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.
If an employee is a newly hired CCA (city carrier assistant) they may not have yet received a unfiorm allowance and therefore not bought any USPS clothing. I think once probation is passed (90 days) they can purchase uniforms. Rural Letter carriers never need to wear a uniform. That being said, those not yet wearing a uniform shouldn't dress inappropriately or wear gang-type clothing (in my opinion). It would be up to the PO management to enforce this, but I've seen them be lax about it too frequently. Once an employee can purchase their uniforms, they should only be wearing USPS-approved clothing and not wearing any hats backwards. I personally hate gang-type thug looking street clothes, but it is up to the management to enforce this. Most carriers where I work dress in uniform daily and keep them moderately clean (I'm looking in the mirror when it comes to the subject of uniform cleanliness as they get dirty so easily). Thanks for this question.
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Thanks for your question. Usually, we don't honor handwritten forwarding requests on a piece of mail unless the person requesting it puts on postage in addition to the already "used" postage on the letter when it was originally mailed. It is true that if the original bar code isn't covered up that the mail may not be sent to the "forwarded" address either. The best way for a previous tenant/resident to receive mail via the USPS forwarding system is to submit an official change of address application either online at www.usps.gov or via a paper form available at any Post Office. I know this is a bit lengthy of answer to your original question. The bottom line is that I don't know how you can track the mail or receive it again. It is possible that it was returned to the sender.
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Cindy, I dont know how to help you in this situation as I am not even sure what you are asking. Good luck on both interviews. I do realize you want one of these positions much greater than the other. Unless you get offered the job for the first interview on the spot, I highly recommend attending all interviews that come your way. The reason is that you may get an offer from a later interview than at your preferred location. This is likely better than having no employment.
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Yes, certified mail is attempted on Saturday to be delivered. A person must be present to sign for Certified Mail items unless prior written authorization has been given to the Post Office by the intended recipient. Certified Mail is considered accountable mail meaning the letter carriers have to sign that they received the certified mail and then at the end of our shift we must return the attempted certified mail (if nobody was available to accept it at the delivery point) or return proof of delivery (now done electronically) to the registry clerk at the Post Office.
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I agree that using postal delivery vehicles to deliver the mail curbside would be more efficient than door to door delivery by a walking letter carrier. There would be more gasoline consumed by these engines running for many hours per day but you would still probably save money versus the costs of a carrier walking door to door and not being able to deliver in the same number of houses in the same amount of time. I deliver mostly by walking from house to house and some neighborhoods in the town where I work have curbside delivery. Those routes do have more delivery points than the one I deliver. The two factors that I can think of for not transitioning everyone to curbside are as follows: 1) I've never heard of the USPS forcing anyone to move a mailbox from their house to the curbside. Who would incur that cost? There would probably be a lot of pushback from customers who have delivery to their front door. 2) Many neighborhoods don't have the streetscape to handle mounted (curbside) deliveries. If the houses are too close together you will have many cars parked on the street which make it difficult for the letter carrier to access the mailbox from the mail truck. In these cases, the letter carrier must perform a time-consuming dismount procedure if they want to deliver the mail to the house with a mailbox they can't access directly from the mail truck. It works fine in most suburban and rural areas but in a tighter density environment , the economics of it may not work. I, for one, love to walk from house to house and get exercise while delivering the mail, but understand your question about how curbside delivery could be more efficient. Thank you for the observant question.
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I won't comment on what is legal or not as to the order a carrier delivers the mail or where they take mail before or after a lunch break (if this was a lunch break.) The legality of what a carrier does is not something that I'm well versed on. I think that with their normal delivery they shouldn't be bypassing your mailbox without a logical reason. Is this an every day occurrence, or just once? If it is every day and you don't feel comfortable with what they are doing you certainly can inquire at the PO or ask a delivery supervisor as to why this may be happening. As a carrier I strive to maintain the highest level of professionalism and deliver mail in the prescribed order as to not appear to be doing anything wrong. I would never bring anybody else's mail into my apartment. I am not just not completely sure what, if anything, you are complaining or concerned about. I don't know the relationship that you have with your neighbor/letter carrier and whether or not you could ask them about this. Thank you for your inquiry.
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Definitely. It's never been an issue as far as I know to take a bathroom break as needed even if it means leaving the street you are delivering mail on to go use a lavatory at a public business. That's what I usually do. I'll leave my route and go to a gas station or the public library that are near my route as needed.
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