic laws like any other vehicle. I'm sometimes disgusted the way I see some of my coworkers operate the USPS vehicles. I feel we should be professional representatives of the USPS, but I see some people don't care and drive like jerks in the USPS vehicle as they do in their privately owned vehicles.

back but the problem is that they are not letting me go to my old route.They said i will be regular but unassigned

Asked by William over 8 years ago

I don't know what advice to give you except that there seems to be a procedural error somewhere for this type of conflict to arise. I'd recommend a shop steward to assist you with this, but I sometimes don't have a great deal of confidence in their integrity to be objective if they have a closer personal relationship with the person who was of higher seniority. There has to be more to the story as to why you were awarded a route based on the bidding process and then told at a later time that something wasn't done properly and that you can't keep that route or your old route.

Do u have an LLV or something else

Asked by dave over 8 years ago

I use an LLV built by the Grumman corporation in the mid 1990s. Our office mostly has LLVs but more recently some carriers use a Dodge ProMaster which has a lot more capacity but isn't appropriate for curbside (mounted) delivery or dismount deliveries because it's a left hand drive vehicle (what most vehicles in the US are). We also have 2-ton USPS vehicles which are used by our mail collectors and parcel post drivers. I am only trained to drive an LLV of the 3 vehicles I mentioned. I feel most comfortable because it's also the smallest and most maneuverable. The main drawback is that in snowy or icy conditions it's very hard to control the vehicle safely.

do letter carriers get hit on a lot? like flirting?

Asked by ashley almost 8 years ago

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.

Well he flirts with and says he likes me blah blah blah! I was just curious because all of a sudden theres this other guy and It does happen from time to time but not 2 days in a row lol. ALOT of MAILMEN are attractive.

Asked by Jessica almost 8 years ago

I don’t know what could’ve happened in that situation to make the carrier leave the route. I hope that I fit into the attractive category but as I said before I’m not the flirty type. It’s also possible that you are attractive as well. I wouldn’t tell you or anyone else what to do, but if I were a letter carrier I’d proceed with caution when flirting with patrons. By no means is it forbidden as far as I know, just that it could lead to problems if it got out of control or a customer felt uncomfortable.

Hey Dave! Remember me? Well I've been working as a letter carrier on long island for just over 3 months now. I have two questions for you.
1. Is it legal to be scheduled to work 7+ days with no days off? I've worked a total of 26 days straight.

Asked by Dee almost 9 years ago

Hello Dee. I guess you are a CCA. I see from your post that you are working quite a bit. 26 days straight does seem excessive even though it's Christmas month and it's busy with parcel deliveries and more. I don't know the rules as to how many days in a row a CCA can be scheduled to work. In my office it seems they max out at about 13 days in a row, but I don't know if it's a rule or not. If there is an NALC steward in your office, you may ask them. Furthermore, the nalc.org website should have some q and a for CCA which may address your question.