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.
I am not really sure about the policy of delivering to a multi-suite building, but here is the way I see it: If your mail is specifically addressed to your suite and you are a different business than the suite/tenant on the first floor, it should be delivered directly to you. The suite on the first floor shouldn't be getting your mail. I would consider your suite a separate delivery. Again, I don't know the rules but I would treat it like an apartment building where you wouldn't be delivering your mail to a neighbor or vice versa. We are given time to sort the mail in a multi-unit building if a suite has a separate address so I don't necessarily buy the excuse of not having time to sort the world's mail. With regards to the parking, that doesn't seem to appropriate either. I have parked in No Parking Fire Zones in front of buildings if I'll just be 5 minutes or less delivering the mail. I don't think I would park in a handicapped spot. Since the supervisor doesn't care, you could speak with the Postmaster or whoever is next up on the chain of command to see if they can assist at all. As I've posted in other comments, we have a real mixed bag of employees at the USPS so your responses could vary.
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It is very kind of the customers to give you tips and or boxed presents for the holiday season. I believe we aren't supposed to accept any gift valued at more than $20 at any one time and it's supposed to be non-cash. I would venture to say that most employees don't follow this rule and it is rare that you'd get in trouble for accepting it. For those that give you gifts, I'd recommend replying with a thank you note or card that you can deliver with the mail the next time you are at their office or residence. I do realize you are a CCA and may be doing different assignments daily unless you have a hold down. Another recommendation is to not discuss any amounts or gifts you receive with your fellow co-workers. It's better to just be modest and quiet about it IMO. I hope this helped you. Please also remember that we are paid to do our job and nobody should expect a tip for doing their job at the USPS. It is unethical to expect any gratuity, but I, like most, will gladly accept it when offered.
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Congratulations on getting hired as a CCA! I don't know how many hours you will get in your particular office as each office is unique. Usually, a CCA fills in for a regular carrier when they are out sick or on vacation to deliver their route. They are also given "pieces" or "splits" on routes when a regular carrier may not finish their route within 8 hours and they don't want to work overtime or when management doesn't authorize overtime for the regular city letter carrier. CCAs may also work on Sundays to deliver Amazon.com parcels. They don't do this in every office so I don't know if yours is included in that service. In the office I work at, the CCAs all get plenty of hours due to a bit of short staffing. I am not sure of the minimum hrs/shift or minimum hours/week that a CCA is guaranteed. If you go to www.nalc.org, or more specifically http://www.nalc.org/workplace-issues/city-delivery/cca-contractual-issues, they have details about being a CCA. It may be a bit technical, but it's a good reference. Good luck, be on time for work, and work safely. Try not to get involved with any office drama.
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BG, I'm not sure why you got that mail back when you wrote on it "return to sender". I have 2 suggestions for you: 1) maybe write "person doesn't live here, return to sender" instead of just "return to sender" on mail.
2) Discard/recycle any mail you get for them. You did your part by trying to return the letter to the sender (which is very nice and appropriate IMO), and you don't have to try again to return it. It wouldn't be a bad idea to try again, but I just don't want you to have to play the "revolving door" game with that letter when you shouldn't have to.
Thanks for the question.
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It is very kind of you to want to tip your letter carrier for his service while you were away. We aren't supposed to accept tips, but I can't say I know of anybody ever being disciplined for it. I gladly accept them but it won't affect the quality of my service either way. I would recommend putting the tip in an envelope and on the outside write "Letter Carrier (insert name here if you know it)" and put it in the mailbox. Maybe tape it to the inside of the mailbox where it would be visible but not necessarily thought of as outgoing mail. If you aren't sure if he is working on a particular day I'm not sure how you could make sure they receive it unless you happen to be home when they are delivering the mail and you hand it directly to the carrier. I will say that you have one observant letter carrier. I would usually let the mail pile up in the mailbox hoping they come home soon to retrieve it.
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I am not sure if they would still have it after 6 days. Generally, they wouldn't have thrown it out if the item was mailed a certain class and a return endorsement like "return service requested" but there is no way to know how it was mailed. Hopefully it will be returned to sender and if there is a way to contact the sender they could tell you when they received it back. It wouldn't hurt to go to the PO to see if it's there. Has there been any update to the tracking information besides "arrived at your local USPS facility"?
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Congratulations on being offered the CCA position in Melville. As far as how many hours you will be working per week, it depends on the needs of the office to which you are assigned and how well staffed they are. During the months of July and August, many offices are short-staffed due to letter carriers taking vacation. When I was a Part-Time Flexibe (similar to a CCA), I usually did work a full 40-hour week or at least in the mid-30s. Many offices often have carriers out on long-term injury/illness or on vacation. I think it took about 3 years for me to get a Full-Time Regular position, but I can't remember for sure. It was in the early 2000s. In our office, there were 3 CCAs who recently got a career regular position after less than 1 year so it is hard to say how long it will take. There were PTFs in my office where it took about 8 years to become regulars.
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