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.
I am pretty sure the Grumman LLV is allowed to drive on a highway. I think I may have accidentally driven one on a highway once. It’s a bit of a scary experience because the engines or transmission aren’t that strong to go 55 MPH or above. They definitely can go that fast but it doesn’t feel as comfortable as if you were in a regular car. I have rarely seen them on a highway, but I work in the suburbs and most post offices serve a nearby community which wouldn’t necessitate getting on a highway to get to a delivery route. Thanks for your question.
Absolutely! I couldn’t think of doing any other job. It wasn’t always this way but I realized over the years it’s a great fit for my personality. By no means is this for everybody and many coworkers complain constantly. I have my conflicts with mgmt and the overall operation but that doesn’t take away from my love of the job. I am paid to exercise (walking about 7+ miles per day) listen to podcasts, and provide a service to our customers. I don’t have to deal a lot with office politics because I’m out of the building for about 3/4 of the work day. The pay is adequate for my lifestyle and there is a good amount of OT available to increase my income if so desired. Eventually, the USPS will be in severe financial stress so I don’t know how the changes will affect how I feel about the job, but I’m content as of now. Thanks for writing in with this question.
It is a bit of a lengthy process to replace the massive fleet of delivery vehicles for the USPS. From what I’ve read the testing phase of approximately 5 competing proposals is almost complete and a decision will be made later this year (2019). From that point it would probably take a few years to fully replace our fleet of LLVs. I don’t know if the current financial difficulties of the USPS would impact the timeline for this process. As far as old jeeps being used, I don’t know if some places still use it. With the volume of packages we deliver nowadays, they’d seem entirely inefficient. I haven’t seen them used in years, but I can’t speak for the entire country. At this point, they’d be well over 25 years old.
I guess that happens sometimes on these kind of sites.
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Thanks for the info and sharing videos in a previous question/posting.
I’ve never found any odd animal inside a mailbox. In the area I deliver, I don’t think there are snakes in the wild. The main thing we’d need to be careful about are wasps or bees and I don’t see them around he mailboxes too often.
FH, thanks for your question. I’ll start by saying your mileage may vary. I don’t know if there is a correct procedure as to how to handle mail delivery to a business which is sometimes open and sometimes closed. I would usually go inside to deliver the mail and ask if there is any outgoing mail if a receptionist or other personnel are available. I mostly deliver to residences so I don’t have a lot of experience in this situation. It’s possible that the business owner has an exterior mailbox and prefers or doesn’t mind if the mail is left in the mailbox whether or not the business is open. I suppose a carrier who delivers to the same business daily knows what is preferred but there are often substitutes delivering the mail so if there are no instructions left for that substitute and no sign on the mailbox saying “please come inside if the office is open” then I’m not sure what that letter carrier would do. We are often told so little how to do certain procedures which is why i almost always put in the disclaimer of “your mileage may vary”.
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