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

When I buy something on eBay, how do I know which post office it is deliver to?

Asked by Jah over 11 years ago

When you purchase an item on eBay, it is similar to purchasing any other product online. You advise the seller of the address to ship the item to. The shipper will then mail the item via USPS and it will end up going to the PO that serves the destination address. Most often that is the PO that matches the city in the destination address. 

I have recently been promoted to a career carrier position after working as a CCA for 10 months. I reserved a vacation for the weekend and now have been mandated to work. They are threatening to write me up for taking my days off. Is this legal?

Asked by Bryan almost 11 years ago

Bryan, congratulations on being promoted to a "regular" carrier. It is much better than being a CCA, but 10 months sounds like a pretty short amount of time to be promoted. That is a good thing. With regards to your vacation I don't know the legalities of them mandating you to work when you have reserved a vacation. If you put in a request for annual leave and it was given back to you within a certain amt. of time (marked denied I mean), then I believe it is approved and generally can't be revoked. If you chose at as a full vacation block (usually in 1-week segments), that also is non-revocable by management as far as I know. I would recommend asking your shop steward for advice in this situation as I don't know in the NALC/USPS National Agreement where this is discussed, or possibly in the ELM (Employee/Labor Manual). One other suggestion is to ask on a FB message board that I belong to which you may find helpful. The group is called USPS Postal Maniacs. I've seen other USPS employees post questions and problems there and receive some advice. I will warn you that much of the talk on there is negative towards management, but there are many good people on there who can often steer you in the right direction. Good luck and thanks for writing.

My mail man left a package I ordered in one of those package lockers that need the key to open. The key the mail carrier left does not work AT ALL. I left a note asking to leave my package in another box and it was ingnored. How do I get my package?

Asked by Vanessa about 11 years ago

I am sorry that you are having this issue with the parcel locker key not working and your request being ignored re: using another parcel locker. I am not sure what the best solution is. Is the note you left very visible? If that doesn't work, maybe leave a post-it note on the parcel locker near the keyhole explaining the problem. Another option is to try to call the local post office and speak with a delivery supervisor or the national USPS Customer Support Center at: 
1-800-ASK-USPS® (1-800-275-8777)

Thank you for your question and I hope you get your situation resolved shortly.

I've been a CCA for almost three months now and since we're so close to Chritmas I've had several customers slip me tips during a postage due or even leave entire boxed presents addressed to me as gifts. How do you handle these situations?

Asked by Kruesser over 10 years ago

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.

Mailman says he doesn't have time to sort the world's mail, so he delivers ours to another suite everyday so he doesn't have to come to second floor. He parks in handicapped everyday. Supervisor doesn't care. What can we do?

Asked by In Need of Help over 10 years ago

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.

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 over 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 got a strange note from the mailman today that I have to put my name on our apt mailbox or it will be returned to sender. I had lots of instances that my mail has been misdirected with the correct address. My question is am I required to?

Asked by bert over 11 years ago

I don't know the answer to this officially. It would definitely be helpful to put your name on your mailbox, but if a letter were dressed accurately with the correct apt. #, I'm not sure why it would be returned to the sender. If I were delivering to an apt. complex, I wouldn't require this to be done. I live in an apt. building and do put my name on the mailbox, but I don't know that it is required.