Ask a Mailman (City Letter Carrier) anything

1237 Questions

Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Have you eved had to call 911 while on the job

Asked by Mat about 7 years ago

Fortunately, no. I believe if I were involved in a motor vehicle accident, I’d first call my supervisor, and then call 911 (unless there were apparent injuries or fire where we would call 911 first).

424 Votes

What’s the worst weather you have ever worked in

Asked by Sid over 6 years ago

I can’t say what the worst weather was, but extreme cold for NY Metro area (around 0F) is pretty difficult to work in. If we get a significant snowfall, our LLV (long life vehicles) perform poorly on unplowed streets and even worse on inclines. As long as you dress properly and cover your extremities well, most inclement weather is manageable. A deluge of rain is difficult to work in because you are trying to stay dry as well as to keep the mail dry. I realize this doesn’t fully answer your question, but I can’t pinpoint any “worst weather” day I’ve experienced.

423 Votes

So I know this video has been out there for a while but what do you think? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOCyzG4BktQ

Asked by Ryan about 6 years ago

I have never seen that video before. Not knowing the background of the situation, I can’t make a judgment. I know that there are mentally ill and depraved people who work at USPS and in the public. Either this woman perceives she is being stalked by this letter carrier or she actually was being stalked and he is denying it.

422 Votes

What do you do if your doing your mail route and a Tornado warning is issued?

Asked by Yancey over 6 years ago

I don’t live or work in an area with tornado warnings or sirens. I imagine if there was one or a severe thunderstorm, I’d seek shelter somewhere. The vehicle I use for work would be fine if there were a thunderstorm. If there were a tornado I do not believe the vehicle would be a safe place to be. Maybe I would go see if I could find a house and get down low but I’m not really sure of the right procedure because I’ve never been involved in an area subject to tornadoes. They are rare in the northeastern US where I work.

421 Votes

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Why is there sometimes someone else in the car when they are delivering mail?

Asked by Jane about 6 years ago

It’s either a supervisor doing a periodic check of the route and the carrier delivering it or there may be a trainee being shown how to do the job.

420 Votes

What’s your opinion on the post master general

Asked by Billy almost 6 years ago

I feel that Louis DeJoy, our newer Postmaster General is a political hack who was appointed due to his loyalty and fundraising support of President Trump. Most of our recent previous PMGs have been USPS employees, but that isn’t necessary to be able to do the job successfully. There is no doubt that our organization isn’t modern and doesn’t run that efficiently. Some changes are necessary, but the changes proposed not long before an election where a large amt of ballots will be submitted via mail bodes of a deliberate attempt to sow doubt in the USPS ability to handle the mailed ballots. Fortunately, there was a lot of pushback from the public and some courts about these changes. I don’t feel I was ever affected by them at my facility. After the 2020 election, DeJoy said he will again propose some major changes. If Trump loses the election, I’m not sure that DeJoy will even stay on the job. I don’t believe he can be fired so easily, but maybe he doesn’t even really want this job long term.

417 Votes

Has someone ever tried to get you to deliver a bomb?

Asked by Brick head over 6 years ago

No. Fortunately, that would be a super rare event. In all of my years working at the Postal Service the only issue I ever had to deal with was the 2001 anthrax attacks where we were concerned with exposure to anthrax that was being sent in the mail, 2001. There were 5 fatalities (2 of them were USPS employees) according to Wikipedia.

416 Votes