Ask a Mailman (City Letter Carrier) anything

1237 Questions

Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question about driver certification training.Perhaps the difficult economy allows for a more Darwinian approach. Warned not to hit a cone.You must pass several scenarios.
Enumerated in USPS manual.

Asked by Chris about 12 years ago

Chris, the pleasure is mine to help out where I am able to. I am not sure what your comments mean regarding the Darwinian approach, except possibly that I was just stating the obvious to drive carefully. I am not familiar with what the USPS Manual says, but does that state several simulated scenarios to be passed? Good luck to you if you are trying to get hired as a letter carrier with the USPS.

954 Votes

Is it up to the mailman to decide whose mail needs to be forwarded back to the sender or is it the post office's duty? Recently my mail hasn't been delivered to me because my mailman thought we moved, for no reason.

Asked by Erica over 12 years ago

Thy mailman has instructions (called forwarding orders) on what mail to send to the central forwarding system. If your mail is being sent to another address for no reason, you may want to tell your letter carrier or delivery supervisor that you haven't moved and that your mail should be delivered as addressed.

954 Votes

How often do you encounter 'suspicious' letters? or letters that you think may contain illegal substances?

Asked by Boe over 11 years ago

I can't remember a time that I came across any suspicious letters or packages, or at least not as of late. Not long after 9/11 I think there was anthrax sent through mail or something like that to Washington DC. It made me nervous and I think I had some type of reaction that I may have contracted it and had trouble breathing. It turned out to be all in my head and nothing ever came of it. There probably is drugs sent through the mail or maybe other illegal substances but I have no experience with it fortunately.

954 Votes

she lives in charleston south carolina btw

Asked by kyle over 11 years ago

Kyle, I think the normal amount of time for a First-class letter to get from Lancaster, PA to Charleston, SC, would be 2 days. From what you wrote it has already been 4 delivery days and the letter hasn't arrived. I don't know that it's rare, but it exceeds our service goal as far as I know. Are you sure you addressed the letter correctly and completely? Letters still get lost in the mail, missorted, misdelivered, destroyed by our automated sorting machines, etc. but that is all a very low percentage of the amt of mail processed.

954 Votes

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In your experience, when a CCA or a Letter Carrier gets into an accident while on the job and it is his or her fault, would they still be kept on the job or terminated?

Asked by Larry about 11 years ago

In my experience it isn't too common for anyone to get terminated for anything. I mean people are given a letter of removal but the union often will appeal that and the carrier is reinstated. If it isn't the first time something happened that was the carrier's fault it may be more difficult to appeal successfully. If you are a CCA it is probably easier to fire you if you get in an at-fault accident. I don't recall any letter carriers at my office ever being terminated for an at-fault MVA. I can't speak for any of the other thousands of offices nationwide. Drive carefully, defensively and don't be distracted.

953 Votes

How late could I expect to possibly have my package arrive tonight?

Asked by Brian over 11 years ago

I don't know if you will receive the package tonight. This time of year I'd say that most packages are delivered by 6PM, but each office probably has varying times due to mail volume and staffing levels. During the holiday season, we deliver some packages on Sunday as well. If you have a tracking number you can track the shipment at www.usps.com but I'm not sure how well it works with items that originated from another country.

953 Votes

can i give my package to the mailman to ship off or take back to that specific location

Asked by juan over 11 years ago

You can give a mailman any package that has the postage paid on it either via a computer printed label (such as Click 'N Ship) or a label where the recipient will pay the return postage. In the latter case, the label will clearly say "No Postage Necessary If Mailed Within The United States". Every letter carrier should accept the package no questions asked. The exception to this would be a city letter carrier who may not have a USPS vehicle which they are operating from and are unable to bring the package back to the Post Office. In that case I believe you can go to www.usps.com to schedule a package pickup. The mailman usually won't take a package back to a specific address until it is processed through our mail distribution system. Most of the time we just accept any package or mail along our delivery routes and bring back to the post office where we work from and it gets dispatched to a mail distribution center for processing. Thanks for writing.

952 Votes

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Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question about driver certification training.Perhaps the difficult economy allows for a more Darwinian approach. Warned not to hit a cone.You must pass several scenarios.
Enumerated in USPS manual.

Is it up to the mailman to decide whose mail needs to be forwarded back to the sender or is it the post office's duty? Recently my mail hasn't been delivered to me because my mailman thought we moved, for no reason.

How often do you encounter 'suspicious' letters? or letters that you think may contain illegal substances?

she lives in charleston south carolina btw

Also on Jobstr...

In your experience, when a CCA or a Letter Carrier gets into an accident while on the job and it is his or her fault, would they still be kept on the job or terminated?

How late could I expect to possibly have my package arrive tonight?

can i give my package to the mailman to ship off or take back to that specific location

Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question about driver certification training.Perhaps the difficult economy allows for a more Darwinian approach. Warned not to hit a cone.You must pass several scenarios.Enumerated in USPS manual.

Is it up to the mailman to decide whose mail needs to be forwarded back to the sender or is it the post office's duty? Recently my mail hasn't been delivered to me because my mailman thought we moved, for no reason.

How often do you encounter 'suspicious' letters? or letters that you think may contain illegal substances?

she lives in charleston south carolina btw

Also on Jobstr...

In your experience, when a CCA or a Letter Carrier gets into an accident while on the job and it is his or her fault, would they still be kept on the job or terminated?

How late could I expect to possibly have my package arrive tonight?

can i give my package to the mailman to ship off or take back to that specific location

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Thank you for taking the time to answer my question about driver certification training.Perhaps the difficult economy allows for a more Darwinian approach. Warned not to hit a cone.You must pass several scenarios.
Enumerated in USPS manual.