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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1236 Questions

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Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

What did you think of Trump giving the prizes to the mail carriers?

Asked by Mikey almost 5 years ago

I don’t what you mean by that, but I don’t trust President Trump at all. He lies more in one day than I have in a lifetime. He seems like he’d like the USPS to fail or be privatized. You didn’t ask for this commentary, but he has failed this nation miserably in his handling of the Covid19 Pandemic. His defeat in the November, 2020 election is what I’m hoping for.

155 Votes

Have you ever had a situation where you went to someone’s house for them to sign something and they came to the door naked? A granny? Grandpa? What did or would you do in that scenario?

Asked by Sadie over 4 years ago

Maybe I have a boring existence or work in a pretty quiet area but I have never had that scenario ever happened to me whatsoever. The closest thing I’ve ever seen (which I was not impressed by) is an older man who likes to walk around the house in his underwear. He is creepy to begin with and I try not to have much of a conversation with him anyway. I don’t know what I’d do if that scenario presented itself. I could just carry in with business as usual. Seeing someone naked doesn’t totally phase me as I’ve seen topless women on beaches or even in NY City or San Francisco. I do feel it is inappropriate for someone to come to the door naked but I probably would not make a big deal of it.

154 Votes

I know the motto is they run no matter what happens the mail comes come hell or high water. But has it ever been so bad that they delayed or even did not send mail trucks out?

Asked by Kara about 4 years ago

Kara, the unofficial motto of the USPS is: Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

It isn’t true at all. For the most part, we strive to get all of the mail routes delivered each day. Due to bad weather or staffing shortages or maybe some other reasons, we don’t always deliver the mail. The LLVs are infamously poor to drive in when there is snow on the roadway. They don’t get much traction and fishtail easily. Add an incline or decline and it becomes that much more difficult.

There was a snowstorm recently in the NY Metropolitan Area where I work. The storm increased in intensity during the morning while I was out delivering the mail. At around 1130 I received a text message on my scanning device which said “all carriers return to the post office”. We didn’t finish delivering our mail routes that day. We aren’t superheroes and I think it’s smarter for us to suspend delivery when it isn’t safe to continue so we may get home and safely return to work the next day to deliver the mail.

154 Votes

Do your trucks have radios??!

Asked by Jimmy over 4 years ago

I drive an LLV (Long Life Vehicle). There is no radio. Some of our newer vehicles do have radios. The ProMaster has a radio and I believe the stopgap fleet replacement vehicle made by Mercedes Benz also has a radio. I believe when we get the new massive fleet replacement vehicle it may have a radio. It’s not a big deal to me. I can listen to podcasts or music on my personal electronic device or bring a portable radio. I am not in my vehicle too much anyway as most of my delivery route is walking from house to house or getting in and out of the postal vehicle every few hours (known as dismount or scouting delivery).

154 Votes

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What do you do when you need someone to sign something but they are not home? Or not answering their door?

Asked by Samual almost 5 years ago

If an item needs a signature (usually it’s a certified letter or registered mail), I knock on the door to obtain the signature of the resident if they want to accept the item. If they aren’t home or don’t want to come to the door, I leave a PS Form 3849 (Notice Of Attempted Delivery) which advises the customer that we had an item that may have needed a signature and the form gives them options to either pick up the item at a specific PO or they can request a redelivery. During the Covid19 pandemic, the procedure has changed slightly. As long as the customer is home and acknowledges that they want to “sign” for the item, we can print their name on the electronic scanner that they usually sign. This eliminates them from having to get too close to you or to touch the scanner. It seems to have worked well so far. Stay safe and thank you for your question.

154 Votes

Keep a eye out I think there is a troll asking questions over and over look through and see how much of the questions are the same writing styles, posting links, and asking the same questions over and over in a different way among other non sense

Asked by Jessica over 4 years ago

Thanks for the heads up, Jessica. Trolls are the bain of the Internet.

154 Votes

What do you think of mail in voting? This is a complicated issue. I figure someone who deals with the post office would know mail in voting and sorting through mail instead of Democraps and Repulsicans

Asked by I’m so sick of hearing it over 4 years ago

At least you were an equal opportunity basher of both major political parties. I believe there has been a lot of doubt purposely introduced into the voting-by-mail process by President Trump. My opinion is that voting by mail is very safe and reliable. There are a few important points I’d like to make. If you vote by mail, please follow the instructions given on the absentee/mail-in ballot regarding deadlines and signing your ballot. Also, voter fraud via mail or in person is quite rare. Several states have been doing almost full vote-by-mail for a number of years with minimal issues.

I plan to either vote by mail or vote early this year in NY State. If you are concerned about a mail-in ballot being received by your local election authority, I recommend dropping it off at a ballot collection box. I don’t believe there should be any issue as to how the USPS processes election mail. I think of it as just like having another couple of pieces of mail per address to deliver. We absolutely have the capacity to handle this in my opinion.

My bottom line—have confidence in the USPS in handling election mail for this coming 2020 General Election.

Thanks for your interest. This is a very important issue in the year of COVID-19 where mail voting will be utilized more than ever.

153 Votes

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