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.
Unfortunatley, you are probably stuck with the new carrier. Do you know the reason that there was a change in postal carriers? Some of the reasons are: a change in the territory that makes up a route, a carrier chooses to leave their route for another one, or a carrier retires or transfers to another office. When this happens, the route often goes up for "bid", and the most senior carrier who desires to do the route that includes your street gets that assignment. It is not based on how friendly, efficient, or safe that this carrier works. There are plenty of letter carriers at the USPS who won't win congeniality awards or hard worker accolades. There is very little corrective action that can be taken as long as the carrier shows up for work and doesn't get into any motor vehicle accidents. I don't know how you would feel about calling the delivery supervisor to voice your concerns about the new carrier and the safety of their driving as well as them forgetting mail, but you could do that. I don't know what kind of response you will get or if it will change anything, but I don't think it would hurt to mention it. Those qualities are very unprofessional and unsafe in a letter carrier. There are some of these carriers at the office where I work as well. I try to have as little as possible to do with them whatsoever. I'm sure this problem isn't uncommon in the USPS and most other companies. Thanks for writing to jobstr for advice.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Recently%20we%20had%20a%20change%20in%20postal%20carriers.%20Our%20old%20guy%20was%20very%20efficient%20and%20kind%2C%20always%20greeting%20us.%20The%20new%20guy%20is%20gruff%2C%20speeds%20through%20the%20neighborhood%2C%20rude%2C%20forgetting%20mail%20from%20time%20to%20time.%20We%20miss%20our%20old%20guy%21%20Are%20we%20stuck%20with%20this%20guy%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/13313)
Great question. Since it has been many years since I have been trained to be a letter carrier, I don't remember if I was trained to make sure the box is closed. Personally, it is just common sense to close any mailbox if you can. What I mean is that sometimes the mail is too "tall" and would prevent a lid from closing completely, but I would still close the lid as much as I can. To be honest, I don't think training is that thorough when it comes to being a letter carrier. I have seen carriers just put the mail on the ground in front of a house (not even rubber-banded) because they couldn't find a mailbox or doorslot. I have also seen the mail delivered but hanging out of the mailbox in a very messy fashion when there was clearly enough room to fit it all in. Granted some mailboxes are quite small and it is impossible to fit the mail entirely inside, but I've never heard a customer complain about the mail hanging out of those small boxes. My suggestion would be either to call the PO and speak to a delivery supervisor about this or put a note on the mailbox saying "please close lid after delivering the mail". By the way, I am presuming that your mailbox is deep enough to fit even catalogs and magazines. If this isn't the case, then I do understand the mailbox lid not being closed.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=I%20was%20wondering%20if%20letter%20carriers%20are%20trained%20to%20close%20the%20hinged%20lids%20on%20vertical%20wall%20mounted%20mailboxes%3F%20I%27ve%20had%20many%20carriers%20over%20the%20years%20and%20none%20of%20them%20has%20ever%20closed%20the%20lid.%20As%20a%20result%2C%20whenever%20it%20rains%20my%20mail%20gets%20drenched.&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/12316)
Most post offices are open until Noon or 1PM for retail service on Saturdays if they have Saturday hours at all. I don't know if you can put a reverse on a letter that has tracking via the telephone customer service or via www.usps.com. It may have to be done in person at a Post Office. If you call 800-ASK-USPS they may know a bit more about this subject. Their Saturday hours are 8AM-6PM ET.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Ok%20well%20what%20time%20are%20they%20open%20till%20on%20saturdays%3F%20Are%20they%20open%207%20days%20on%20the%20phone%20to%20put%20reverse%20on%20a%20letter%20with%20tracking%20on%20it%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/12987)
Cynthia, that is a good question and I don't know the legal requirements (if any) to return any mail that is errantly delivered to your address, whether it is for a former resident or just delivered by mistake to the wrong address. Anyone who tells you otherwise I would question where they get that information. Most people I know aren't versed in the law when it comes to the US Mail. I do read that tampering with the US Mail is a federal offense but I don't interpret that discarding mail that was errantly given to you to be tampering with it. On the flip side, as much as that person has been a sore spot to you, would it be so hard to just write on the outside of the mail "person doesn't live here" and leave it in the mailbox for the letter carrier to have sent back to the sender? In theory, the letter may find its way back to the sender who may update their records and you won't get any mail from them anymore addressed to the former tenant. Just a thought. Thanks for writing.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=What%20are%20my%20legal%20%28legal%20not%20ethical%29%20obligations%20when%20the%20mailman%20delivers%20mail%20to%20my%20address%20that%20the%20person%20no%20longer%20%28and%20has%20not%20for%20years%29%20lives%20here%3F%20The%20person%20is%20a%20real%20sore%20spot%20and%20was%20evicted%20so%20the%20less%20I%20have%20to%20do...the%20better.&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/12107)
Meter Maid
What's the meanest thing anyone's ever said to you?
