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

Hi:) my mother in law has her mail delvered to my house due to she was in a car wreck and was in a rehab nursing center. Now she is out amd wants to live here. We say no. Dose she have a rightto enter my house? Thank you for your time :)

Asked by april almost 12 years ago

I can't answer that question because it isnt a subject that I have any expertise on allowing someone in your house. I would think that you don't have to let anybody in you don't want to, even if its your MIL. She does have a right to her mail, so there is some way you should find to get it to her and then a forward should be submitted by her to her new (or previous) address. 

I just recently moved to Joliet,IL and I'm used to mailboxes@the end of the driveway w/the red lever.My mailbox is by my front door.My question is can I leave a letter correctly addressed w/postage in my mailbox for my mailman to be mailed out?

Asked by Samantha over 11 years ago

I would say that it is fine to leave a correctly addressed and posted letter in your mailbox for the carrier to take with them to mail. I would recommend that the letter be very visible so that the letter carrier can see the letter they are supposed to take with them.

Does the mail carrier get a day off when it is a state of emergency?

Asked by normnorm over 11 years ago

Not to my knowledge unless the USPS closes their local office or district. In all of my years working on Long Island, maybe 1 or 2 occasions have we been unable to deliver the mail, but I don't remember if we were expected to report to work or not. It's possible though that I may not have the correct information and that a local state of emegergency would excuse a letter carrier from reporting to work.

Thanks for the reply. Wanted to let everyone know I just received the envelope back the middle of February. everything intact. floated around somewhere for 3 months! see original post at http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman#question_10600

Asked by reiat over 11 years ago

I am very happy that you received the envelope a couple of weeks ago with everything intact. I'm sorry that it took so long to get to back to you since it was undeliverable as originally addressed due to the intended recipient moving. Thanks for the update on the status of the envelope.

Can a mailman accept an expensive gift from someone on his route?

Asked by Linda over 11 years ago

No, a lettter carrier isn't supposed to accept any gift of substantial value from someone on his route. It doesn't mean that it isn't done, just that it's not supposed to be done. I don't know of anybody losing a job due to this but they aren't supposed to appear to be accepting gifts from customers.

When sending a piece of mail to an address in the same town, is it ever acceptable to write "city" instead of the town name? Have you ever heard of this? My fiance swears this is ok. I have never heard of doing this.

Asked by Nat almost 12 years ago

I think you both might have a point here.  The only time I have ever heard this before was on an episode of "The Brady Bunch". They were trying to figure out where a letter came from and it just said "city" on it so they knew it was mailed from that same city. If one were to Do that today without putting on the proper ZIP code, I doubt the letter would get to where its going because mail is generally processed at a regional sorting facility than at any local PO. If you write "city" and the correct ZIP, it is more than likely to be delivered. 

Is. the USPS jobs pay though out the nation, or does it differ where cost of living could be more or less

Asked by stephanie almost 11 years ago

Our salary is uniform across the nation even though the cost of living could vary widely. The only exceptions may be in AK or HI where the cost of living is a lot higher than most of the 48 contiguous states. What you are referring to is known as locality pay and most federal agencies have that. Our union, the National Association of Letter Carriers, negotiates our pay scale with the USPS every few years. They don't ask for locality pay as far as I know. As a national union, there is wide disagreement as to whether some areas should be paid more than others for doing the same job. Living in NY Metro area is expensive and it would be nice to have some locality pay. But for those living in less expensive regions, they probably wouldn't want to see some of their fellow union brethren making more than them for the same job. They might feel if someone in an expensive area is making more, that leaves less $$ for them in negotiating a contract and the NALC represents all of the carriers nationwide. I have definitely seen more carriers transfer out of my post office to lesser expensive areas (NC, PA, FL) than transferring in. Great question!