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.

SubscribeGet emails when new questions are answered. Ask Me Anything!Show Bio +

Share:

Ask me anything!

Submit Your Question

1237 Questions

Share:

Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

I gave the mail man a letter , is he gonna send it to the address . Or what will he do to it.? Its 1hour away address

Asked by shanen almost 13 years ago

the letter carrier is going to bring the letter back to his post office and eventually (1-2 days) it will get to the addresS where it was intended to go. That's what we do.

I am expecting something in the mail shipped priority. Its was dropped off Aug18th for delivery . Its coming from New York and I live in So.California. I still haven' received it Aug 24th. Could it be delayed or lost? or maybe not actually sent?

Asked by vanagain almost 13 years ago

I can't say for sure what happened to your priority mail item that you were expecting. Did the sender give you a tracking number? Most items shipped via Priority Mail would have a tracking number? As long as the mailer put the correct address on the Priority Mail and actually shipped the item, it is not likely to be lost, but not impossible. 

I have a friend who carries mail in snowy Colorado and wanted to give a gift of things to make the job easier: hand warmers? special lotion? dog biscuits? snack storage? clothing? What do you have before during after to help your day go well? Ideas??

Asked by kimba over 12 years ago

Hand Warmers are a great gift. I just bought my girlfriend an entire box from BJs Wholesale Club in NY. They are single use handwarmers which last maybe 8 hours. Lotions are also good to keep hands moisturized. If at all in doubt about the pending weather I try to bring along as many layers as possible just in case I need extra protection. One of the least comfortable situations to be caught outside in is very cold or very wet weather.

Is the post office manager allowed to cut open a package (a book) I was sending out (wrapped in cardboard), simply to make sure I was not using one of USPSs priority mail envelopes to ship something (non-priority)?

Asked by buffy over 12 years ago

If the item was mailed via media mail, then it is valid for a postal employee to open a package to make sure that the item being mailed qualifies for the media mail rate. As far as just checking to see if a Priority Mail packaging was used to mail an item via non-Priority, I don't know the rule on that but I'm not too familiar with that being done. I thought that most, if not all, priority mail packaging now is printed on both the inside and outside making it very difficult to use for Non-priority mailing.

So my significant other is in the military and she sent two letters on the same day, one to her mother who lives one street over was received, mine however i have yet to get and its been 4 days since her mother got hers? Is this common?

Asked by shawn about 12 years ago

Shawn, I'd say that this isn't common. Even if "one street over" meant a different town it still shouldn't differ by more of a day in my opinion. It's likely that the letter was missorted somewhere along the way or missdelivered, both which aren't rare. Hopefully the letter will arrive soon. Thank you to your S/O for her service to the country.

Can a mailman leave mail if there is no mailbox?

Asked by Wayne over 12 years ago

If the letter carrier feels it is secure enough to leave mail in a place without a mailbox, I think they can though it's probably not a great idea. I don't know the official rule on the proposed situation. 

Where can i get a third arm for delivering flats?

Asked by Johnny chambers over 12 years ago

I am not sure what you mean by this. I carry some of the flats on my arm for a walking route and then some in my satchel since my office deals with FSS meaning there are 2 separate bundles of flats. The key is to try to be as organized as possible when loading up your flats and letters for delivery.