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 accidentally remailed a piece of mail that was already sent to me. It did not have a new stamp on int..just the original that was canceled. It was not opened..will it get back to me?

Asked by spartan girl almost 11 years ago

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.

how many hours a day do you work? How much is starting pay for 1 hour?

Thank you. I want to be a mailman and I am 18.

Asked by albert over 11 years ago

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. 

If your unable to check your mail can the postman take your mail out of your box and take it back to the post office? I was unable to check my mail for a little over 2 weeks due to being in the hospital

Asked by Tiffany about 11 years ago

Tiffany, I am not sure if that can be done. By telephone or Internet, you can put your mail on hold so the mail isn't delivered and piles up in your mailbox while you are in the hospital. As far as taking the mail out of your box and taking it back to the PO, I'm not sure. In your request to hold the mail, you'd have to ask for them to take out any accumulated mail. If I received a request like that, I would probably honor it given the circumstance. I've just never had that request. Thank you for writing and hope you are better.

i mailed a letter on tuesday morning in the box in front of my apartment complex (i live in lancaster pa) 2 head to south carolina. it is now saturday night and she has no received the letter. i am wondering if this is rare or if something is wrong?

Asked by kyle about 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.

Also, if you can't apply in another state without being there, would it be easier to move and try to get the job there, or get a job in Kansas and then relocate? So I guess I'm asking if job transfers can be performed and you choose the location?

Asked by jadrian over 11 years ago

Job transfers are definitely allowed once you are employed in a certain location. I don't know the amount of time you have to have been in one location before transfering to another location. You probably also have to NOT be on probation or have any current disciplinary issues. Good luck to you.

Saw the post about disgruntled workers, and was wondering, aren't disabled vets given a higher score on the test? Maybe some had PTS or something?

Asked by Kathyc about 11 years ago

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.

Our mailman brought our mail to the door ( which he never has done before ) and asked if "William" lived here. There was no mail for "William" so I'm curious as to why all of this happened

Asked by Nicolette over 11 years ago

Nicolette, I am not sure why the mailman would have done so if there was no mail for William. The reason I would do something similar is if I had a piece of mail for a surname that I wasn't familiar with and wanted to ask the resident if this name received mail at this address. More often than not, however, I will just put a question mark next to the name on the envelope that I'm not sure is valid at a particular address. If the name is invalid, the residents at that address might then leave the letter out the next day written on it "person doesn't live here" and then it will be returned to the sender "attempted, not known." Thanks for the question.