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

Mailman says he doesn't have time to sort the world's mail, so he delivers ours to another suite everyday so he doesn't have to come to second floor. He parks in handicapped everyday. Supervisor doesn't care. What can we do?

Asked by In Need of Help over 11 years ago

I am not really sure about the policy of delivering to a multi-suite building, but here is the way I see it: If your mail is specifically addressed to your suite and you are a different business than the suite/tenant on the first floor, it should be delivered directly to you. The suite on the first floor shouldn't be getting your mail. I would consider your suite a separate delivery. Again, I don't know the rules but I would treat it like an apartment building where you wouldn't be delivering your mail to a neighbor or vice versa. We are given time to sort the mail in a multi-unit building if a suite has a separate address so I don't necessarily buy the excuse of not having time to sort the world's mail. With regards to the parking, that doesn't seem to appropriate either. I have parked in No Parking Fire Zones in front of buildings if I'll just be 5 minutes or less delivering the mail. I don't think I would park in a handicapped spot. Since the supervisor doesn't care, you could speak with the Postmaster or whoever is next up on the chain of command to see if they can assist at all. As I've posted in other comments, we have a real mixed bag of employees at the USPS so your responses could vary.

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

Asked by moshe ratner almost 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

Does a package sent in the mail sorted by hand i.e. an odd shaped package not able to be sorted by the sorting machine not recieve regular scans to update tracking? Also would this cause webtracking delivery estimate to display a later delivery date?

Asked by Vanagain over 12 years ago

I have no idea if the hand sorting of odd shaped packages would cause it to not receive the normal scans to update tracking. I would suspsect that as long as the package had a valid bar code which could be scanned along the way that it would be treated just as as other packages. I'm sorry I have no more specific information on the scans of odd shaped items.

I am an RCA about to change to a CCA. When casing your mail, do most city carriers case their DPS for the walking portions of their route? If not, what is the best way to merge the DPS with flats while walking the route?

Asked by Jon almost 12 years ago

I have an route that is entirely walking and the DPS is not allowed to be cased in the office.  We take it out to the street and hold it in our hands and "finger" through it as we approach a house and then merge it together with the flats that have been cased and then sometimes a "3rd bundle" which is usually an advertisment that each delivery address receives. It is important though to be careful of the terrain on which you are walking while merging the DPS and flats together, especially when crossing lawns or going up and down steps. The first time I see the DPS letters is just before I get to a house to deliver it. They have been sequenced by a machine to save me the time of having to sort it earlier in the day. For the most part, they are accurately sorted with an error rate which I would say is less than 2% (just a guess). Good luck with your position change and I hope it will lead you to a full time regular city carrier position.

Hey Dave! Just wanted to share because I've seen your page. I'm currently in central ny about to undergo my first day of carrier academy. I will be a Cca in a small city in upstate New York. I was wondering if you know as a Cca i would get lots hrs?

Asked by Ny cca over 11 years ago

Congratulations on getting hired as a CCA! I don't know how many hours you will get in your particular office as each office is unique. Usually, a CCA fills in for a regular carrier when they are out sick or on vacation to deliver their route. They are also given "pieces" or "splits" on routes when a regular carrier may not finish their route within 8 hours and they don't want to work overtime or when management doesn't authorize overtime for the regular city letter carrier. CCAs may also work on Sundays to deliver Amazon.com parcels. They don't do this in every office so I don't know if yours is included in that service. In the office I work at, the CCAs all get plenty of hours due to a bit of short staffing. I am not sure of the minimum hrs/shift or minimum hours/week that a CCA is guaranteed. If you go to www.nalc.org, or more specifically http://www.nalc.org/workplace-issues/city-delivery/cca-contractual-issues, they have details about being a CCA. It may be a bit technical, but it's a good reference. Good luck, be on time for work, and work safely. Try not to get involved with any office drama.

We recently just moved to a corner house and one of my friends sent me a package with the street address where the house is in but our mailing address is the same house # but with the main ave next to it. Will it still come? Or will it get lost?

Asked by Sofia over 12 years ago

I don't know that I completely understand your question, but I'll give it a try. Most houses have an official mailing address which should often correspond with the physical location of the house. I can see if it is a corner house it may be a bit confusing. You may want to contact the PO to tell them that this may be happening, and, for further reference, please advise those who mail you items of your correct mailing address and clarify with your PO as to what address should be used. This is a very important subject matter to make sure items get to where they are intended to go, especially with a lot more automated processing of the mail and substitute letter carriers who may not be familiar with all of the names are on a certain route.

Mailman Dave

I am a cca 4 month now, called in on my day off which i often am and am fine with that but was sent on a nightmare route that i was un familiar with and was unable to complete, am i doomed?

Asked by Rich over 12 years ago

I don't think you should be doomed if you were unable to complete such a large route. Usually the management would request that you call the post office if you require any extra time or assistance in completing a route that you are unfamiliar with. I would hope there would be no discipline in the situation that you just described.