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.
During the winter I wear whatever brand clothing makes the USPS uniforms that I purchased. We have only a few choices about the brand of clothing we buy from authorized uniform vendors. I wear whatever will keep me warm and dry from head to toe. I've found that it's best to dress in layers and bring more warm clothes than you may need so you're not caught outside freezing or wet.
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Generally that would be correct. If the PO is closed due to poor weather conditions it would usually mean our whole retail and delivery operations have been suspended. I don't know if there are still processing operations going on at the mail plants. It isn't too common for us to suspend delivery for an entire day, but in blizzards or states of emergency, it could be necessary for us to do so.
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Most letter carriers wear a USPS-funded and approved uniforms. After a few months of employment, we are given an annual allowance to buy uniforms which includes outerwear, footwear, and other accessories. If you are a rural carrier or a newer carrier, you may wear your own clothes. If you did a web search for USPS City Letter Carrier uniforms and clicked on "images", it should give you a good idea of what a uniform looks like.
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It has been many years since I've had orientation so I can't tell you exactly what it's about. If I remember correctly, it was 3 days long (usually not at the office where you will be a CCA) which included a carrier academy where you "practice" sorted some mail and learn a lot about working safely including how to avoid dog confrontations. You also learn about the different classes of mail and how to forward mail and how to handle express mail and certified mail. Once you report to an office you may be assigned a trainer who may take you around for 3 days with them to deliver a route. Also please remember that as a CCA you may be required to work Sundays and Holidays to deliver Amazon parcels if your office/area participates in that program. You really need to be flexible in the number of hours and which hours you will be asked to work. Thanks for your questions and keep them coming if you think of anything else. Please remember that I'm just basing these answers at my experience at my Post Office. As they say online, YMMV (your mileage may vary).
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Okay, I believe it. The contract is only as good as the mgmt and the workforce and shop stewards agree to enforce it. I see things that happen in my office which may not be the correct thing if the contract were followed to the letter, but they seem like rational solutions. It's a tricky balance in our office due to chronic short staffing and incompetence of both supervisors and coworkers. Some workers are very dedicated and do the job well. They don't need to be superstars. Others seem to purposefully work against the system and try to make everything as difficult and slow and crappy as possible. They often tend to the loudest, least mature, and least educated.
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The letter carrier shouldn't be putting your former neighbors mail in your mailbox just because they moved out without putting in a forwarding request. After all, it's not your mail and you have nothing to do with it. After awhile, the letter carrier should empty the mailbox, discard any standard mail (advertising mail of a certain class) and return any first and second class mail as "unable to forward" to the sender. At the PO, that address or unit should be marked as "vacant" so no mail is left there unless a new tenant or homeowner moves in. We shouldn't be delivering mail to addresses known to be vacant. You may leave a note note mailbox saying something to the effect "please don't leave any mail for (insert your neighbors name and/or address) in my mailbox. Thank you." If that doesn't work, you may contact your post office and mention this to a manager or delivery supervisor. From what you've described , the letter carrier(s) serving your area is quite unprofessional and doesn't care to address the issue of the mailbox overflowing.
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They do make a difference. By affixing a Priority Mail sticker, you are required to pay the Priority Mail rate which can be much higher than the standard parcel post rate or what I think is called retail ground. Priority Mail is given excellent treatment as far as how it is transported from origin to destination and there is a very high likelihood that the item will be delivered within 1-3 days of mailing depending on the destination. If the sticker is affixed to an item but there isn't sufficient postage to cover the Priority Mail rate, the parcel will be either returned to the sender for being "short paid" or an attempt to collect the underpayment from the recipient as "postage due".
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