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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Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

Hi! I need your recommendation for a good pair of walking shoes. I just started working @ my local MACY'S Dept. Store and the concrete floors are killing my feet! I need black, slip-on or lace up, shoes that will be comfortable.

Asked by Colin about 12 years ago

New Balance 706 Men's Postal Walking Shoe MK706B is the only shoe I've been wearing for the last few years as a postal letter carrier. My feet don't ache at all, but I must stress that everyone is different. Also, my most recent pair wore out very quickly, but I am wondering if that is because it was in storage for years before I actually used it. I'm not sure and they are about $100/pair. I'm sorry that I can't give you any other recommendations than that. The ones I mentioned are black, leather, lace-up and have a slip resistant grip with the SR/USA safety certification. There must be many choices available at a work clothes store like Work 'N Gear or Work 'N Play, or Cabela's. The trouble with ordering from a catalog is if you choose the wrong size or the shoes just don't feel right you have to return them via mail which could be a pain or have a fee involved for return postage. Again, I really like the shoes I mentioned above, but I have a new found concern about their longevity. Colin, thanks for writing.

1113 Votes

Is the post office manager allowed to cut open a package (a book) I was sending out (wrapped in cardboard), simply to make sure I was not using one of USPSs priority mail envelopes to ship something (non-priority)?

Asked by buffy almost 13 years ago

If the item was mailed via media mail, then it is valid for a postal employee to open a package to make sure that the item being mailed qualifies for the media mail rate. As far as just checking to see if a Priority Mail packaging was used to mail an item via non-Priority, I don't know the rule on that but I'm not too familiar with that being done. I thought that most, if not all, priority mail packaging now is printed on both the inside and outside making it very difficult to use for Non-priority mailing.

1112 Votes

my best friend was an rca for 10 yrs she died 3 weeks ago while on the job can she recieve any kind of benefits from the goverment she had a heart attack.

Asked by julie almost 13 years ago

I don't know the answer to this question. I am sorry to hear about the passing of your friend who was an RCA. My suggestion would be to have her next of kin (or maybe you) contact the district office where she was employed.

1111 Votes

i'm stuck because if the roommate loses the job, then they won't move out. it is as the other poster said, fear of not making it through probation period. yesterday the mail vanished, i hope it was delivered. i know what's R&W but i want my house bac

Asked by conflicted over 12 years ago

I understand what you mean. Your roommate won't be able to afford to move out if they don't pass their probation period and is terminated. If you see bundles of mail again at your house, I don't know if you would feel that you could confront your roommate and ask them why that mail is there. You may feel that it's none of your business and are being nosy which is also understandable. I don't know what the best advice would be, but if you really want them out of your house AND you think they will leave once the probation period is over, then you may want to just ignore any mail you see around the house. It is definitely wrong for that mail to not have been delivered, but I know you may not want to be a snitch and still have to live with your roommate. I'm sorry that I can't give you the absolute advice of what you should do because one has to look at "the big picture" and the consequences of their actions.

1111 Votes

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Can a mail carrier be fired for
spending one day in jail on a
false charge of domestic violence?

Asked by Robert almost 13 years ago

I don't know the answer to this question, but I would speculate that you wouldnt be fired for this, especially if you weren't convicted. 

1111 Votes

Why did I get a letter with the return address having an X over it?

Asked by rae about 12 years ago

Rae, I don't know why you would receive a letter with an X on the return address. It doesn't really make sense to me. One theory would be that it was mailed and then our automated letter sorting system accidentally read the return address as the destination address. Maybe if a letter carrier saw that they would put an X through the return address so that the only address that could be read by a machinery or person would be your address. This is just a guess on my part. Thanks for writing. 

1110 Votes

I've read that the avg carrier makes 72k. Is that true? And if so, how often due raises get passed out?

Asked by Jeremy over 12 years ago

I don't think the average carrier makes 72K, but I am glad to discuss what I make and put it in perspective. I haven't worked most of 2013 due to being out with an illness. Much of this illness is covered by paid sick leave so my salary for 2013 isn't too far out of line what most carriers probably make who weren't ill. My pay stub through pay period 26 of 2013 (which should be the last pp of the year) says $65200. To be quite honest that is a good salary for not having worked for more than 1/2 of the year. The highest salary I've ever made was probably in the $70-75K Range and that would include working overtime. Raises are passed out based on a contract which is agreed upon between the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) and the US Postal Service. They are often passed out 1X per year if you are at top pay. If you are working your way up to the top salary then you would get raises a bit more frequently. In conclusion, there is potentital to make superb salaries if you are willing to work all of the overtime that is asked of you which may mean coming in to work on a day you are usually off or maybe even working on a Sunday. I can't guarantee this, but if you did a little research under "NALC National Agreement 2014" there may be a published pay chart as to what carriers get paid. Thank you for your question.

1110 Votes

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