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.
Absolutely! I couldn’t think of doing any other job. It wasn’t always this way but I realized over the years it’s a great fit for my personality. By no means is this for everybody and many coworkers complain constantly. I have my conflicts with mgmt and the overall operation but that doesn’t take away from my love of the job. I am paid to exercise (walking about 7+ miles per day) listen to podcasts, and provide a service to our customers. I don’t have to deal a lot with office politics because I’m out of the building for about 3/4 of the work day. The pay is adequate for my lifestyle and there is a good amount of OT available to increase my income if so desired. Eventually, the USPS will be in severe financial stress so I don’t know how the changes will affect how I feel about the job, but I’m content as of now. Thanks for writing in with this question.
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It is a bit of a lengthy process to replace the massive fleet of delivery vehicles for the USPS. From what I’ve read the testing phase of approximately 5 competing proposals is almost complete and a decision will be made later this year (2019). From that point it would probably take a few years to fully replace our fleet of LLVs. I don’t know if the current financial difficulties of the USPS would impact the timeline for this process. As far as old jeeps being used, I don’t know if some places still use it. With the volume of packages we deliver nowadays, they’d seem entirely inefficient. I haven’t seen them used in years, but I can’t speak for the entire country. At this point, they’d be well over 25 years old.
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I have never heard of that happening, though one resident on my postal route was concerned about the possibility of stolen identity. She was receiving misdelivered mail and was worried that maybe her mail was also being misdelivered and that the errant recipient could steal her identity. Mail is constantly delivered to the wrong house. While I like to think I make few errors, I’m not infallible. Furthermore, some coworkers care so little about delivery accuracy that they deliver wrong mail often. They are just careless and don’t verify the address on each piece of mail. It is rare in my office that we even get told about delivering the mail accurately. A customer would probably have to escalate an issue so frequently for the letter carrier to even get spoken to about it. I’ve never heard of anyone being disciplined for errant mail delivery. I’m not saying that they can’t be, but I haven’t seen it in the PO where I work Thank you for your question.
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If an address doesn’t exist, a postal worker will write on the item “No such number” or “No Such Street” and the letter will either be discarded or returned to the sender. This depends on the class of mail. In the case of a valid address, but the item being addressed to a person who has never been at that address, the item would be marked “Attempted, Not Known” and, as in your first question, discarded or returned to the sender. In many cases, a letter carrier doesn’t know who lives at an address and they will just deliver the mail to the valid address. In that case, the current resident may or may not leave the letter in the mailbox and write on it “doesn’t live here” or something similar. Again, if that happens, the item would then either be discarded at the PO or returned to the sender.
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I have no idea but consider myself intelligent.
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In the vehicle I drive, which is called an LLV (Long life vehicle), there is no radio or any kind installed. No AM/FM and no 2-way radio with the base post office or any dispatch. We use cell phones to either call or text our supervisors if necessary. Our hand held scanning devices also have the ability to text message the supervisors but I don’t think those messages are checked too frequently by the management. The phone is our best means of communication IMO.
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Fortunately, no. I’ve had some close calls where they’ve nipped at my heels or pants but I can’t say I’ve ever had a real bite where I made a report or needed any medical attention. I am no dog lover so I try and steer clear of them as much as possible. We are mandated to carry dog spray/repellent with us in case we think we are about to be bitten or if we are attacked. I’d say most dog owners in the areas where I deliver are quite responsible in containing and controlling their pets.
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