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.
I don't claim to know the rules that are written but I can tell you that I have a very clear opinion on this. The piece of mail you are referring to is sometimes called a saturation mailing or third bundle which basically means each address gets the piece of mail regardless of whether or not there is any mail for that address that day. I highly doubt that the letter carrier is making note of the addresses which had no other mail and would deliver that "postal/residential customer" item on a future date. There are definitely letter carriers who have a poor attitude when it comes to delivering these types of mailings. As far as I'm concerned they are stealing from the mailer by not delivering an item that was paid for. As to what can actually be done about this, you could complain or comment about this to the letter carrier or the delivery supervisor at your PO. I don't know if it will have any effect. When I get back to the PO at the end of delivery day there are often many pieces of these types of mailings put into the recycle bin. I can't imagine that the mailer has given us that many extra pieces of saturation mailings because it's known how many deliveries are on each route. You've definitely touched a nerve with me that gave me a chance to vent about this subject. It's true that many customers aren't interested in receiving so much advertising "junk mail" but it's not up to the letter carrier to decide what a customer gets and doesn't get. The mailer has paid for the item to be delivered so we should deliver it. That's our job. Thanks for the question.
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From what I understand, we scan the flats and letters to verify how long it takes mailpieces to get from somewhere to the delivery point. I haven’t heard this for sure. I agree it seems pointless and annoying. I make sure to take the time to do it properly though I don’t trust most of my coworkers to do it. Regarding what to do when it asks i feel the address is on the route, i usually put “yes” if it’s vacant or hold but I have to say I’m probably not consistent with that i do. I’d hit “yes”, then “end scanning” and then “no more to scan” if I had zero mailpieces with me. I’m not sure how it is in Massapequa but the communication as to what we’re supposed to do in any situation is quite half-assed and different supv may give different answers. I have so little faith in the supervisors to give the right information that I often don’t even bother asking. We had a service talk today about how to scan parcels that are on “hold”. The directions were completely the opposite of what we were told in the past. Besides that, I doubt they will repeat the service talk for the carriers who were off today or on vacation. I’m just venting but I think you can relate to my comments. Thanks again for writing and hope you liked my tangent.
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I think that is probably the case that the carrier put your name on the blue tape inside of the mailbox. I believe this is very common in apt buildings or cluster box units. The reason for this is probably so the carrier knows what name to deliver to your mailbox even though one could argue that all names should be delivered unless a known forwarding request is on file. In general I think it’s a good idea to have the current residents name(s) inside a mailbox to provide more accurate service though I know some people will disagree with me. On the postal route I deliver, there are no names inside of the mailboxes. I deliver to all single family houses.
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I have come across the same situation while delivering mail and getting a sampling request for an address that is either on Hold or Vacant. I don’t know what the proper procedure is and the management in my office has never addressed this as far as I know. I also don’t know if anybody has asked about it. If I were in that situation, This is how I answer: Yes, the address is on my route. When it asks me to scan the flats/letters, I just hit enter and “No more to Scan”. To repeat, I can’t say this is the correct procedure, but this is what I do in that situation. Thanks for your question.
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Tanya, I’m not familiar with why the prison mail would be rejected especially because you’ve addressed it properly. I know that jails/prisons have very specific rules about incoming mail to inmates. I would think that any mail rejected would explain the reason for the rejection. I don’t know that the PO will be of any help in this manner. I also don’t know how easy it’d be to reach the prison to ask for more on this subject. They strike me as being one big unfriendly bureaucracy. Thanks for your question.
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Henry, I can’t actually picture what that truck looks like and I don’t know what it is used for. If I had to guess it may have been some type of maintenance vehicle that the USPS used for building or vehicle maintenance. It doesn’t seem to be any type of delivery vehicle that I am familiar with. If you want to do some more research, there is a Smithsonian National Postal Museum and maybe their research or archivist staff would know more about it. They possibly charge a fee for doing research but I can’t be sure. Their website is postalmuseum.si.edu
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No. The largest vehicle that I think we drive is referred to as a 2-Ton Truck. I don’t know if it’s the official name of it. We have to have a valid driver’s license to operate any USPS vehicle. Furthermore, we have to complete driver training on most of the types of vehicle that we drive. That training is handled internally. There is no special class of license required.
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