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.
Albert, your message posted 2x so I will answer it once and then copy and paste it. I currently work 7 hours a day as I am on a limited schedule for personal reasons. A regular city letter carrier can expect to work 8 hours per day (plus 30 min. unpaid lunch), 5 days per week. The 5 days may not be consecutive since mail is delivered 6 days per week. As a new hire, you will likely be a CCA (city carrier assistant) who has a very varied schedule and I'm not sure they are guaranteed any hours. I believe starting pay is about $16/hour for a CCA, with very few benefits, if any. Once you are promoted to a regular city carrier, the salary increasea to about $23/hour and tops out at about $28.50/hr after a certain amt. of years. These salaries are set in accordance with a labor agreement between the USPS and the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), which is our union. You also get benefits once you become a regular city letter carrier as opposed to a CCA. If you visit the website www.nalc.org they have pay charts listed or you can probably just do a google search or look on www.glassdoor.com. Good luck in what is a pretty good career in my opinion.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=I%20want%20to%20be%20a%20mail%20carrier%20%28am%2019%20yrs%29%20%0AHow%20many%20hours%20do%20you%20work%20a%20day.%20%0AHow%20much%20is%20starting%20pay%20for%20an%20hour%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/12862)
I don't know the answer to this question. Maybe you can renew the PO Box via check or credit card. The USPS main customer service phone # is 800-275-8777. If you can manage to get a human on the phone, maybe they can help you further or send a msg. to the PO where your PO Box is located to say you are out of town and will renew it upon return. There is probably a small grace period, but I can't say for sure. If you don't get in contact with the PO and don't renew the PO Box rent, any accumulated mail will likely be returned to the sender with a label stating "Box Closed, No Forwarding Order".
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=what%20happens%20if%20I%20have%20a%20P.O.%20Box%20and%20I%20leave%20town%20for%20a%20while%20and%20my%20box%20expires%20before%20I%20return%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/13982)
You bad bad person Aila! Seeing that you were just 6 years old and you returned it all, there are worse crimes you could have committed. I am glad you know by now not to touch any mail or mailboxes that aren't yours. It is horrible to think of mail being taken out of mailboxes illegally. I consider it sacred, even if, in all honesty, it's not so important to a lot of people today and has been replaced a lot by technology. With regard to how it works for mailmen, I'm not sure what you mean. I have never been involved with a mail theft incident during my career. If I did I would likely tell my supervisor about it and follow their directives. Thanks for writing And stay away from those mailboxes ;-)
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=I%20recall%20going%20around%20my%20neighborhood%20when%20I%20was%206%20with%20some%20friends%20pilfering%20Mailboxes%20with%20really%20no%20idea%20of%20what%20we%20were%20doing.%20How%20does%20it%20work%20for%20the%20mailman%20afterward%3F%20%28We%20ended%20up%20returning%20it%20all%20but%20I%27m%20curious%29&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/12807)
David, you are correct about parcel delivery becoming ubiquitous. When I started at the USPS in 1998, there was so much actual mail to be sorted and delivered with only a few parcels. The pendulum is definitely swinging the other way and I truly can envision a time where mail becomes very insignificant compared to parcel delivery. Right now, we seem to have a fair amount of both. In developments that have cluster delivery boxes (usually apartment buildings or condominium complexes) or in a PO lobby we do use parcel lockers. I don't know how it would work with having boxes on the street similar to the USPS collection boxes used today. Currently the parcel lockers work this way---If a customer has a package to large to fit in their regular delivery receptacle, the carrier will put the package in the parcel locker, lock it with a key they have and put a separate specific parcel locker key in the regular receptacle of the parcel recipient. When the postal customer goes to retrieve their mail, they will see the parcel locker key and use that key in a specified parcel locker. Once they insert the key and turn it, that key stays in the lock, the locker opens and the customer retrieves their parcel. It is a very efficient system as opposed to going to the door of a customer (in a centralized delivery environment) to just use the parcel lockers.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=With%20parcel%20deliveries%20becoming%20so%20ubiquitous%20thanks%20to%20internet%20shopping%2C%20I%20have%20often%20thought%20that%20a%20mailbox%20similar%20to%20the%20USPS%20blue%20mailboxes%20might%20be%20a%20good%20and%20secure%20way%20to%20delivering%20parcels.%20Do%20you%20know%20how%20these%20actually%20work%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/12580)
Parcel Delivery Mailman
Does labeling a package "fragile" actually lead to you handling it with more care?
Nightclub Promoter
How do you decide who gets into your club?
Pharmacist
Have you ever given someone the wrong prescription?
Disgruntled workers abound at the USPS but I can't say it's better or worse than other companies. I don't feel that our immediate supervisors and our postmaster are that kind to us but I'm sure it could be a lot worse. Overall our union has done a good job protecting our work rights and negotiating for a fair wage and benefits, but you will have complainers and unhappy workers no matter what. Years ago, veterans were given 5 pts preference on Federal Civil Service exams and 10 pts if you were a disabled veteran. I don't know if that still applies and if it also is in effect for exams at other levels of government. It's hard to say what makes a veteran disabled, but I'm sure Post Traumatic Stress Disorder qualifies in certain cases. Thanks for writing.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Saw%20the%20post%20about%20disgruntled%20workers%2C%20and%20was%20wondering%2C%20aren%27t%20disabled%20vets%20given%20a%20higher%20score%20on%20the%20test%3F%20Maybe%20some%20had%20PTS%20or%20something%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/13407)
If you live on a college campus, they probably already have established a standard method of delivery to the dormitories. They probably don't deliver it to your room. It is likely that the dormitory has central delivery boxes in the lobby area or in a mailroom. Other campuses might have all the student mail come to a central mailroom or student center which has individual mailboxes for each student. You can contact the student life office or office of residential life for more information. Thank you for writing.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=WIll%20you%20deliver%20to%20my%20school%20room%20door%20if%20i%20leave%20on%20campus%20or%20you%20would%20leave%20it%20in%20front%20of%20my%20dorm&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/12247)
The letter will possibly just go through the mail processing system again and be sent back to you. I don't think anybody would notice that it was sent a second time and your letter carrier would hopefully just deliver it again to you. It would likely go back to the sender if somewhere on the envelope was written "person doesn't live here" or "return to sender" but that isn't the case here. Hopefully you will get the letter back in a couple of days.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=i%20accidentally%20remailed%20a%20piece%20of%20mail%20that%20was%20already%20sent%20to%20me.%20It%20did%20not%20have%20a%20new%20stamp%20on%20int..just%20the%20original%20that%20was%20canceled.%20It%20was%20not%20opened..will%20it%20get%20back%20to%20me%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/14309)
-OR-
Login with Facebook (max 20 characters - letters, numbers, and underscores only. Note that your username is private, and you have the option to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
(A valid e-mail address is required. Your e-mail will not be shared with anyone.)
(min 5 characters)
By checking this box, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to Jobstr.com’s Terms and Privacy Policy.
-OR-
Register with Facebook(Don't worry: you'll be able to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
Browse Jobs
Host a Q&A
Search
Submit Your Question
Host a Q&A
Last 7