Air Traffic Controller
When would you order fighter jets to be scrambled?
MBA Student
How many years of work experience do you REALLY need before applying?
As far as I know, there is no other PO besides the one that delivers your mail that could do anything with the information whether you have moved or not. Other mail processing facilities just sort the mail according to ZIP code to get it on its way to your local PO. They aren't concerned with the name on the mail. Do you live with anybody else who may write that on the mail and put it back in the outgoing mail? As long as your local PO knows you haven't moved, nobody should be having your mail returned to the sender. You could also put a note and tape it inside your mailbox saying "(your name) is a valid name to deliver here".
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Some%20of%20my%20mail%20gets%20%22this%20person%20has%20moved%22%20and%20returned.%20My%20local%20post%20office%20said%20they%20straightened%20it%20out.%20But%20it%20is%20still%20happening.%20Do%20some%20post%20offices%20still%20have%20me%20listed%20as%20%22moved%22%2C%20if%20yes%3A%20How%20do%20I%20tell%20all%20post%20offices%20I%20haven%27t%20moved%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/14458)
I am not sure if it will be delivered or not. Sometimes a letter carrier will just deliver a letter as addressed and sometimes they will wait until they see new mail coming in via a change of address order (usually a yellow sticker with the new address on it). I am not sure whether the check will be delivered or not. If not, I hope your cousin receives the check back and then re-send it when you are sure that you are getting mail at your new address.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=will%20a%20letter%20be%20delivered%20if%20name%20dont%20match%20address%20i%20changed%20my%20address%20but%20it%20will%20take%2010%20days%20my%20cousin%20sent%20a%20check%20to%20me%20at%20my%20new%20address%20but%20it%20never%20showed&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/9681)
I have deleted one version of this question because it was posted twice. It is a very good question and I will try to be as clear as I can with the how and why of bidding for routes. Firstly, we bid for routes (or assignments, as it isn't always an actual mail delivery route) so that we are doing the same assignment every day in accordance with a collective bargaining agreement between the USPS and the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC). It allows carriers to choose what assignment (delivery route, collection route, parcel post route, floater route (which fills in for carriers on 5 routes on their days off and pays a slightly higher wage)) they would like to work. It is based on seniority at a specific installation, not necessarily when you were hired by the USPS. For example, if you transfer from an office in Maryland to an office in Florida, you will likely lose your local seniority putting you at the bottom of the list with regards to bidding on vacant assignments. There are probably some exceptions to this rule and often in cities there may be several delivery stations that you can bid between and not lose seniority if you bid from one station to another. I am no expert in this as I have always worked in the same post office my entire career. I think it is the fairest system around and am a big advocate of seniority based assignments. The airline industry uses it for Pilots and Flight Attendants to choose what equipment they would like to fly, what routes, what cities they would like to be based in, etc. Anyhow, back to the USPS. I am sure there is a process of online bidding, but for vacant assignments in my local post office that are put up for bid, here is how it works. Management will post a sheet a paper called a Notice of Vacancy of an Assignment. The notice will specify the assignment (usually the route #), the specifics of the shift times and days off. The notice will also specify the dates that bidding is open. It is usually a 10-day period. The supervisor will have a locked box on their desk and pink bid cards (blank) available for regular carriers to fill out to bid on the assignment and put the bid in the box. Once the bidding period has expired, the supervisor and union shop steward will open the bid box and sort all of the valid bids by seniority date. The top 3 bidders based on seniority are then announced. The winner then has 3 workdays to try the new assignment and then can decide to keep it or not. If they decide not to keep it, the 2nd and 3rd place bidders can then try out the assignment. It rarely goes past the 2nd place bidder in my experience. I hope this answers your question and thank you for writing.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=how%20%26%20why%20do%20you%20bid%20for%20routes%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/12266)
-OR-
Login with Facebook (max 20 characters - letters, numbers, and underscores only. Note that your username is private, and you have the option to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
(A valid e-mail address is required. Your e-mail will not be shared with anyone.)
(min 5 characters)
By checking this box, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to Jobstr.com’s Terms and Privacy Policy.
-OR-
Register with Facebook(Don't worry: you'll be able to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
Browse Jobs
Host a Q&A
Search
Submit Your Question
Host a Q&A
Last 7
