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.
Emily, I'm not sure what combination lock you are referring to. Is it one of those old fashioned ones on a PO Box? Whether it is that one or one on a mailbox at your residence won't change my answer. I was just curious. I haven't heard that it is technically illegal to hand someone mail but I'm not versed in the legalities of this subject. I can see that the USPS may be hesitant in handing mail to someone without confirming their identity or being personally known to the employee. If you have a physical disability which prevents you from getting your mail, it would make sense to have some alternate method provided but I don't know how far the USPS is required to go in accommodating you. If you are unsatisfied with the response from your local PO, I would recommend going up the chain at your PO such as talking to the Postmaster or their boss. I don't know what their response will be given the varied nature of our personnel.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=I%20cannot%20physically%20open%20my%20combination%20lock.%20I%20have%20been%20hand%20given%20my%20mail%20for%202%20years.%20I%20was%20told%20that%20a%20new%20supervisor%20is%20coming%20and%20they%20will%20no%20longer%20be%20able%20to%20hand%20it%20because%20it%20is%20technically%20illegal.%20Is%20this%20true%2C%20can%20I%20get%20an%20exemption%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/13411)
Mischa, I deleted one of your questions because it came up as a duplicate on this website. When we return from our routes, we put all of the outgoing (collected) mail in a dispatch area usually divided into flat, letters, parcels, priority, metered, stamped, etc. With regards to the prepaid shipping labels which is usually called Parcel Select Return Service I put the item in a separate area and our dispatch clerk knows what to do with it. I don't know when it is scanned at our post office. I would suspect that the package would be scanned at least in 1-2 days. Some packages which are being sent back as a return are transported by a 3rd party company that picks up those packages at our post office. Other packages are transported by the USPS back to the company where the package is being returned. I know when I pick it up from a customer as an outgoing return package I do not scan the item at all. I hope this helps but please keep checking USPS.com to track your package for any scans.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=What%20happens%20after%20a%20postman%20returns%20to%20the%20post%20office%20after%20finishing%20his%20route%3F%20I%20gave%20my%20postman%20a%20package%20that%20had%20a%20pre-paid%20shipping%20label%20and%20was%20wondering%20when%20I%20can%20expect%20it%20to%20be%20scanned.&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/12500)
Thanks for participating in the q and forum at jobstr. When I first started answering the questions, I had no idea it would be this popular. Some q's I receive are about doing the job and others are customer service issues that I can't specifically solve. I enjoy doing this but will admit if the quantity of questions got to be really high, I probably couldn't keep up with it. The amount of q's I receive now, I can easily handle. I try not to stay up late at all answering questions, but I like to give a thorough answer to each one and like to have minimal backlog. As far as my wife goes, I don't have one so its a non-issue. I have a girlfriend and she is very understanding and supportive and what I do. For her profession she is my own jobstr answer woman. Believe me that I ask her about her job all of the time to the point where she says "let's talk about something else", and I oblige.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=How%20late%20do%20you%20stay%20up%20at%20night%20answering%20our%20questions%3F%20Lol.%20Wow%2C%20when%20I%20posted%20mine%2C%20I%20had%20no%20idea%20I%20would%20ever%20get%20an%20answer%2C%20much%20less%20within%20minutes%21%20What%20does%20you%20wife%20think%20about%20all%20those%21%20%20Lol.&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/13410)
I have to tell you that I don't know what recourse you have in this situation since the woman who says she doesn't have it probably can't be held accountable for actually having it. How does the super know it went to the wrong address? I'm just curious since I'm not sure how this whole chain of events can be verified. I'm sorry that I can't help you further and it is very difficult to get an item back that is misdelivered if the actual recipient doesn't admit to having it. Even if you called a local post office to file some type of complaint about this, I don't know what help they would be.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=What%20recourse%20do%20I%20have%3A%0AI%20had%20dvd%20delivered%20to%20a%20friend.%20He%20didn%27t%20get%20it%20although%20tracking%20said%20it%20was%20delivered.%20Called%20located%20po.%20Super%20said%20mail%20carrier%20said%20gave%20it%20to%20woman.%20It%20went%20to%20wrong%20address.%20Woman%20says%20she%20doesn%27t%20have%20it.&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/12207)
Bodybuilder
How prevalent is steroid use in pro bodybuilding?
Couples Therapist
Does a therapist aim to "fix" the client, or just treat the client indefinitely?
Fashion Model
How prevalent are eating disorders in modeling?
I don't know about the legality of keeping the package when it has already been scanned "delivered", but it certainly is bad as far as data integrity goes. The letter carrier may have scanned many of their parcels "delivered" earlier on in the day which is completely wrong (I can't say illegal) so they don't forget later on. Your example is a great reason why we aren't supposed to scan an item as "delivered" until we actually deliver it. Now if you approached him/her and asked about it, they should then give you the package. If this happened to you more than once I would speak to a delivery supervisor about this because it is very much against our rules to scan a package "delivered" when it wasn't. It is also misrepresenting the shipping status to our customers on both the sending and receiving end. It is also strange that the package has a 9:25 PM delivery time. I can't say it's impossible but I've rarely heard of the USPS out on a Saturday night delivering parcels.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Is%20it%20legal%20for%20the%20mailman%20to%20keep%20my%20package%20on%20his%20truck%20even%20after%20it%20is%20logged%20in%20as%20having%20been%20delivered%20to%20me%3F%20%20For%20example%2C%20I%20received%20a%20notification%20that%20a%20tracked%20package%20was%20delivered%20to%20my%20home%20at%209%3A25%20PM%20on%20Saturday%20but%20I%20do%20not%20have%20it&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/13773)
Great question and you are correct about having to use the bathroom during the course of the delivery day. We don't have a bathroom in the postal vehicle, though that would be a nice touch. When I need to use a bathroom, I usually drive to an office building, gas station, or library near the route where I deliver. I also deliver mail to a dentist's office so I can use their toilet when the office is open. The next method some will find gross, but I wouldn't necessarily agree. Some males carry around bottles with them and will discreetly urinate in them and then dump out the contents when they get a chance. It's pretty easy to do in the environment I work as there aren't many people around and one can go inside the back of the postal vehicle for privacy. It's also a good idea to carry hand sanitizer or handi-wipes for use after urinating. As far as what woman do, I'm pretty sure it's not that simple and they must usually find a facility to use.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Is%20there%20a%20bathroom%20on%20your%20mail%20truck%3F%20I%20mean%20with%20a%20full%20day%20of%20work%20don%27t%20you%20have%20to%20go%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/14901)
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
