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.

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Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Best Rated

I have a vacation hold on my mail, but my carrier decides to take one piece out and give it to my neighbor with the request that she contact me as the carrier "thinks" the piece of mail might be "important." Is this against USPS rules?

Asked by Neeliec about 12 years ago

I think it is wrong for a letter carrier to make any type of judgment whether or not a piece of mail is important or not. They shouldn't be involving a neighbor since the neighbor may or may not have any type of relationship with the customer and shouldn't be privy to any of the type or content of mail received by you. When a customer puts their mail on hold, I treat all mail the same way no matter if it looks like a check, biill, automobile advertisement, donation request, etc. It is definitely not our job to judge anything about the mail and I would suggest it is very much against the rules even though your carrier meant well. Thanks for writing.

I bought some things on eBay Then later, I noticed that I made a small mistake on my shipping address. The zip codes, state, and city are all correct, but i misspelled my street address by a letter off. Will my deliveries still be able to reach me?

Asked by Luan over 12 years ago

In most cases, if the error is that minor and the misspelled street doesnt match another street in the same ZIP , the delivery should still reach you. Misspellings occur all the time with mailed items and letters. 

i think the usps gave my package to the r\wrong address

Asked by moshe ratner over 12 years ago

That is certainly possible. We do make errors. I don't know how to proceed from here, except if you think you know where it went to you could contact the USPS to see if they could contact the "wrong" recipient to get the package back though I don't know how likely that is. Good luck

Is there a danger aspect to your job?

Asked by Cmac about 12 years ago

There is probably danger to any job. I don't feel any danger on my job for personal safety if you are referring to criminal activity. I work in a very safe area in suburban Nassau County, NY. The answer may be different if you delivered mail in an area with a higher crime rate. As far as danger when it comes to being injured, I am a very cautious driver and wouldn't want to have any type of motor vehicle accident. You have to be careful crossing streets and lawns, as well as icy surfaces in the winter. Also, dogs are a concern but if you must skip delivery to a house that has a dog loose you just do it and tell a supevisor when you return to the Post Office. Fortunately, I've not been injured or in a motor vehicle accident during my career. I hope it stays that way.

Hi. When forwarding requests are no longer active, is there anything at the sorting case/facility that automatically designates the mail as UTF? Also, how are letters with "return service requested" endorsements handled by letter carriers or PO?

Asked by Old Address Follow Up almost 13 years ago

I don't think there is any automation involved after 18 months from when a forwarding order started. At the sorting case, a carrier has pink cards with stickers on them which can say when a particular forwarding order started. I keep those cards for about 2-3 years and once the forwarding order has expired (18 months), I put a line through the sticker and maybe a little marker at the address in the carrier case indicating UTF. "Return service requested" AFAIK means that if the letter was going to be forwarded to a new addrees, the sender would like the letter returned to them with the new address info. The carriers handle them just as they would any forward and the CFS (Computerized Forwarding System) will know that the sender wanted the letter returned. The sender does pay an extra fee for this service.

I live in a trailer park and a man that thinks he is the manager wrote the mailman a letter saying to stop everyones mail that lives there, his reason is no one pays rent to him anymore because he would go to casino with the rent. so we now pay rent

Asked by Jessica Perkins almost 12 years ago

I don't know what there is for you to do in that situation. If you are legally allowed to reside in that trailer park, I don't see why they wouldn't allow mail delivery. You could call your Post  Office and speak with the delivery supervisor to ask to get mail delivery. Do you have a mailbox set up and a valid address? Another option would be for you to rent a PO Box but you shouldn't have to do that if you are legally residing in the trailer park and paying rent. I've never heard of this situation before.

Is it usual for mail carriers to run late on routes? My mail is usually here early in the AM but has not yet got here yet.

Asked by Hello about 13 years ago

Sure it's common to run late. It's possible the carrier had another assignment to do before starting their regular route. Also, if staffing is short, a route may be broken up into several sections and a carrier will do that section for overtime which could vary the delivery time greatly. Thanks for the question.