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.
Deee, I don’t know the answer to this question. On the NALC website there is a CCA resource guide. In a section I looked at it didn’t seem to mention anything about the number of consecutive days you could be scheduled to work. We have several CCA in our office and I’m pretty sure they try to give them off one day per week, but I don’t know if it’s mandated or not. During the busy time they may work more than 7 days/week. If you have a shop steward that you could contact they may have the proper answer for you.
For the drive and drop, I have heard that the satchel should be used as a protection in case of a dog attack. I can’t verify that is true, but I’ve rarely seen any carriers use their satchel for this type of delivery. I deliver to many houses using this method and have never carried a satchel with me. As far as seat belt use is concerned, I put it on each time I go anywhere even if just between houses that are near each other. For me, seatbelt use is an absolute all of the time. It’s an automated muscle memory item so I don’t even think about it.
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.
Congratulations Mr. fulltime. That's a clever name. As far as any tips or advice I have a few. First, you are there to serve the residents or businesses on the routes, not the regular carrier who normally does the route. This means you don't have to do any favors or anything that the regular asks you to do for the customers. Please just be conscientious about delivering the mail properly and accurately. I'd recommend not going too fast just to get the route done. It's best to go at a consistent moderate pace and don't waste time on your cell phone texting and talking to people when you should be focused on working safely and efficiently. If you aren't sure about a certain delivery or maybe how to do a route, you can ask the regular carrier and hopefully they will help you. I have a route which I deliver daily, but when I have a non-scheduled day, the T6 delivers it. I give my "floater" or "comp person" the information they'd need re: houses where there are vacancies or forwards or dogs to be aware of. If the regular carrier comes in for his non-scheduled day for OT, it's possible (depending on how your office operates) you could be "bumped" off that assigned route for the day and deliver another route in the office. My advice would also be to try to stay out of any office politics if possible. Having the same route to deliver daily, I don't need to know much about what else is happening at the PO. Good luck to you, sir!
Nurse Practitioner
Meter Maid
CBP Officer
I don’t know anything about the claims process and what type of compensation you’d be entitled to beyond the cost of mailing the item unless you purchased insurance or if the type of mailing has insurance associated with it. The carrier shouldn’t have signed for a restricted delivery item. It shouldn’t break your heart to do this. I’d be more aggravated by not getting a service you paid for. To be honest, I often sign for customers when they have certified letters or packages that ask for a signature confirmation. This is mainly because I know most of the people who I deliver mail to. It hasn’t come back to haunt me, yet. I wouldn’t sign for a domestic registered item or for a Restricted Delivery item. As far as how to file a claim, you could go to a Post Office and inquire about the process or perhaps look at www.usps.com for guidance.
I am just speculating that the item may not have even left PR yet. It has been scanned as being processed through the San Juan PR distribution center but that may not mean it has even been loaded onto an aircraft to the mainland USA. There are significant service disruptions for mail going to/from PR due to Hurricane Maria. I don’t have any more information then to just give you this generic answer and to be patient. If you called the USPS customer service phone #, I’m guessing you’d get a similar answer.
The Facebook Link does work, but why do I only see one photo with a date stamp of 2012? As far as what we are a.lowed to do I don’t think an LLV should be parked for :45 in front of the house of a letter carrier as we only are allotted :30 for lunch and that includes any travel time. I will say that enforcement of any rules regarding this is far from uniform. Our organization is entirely inconsistent in so many ways and some supervisors don’t care what you do as long as you don’t get hurt and don’t cost them overtime unnecessarily. Others are more strict and sometimes they play favorites which I find entirely unprofessional. The bottom line as far as your question is: I don’t think it’s appropriate but I can’t say for sure that the carrier is doing something against the rules. One letter carrier in my office used to drive his delivery vehicle home for lunch as his delivery route was nearby his house. , but he never stayed for more than about :25.
-OR-
(max 20 characters - letters, numbers, and underscores only. Note that your username is private, and you have the option to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
(A valid e-mail address is required. Your e-mail will not be shared with anyone.)
(min 5 characters)
By checking this box, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to Jobstr.com’s Terms and Privacy Policy.
-OR-
(Don't worry: you'll be able to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)