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

Are mailmen allowed to return ads from previous occupants to sender or is mine just lazy?

Asked by St KING about 12 years ago

I am not exactly sure what you mean by this but I'll give it a crack. I am also copying and pasting this answer as you seem to have asked the same question twice. With regards to advertising mail, or any mail, the letter carrier should only be delivering mail to your residence that has your name OR has another name plus "or current resident" on the address label. If it just has the previous occupants name and doesn't say "or current resident", you certainly have the option to leave it in the mailbox with a note on it saying "addressee doesn't live here. please return to sender". Depending on the class of mail there is a chance we don't actually return the ad to the sender, but we do discard it at the Post Office. It is called NOVM (No Obvious Value Mail). Mail that would fall in that category is in the class of Presorted Standard Mail. Most mail that is Presorted Standard and doesn't say "or current resident" and has a previous occupants name could be discarded into the NOVM at the PO. I don't know that I would call your letter carrier lazy, but maybe they aren't paying attention to the name on the mail. You absolutey have the right to put the ad back in the mail if you wish.

will my mail be delievered even if it doesn't say APT but it says N (which is my apt)?

Asked by Noemi about 12 years ago

It should be delivered without the words "APT" on the delivery address. As long as there is a space after the actual street address or the apt. # is on the line above or below the street address, the abbreviation "APT" is superfluous and your mail should get to you properly. I live in an apt. building and when I write my address, I put my apt. # directly after my street address followed by a space and have never had a mail delivery issue. I will say that having the apt. # on the delivery address is very important, especially in a building with many units. Without an apt. # on the mail, it is possible that the mail is returned to the sender marked "insufficient address" Thanks for writing.

What did you do uniform wise before you got your uniform allowance? Did you buy anything with your personal money? If so what? What did you buy with your first allowance?

Asked by Bradan over 11 years ago

I think it was about 3 months (probationary period) before I received a uniform allowance. I think I dressed mostly in blue and wore jean shorts or blue jeans as a uniform for the lower part of my body and a dark t-shirt for the upper part. It was during summer months so outerwear wasnt too much of an issue but I probably had a rain jacket and baseball cap. I don't think anything had the USPS logo on it. I can't remember if I bought anything with my own money but probably would have, if necessary. With my first allowance (which was higher than subququent years), I probably bought long and short sleeved uniform shirts, a winter jacket, shorts and pants, shoes, and a baseball bap. It has been quite a few years but this is a guess as to what I bought. I know the items can be a bit pricey and eat up a uniform allowance quickly. On Long Island, NY where I deliver mail there used to be actual uniform stores that we could go in to and purchase our clothing. The one closest to wear I work/live has closed so I spend my entire yearly uniform allowance online. Some vendors will offer you a 10-20% spending bonus if you use the entire allowance at one time. I recommend purchasing items that will keep you warm and dry in bad weather even if it means spending out-of-pocket having used up your uniform allowance. It is difficult for me to work in the cold and always have to layer up properly in the winter. I don't know where you live if this is a factor or not. Good luck in your postal career and keep your head up even if management doesn't treat you like they appreciate you.

If I dropped some mail that I was going to hand deliver in the post office box by mistake, can I get it from them if I wait for them by the box?

Asked by Melva about 12 years ago

I don't know the answer for sure about this. It may depend on the actual carrier who comes to empty out the blue collection box as I am not sure of the rules that cover this. I know if I were the carrier who was emptying out the box and you could prove who you were and it matched a return address, I would likely return it to you. If there was no return address but you could still somehow prove it belonged to you, I also would likely give it back. But just to reiterate, I don't know the rules that cover this and it may also be up to the direction of the letter carrier.

If my regular mail isnt at the post office by the time my normal mail man leaves for his route, will they see it when they get back to the Post office and bring it back to my house the same day?

Asked by CC almost 13 years ago

Not usually. At our PO, we generally won't leave for a route until all of the regular (1st and 2nd class) mail is ready for delivery. So as to your question, I would think that the mail wouldn't be delivered until the following day unless a supervisor specifically approved a carrier to go out and deliver late-arriving mail. 

If the zipcode is wrong, one city over, will i still get my package?

Asked by kaylee almost 12 years ago

Not necessarily. Did you put the right name of your community but the wrong ZIP? If so, there is a good chance that the PO at the wrong ZIP city will cross it out and then the package will be sent to your community where it will then be delivered. If the name of the town and ZIP is incorrect on the package, and nobody at the receiving PO recognizes the address as belonging to your community then they may return the package to the sender as "NSS" meaning No Such Street or "NSN" meaning No Such Number. A lot may also depend on how savvy or caring the personnel is at the PO that originally receives the package to have it rerouted to your town where you could then get it delivered. I hope it works out for you. in the future, please remember that a correct ZIP is very important in an address. Thanks for writing!

hi, mailman on my route tdy (main mailman is great guy) was rude/dismissive 2 me, asked him 4 his name he evaded ?, told my this was his street and he didnt give a fck who i was. don't feel safe w/him in my building or handling my mail. any recourse?

Asked by brimfield almost 13 years ago

I apologize on behalf of the USPS for such bad behavior by the letter carrier. Did you ask him something that may have bothered him. Were you polite to him? Either way, he should not be rude to you and I don't think it's appropriate for him to curse either. My only suggestion is to call the PO where he works and speak to a delivery supervisor. I'm not sure that would resolve anything. They are sometimes ambivalent about this.