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

I went away for 10 days and forgot to hold my mail. My mailman realized this and held it for me. Can I tiphim? How?

Asked by cmoine over 10 years ago

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. 

Do you have to go to a postal office to deliver a letter to another state?

Asked by nathalie over 11 years ago

No, you can mail a letter to any other state as youwould a letter going in state. Please remember to address the letter properly including city state and ZIP code

I am rca.no benifits.sick or vacay time on my paystub is big fat zeros next to retirement. I have been a sub for 8 years. My boss says i am req to do sundays. If i say i do church can he still force me 2? I cant re the last sat i had off this job sux

Asked by energy over 10 years ago

I am not familiar with the RCA (Rural Carrier Associate) position and the requirements of when you have to work. I do know that it is similar to the CCA position for city letter carriers which don't get any benefits as far as I know, except a uniform allowance. The CCAs in the office where I work sometimes have to work Sundays to deliver Amazon parcels. I would recommend contacting the NRLCA (National Rural Letter Carriers Association) at Phone: 703-684-5545. Their website is www.nrlca.org and they are the union which represents Rural Letter Carriers nationwide. I copied the following from a USPS brochure on RCA hiring: Rural Carrier Associate Facts Variable Work Hours As an RCA, you will replace a regular rural carrier on his or her scheduled day off (primarily Saturday), on vacation, or on other leave. Work hours will vary depending on the office and route to which you are assigned. You must be willing to work weekends and some holidays and be available for on-call employment. You may be assigned to other carriers’ routes, increasing the number of hours you work.

I wrote wrong street adress(I missed some letters) but zip code I wrote correctly. I will get my package or not?

Asked by Mikas almost 11 years ago

Mikas, I think it is very likely you will receive your package as long as the clerks in your PO can figure out which street you meant to put in your address and that it isn't similarly named with another street in the same ZIP code. The ZIP code is definitely a very important piece of the address to get correct because that will result in at least getting the package to the right PO building and the staff there will hopefully (and likely) be able to figure out the intended address.

Hi I just got hired as a cca. I've been reading post on the Internet and have seeing that cca's are hired for 1yr then fired and rehired. Is this what I should expect or is this just hear say?

Asked by Kevin about 11 years ago

I don't know that to be the case where they hire and fire CCA after a year. I have never seen anybody hired for 1 yr then fired and rehired. As long as you are doing a respectable job, it's not likely you would be fired for an invalid reason.

I recently moved to a new address old place was all bills paid so I'm a new customer to elec,Internet,cable so all those bills only no this address, all bills now have late fee mailman put return to sender w/out my permission is he allowed to?

Asked by Tina over 10 years ago

I think what you are saying is that all of your new bills for your new address are not being delivered to you. For this reason you have incurred late fees. If I read it correctly, you have paid all of your old bills. The letter carrier at your new address should be delivering the new bills to your current address and not be returning them to the sender. You may want to leave a note in your mailbox with your name advising the letter carrier that your name is valid at your new address. You really shouldn't have to do this because when I see a new name to deliver that I'm not familiar with, I deliver the mail anyway and if it's not correct the current resident would usually leave the mail out for me to take back to the PO with a note saying "person doesn't live here"

I sent a $100 check to someone in NY at a wrong address, then found out she had moved. I am wondering if I should be worried about someone else eventually cashing that check. It has been 2 months. And where has undelivered mail usually landed?

Asked by reiat about 11 years ago

I am not sure where the check would have wound up. If the letter carrier had been notified of the change of address and been paying attention to the envelope you had sent her then the check should have been forwarded on to her new address. It's also possible that the item is undeliverable due to a lack of a change of address and could be returned to the sender though this seems not to have happened in your case. Some people may advise you to put a stop payment on the check through your bank which may cost you $25. Others may just say don't worry too much about it gettting cashed by an unintended recipient. I would probably choose the latter approach but that certatinly still has some risk involved if there is no stop payment order on the check.