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.
Letter carriers sometimes have a choice to move to other neighborhoods/assignments based on a seniority-based bidding process. As other carriers retire or move on to other assignments this creates vacancies to be filled, often by lesser-seniority personnel. Sometimes there are newer employees who may be on the same route for awhile just filling in for someone who may be on Long-term leave for illness or injury or military leave. I have been on the same route for 15 years and can stay on it indefinitely unless there is an office reorganization. I can also bid to another route (if I prefer to) if a vacancy is available to be filled and my seniority is enough to move to that route.
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I don't know the rule about this Debbie. I would guess that for the safety of the letter carrier it is recommended not to enter an open garage or backyard. I almost always will leave any packages at the front door. If the garage is open and the package can be left there I may consider doing that as well. We have never been told not to deliver a package through and open garage.
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Van, I'm sorry that I don't have any secret tips about casing quickly. By shadow day I guess that means you watch someone while they do their job. I admit when you first see a carrier case with so many addresses and then you have some so much mail to put in the case it is overwhelming. My advice is to not get distracted by outside music or your cellphone. Try to remember where a particular street is on the case. I've found that when you are put in front of a new carrier case it is intimidating, but the more you do it the easier it should become. Do not give up easily as you are just starting your job now at the USPS. I've found it to be a worthwhile career.
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JC, I'm so glad you had a great experience with your letter carrier today. Too often I hear of the opposite happening. I don't know exactly how you'd leave feedback for your letter carrier, but I have 2 suggestions. First, you could go to www.usps.com and look for info on how to contact the USPS. It may just be a general call center but hopefully they'll give you the number or some way to contact your local PO. Another option is to write a letter (I know it's not too common these days) to your local PO, attention: Delivery Supervisor or Postmaster giving praise to your letter carrier and describing what she did to go above and beyond. You don't necessarily need the street address for the PO, just the correct ZIP code for your PO. Using the USPS mobile app or the website you can find the address of your local PO. Thanks for taking the time to give positive feedback.
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GG, I don't really have a suggestion for you. If it were affecting your mail delivery in any way I'd be quite upset and concerned. In theory, they shouldn't keep holding someone's mail for pickup indefinitely. I mean they shouldn't be able to have their mail held, pick it up, and then just put it on hold again. The solution for that person would be to rent a PO Box and have their mail forwarded to it. I know we often won't hold mail for individuals at a certain address. We usually hold the entire mail for an entire address but I can't quote you any internal policies on this because I don't know them. If any mail for the previous owner actually gets delivered to your house, I'd say that you should feel free to discard it since the PO isn't helping you at all. I know it sounds vindictive but the person who moved out or sold the property should either fill out a proper COA or just not care about any mail addressed to him at your current residence.
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I do understand what you mean. Your question is "If a carrier takes the 'shortcut' to your mailbox vs taking the stairs at the far end based on his direction of travel are you liable for any injury. I don't know the answer to this for sure but I'd hope not. We are covered by workers' compensation insurance through our employer (the USPS) and I don't know that the USPS or the letter carrier (individually) could file a successful liability claim against you as the homeowner. I can see if you were very negligent as a homeowner and maybe caused some type of tripping hazard to be left unattended perhaps there could be some liability, but I have really no insight on this.
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Chris, to answer your second question first,we are definitely supposed to walk through yards and across lawns unless a resident or property owner specifically tells us not to. It is the most efficient way to get from house to house without having to walk to the street unless there are fences between houses in their front yards. As far as dog poop situation, I don't know what is legal and not with regards to refusing mail delivery. I would speculate that if there is a chance the letter carrier may walk through it then maybe the note is warranted. On the other hand if the dog feces is on the lawn and you request the carrier not to walk on your lawn as he may step in it that should be a fair compromise. The carrier could also write a carrier alert card for your address which is sorted in your mail daily so when a letter carrier comes upon your house they could be alert for any possible dog poop. The alert card isn't delivered to your house. Instead the letter carrier takes it back to the PO to be used on the next delivery day as a warning card again for your address.
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