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 agree that using postal delivery vehicles to deliver the mail curbside would be more efficient than door to door delivery by a walking letter carrier. There would be more gasoline consumed by these engines running for many hours per day but you would still probably save money versus the costs of a carrier walking door to door and not being able to deliver in the same number of houses in the same amount of time. I deliver mostly by walking from house to house and some neighborhoods in the town where I work have curbside delivery. Those routes do have more delivery points than the one I deliver. The two factors that I can think of for not transitioning everyone to curbside are as follows: 1) I've never heard of the USPS forcing anyone to move a mailbox from their house to the curbside. Who would incur that cost? There would probably be a lot of pushback from customers who have delivery to their front door. 2) Many neighborhoods don't have the streetscape to handle mounted (curbside) deliveries. If the houses are too close together you will have many cars parked on the street which make it difficult for the letter carrier to access the mailbox from the mail truck. In these cases, the letter carrier must perform a time-consuming dismount procedure if they want to deliver the mail to the house with a mailbox they can't access directly from the mail truck. It works fine in most suburban and rural areas but in a tighter density environment , the economics of it may not work. I, for one, love to walk from house to house and get exercise while delivering the mail, but understand your question about how curbside delivery could be more efficient. Thank you for the observant question.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=Hi...I%20live%20in%20a%20town%20in%20Illinois%2C%20where%20the%20mailman%20walks%20from%20house%20to%20house.%20Towns%20around%20me%20use%20mailtrucks%2C%20which%20has%20to%20be%20more%20efficient.%20%20%0A%0AConsidering%20that%20the%20usps%20is%20looking%20to%20cut%20costs%2C%20why%20would%20they%20not%20transition%20everyone%20to%20curbside%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/15643)
You should be able to scan the 3849 if you choose the attempted function. At least this is how it works on the older scanners. If the "delivered" function is chosen then the 3849 (reverse) is scanned. The only change I noticed recently was having to put the 3849 bar coded # in the scanner on the "attempted" function. This allows the recipient to just type in the 3849 # when requesting re delivery. It is an extra step but if you are a city carrier, time=money.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=to%20continue%20on%20the%20signature%20confirmations%2C%20its%20a%20hassle%20to%20have%20to%20deliver%20the%20package%20after%20the%20customer%20signs%20the%203849%2C%20sign%20in%20person%20or%20not%20sign%20in%20person%20is%20the%20question%2C%20now%20we%20have%20key%20in%20the%203849%20on%20certifieds&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/14750)
Certainly. You may mail a letter from anywhere to anywhere as long as you apply the proper postage. You also can put your primary residence as your return address even if you mail the letter out from a different address.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=I%20want%20to%20know%20if%20I%20have%20primary%20residence%20in%20one%20place%20and%20I%20realized%20that%20I%20need%20to%20send%20a%20piece%20of%20mail%20out%20but%20I%27m%20out%20of%20town%20and%20I%20need%20to%20send%20this%20mail%20immediately.%20%20Can%20I%20put%20my%20primary%20address%20but%20be%20able%20to%20send%20it%20out%20in%20a%20different%20city%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/13222)
If someone writes the wrong address but a letter carrier recognizes the name as to where the letter should go, it may be delivered correctly. If we can't figure out where the letter should go and there is a valid return address on the letter, we may send the letter back endorsed "Attempted, not Known" referring to the incorrect address that was written on the envelope.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=What%20if%20someone%20send%20u%20mail%20but%20right%20the%20wrong%20address&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/14301)
Pharmaceutical Researcher
Will we see a cure for cancer in this lifetime?
Air Traffic Controller
When would you order fighter jets to be scrambled?
Subway Store Manager
The 6" sub is too small and the 12" is too big. Why no 9-inch sub?
David, i don't know the answer to resolving that issue, but it does seem wrong for the carrier to leave the package at your apt. door if you don't feel it is safe for that to be done. You are saying there is now an office? Do you mean an apt. rental office that would accept your parcels is available? Maybe a sign could be said to leave packages at the rental office. I don't know that your letter carrier would do that. Finally, your letter carrier is correct (at least from the perspective where I work) that we are just to leave Amazon parcels at any address and not scan it "attempted". We scan it delivered even if they are on a vacation hold and then we hold the parcel at the PO until delivery to this address has resumed. This doesn't make sense if you live in area where a secure place to leave a parcel isn't available. Another option may be to rent a PO Box for your parcel deliveries but that requires time and an additional cost. Thanks for writing.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=my%20mail%20carrier%20says%20he%20can%20not%20%E2%80%9Cleave%20notice%E2%80%9D%20for%20Amazon%20packages%20if%20i%20don%27t%20answer%20at%20my%20apartment.%20he%20has%20to%20leave%20the%20package%20at%20my%20door.%20i%20had%20one%20stolen%20once%20and%20don%27t%20want%20package%20left.%20there%20is%20now%20office&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/13038)
I am not sure I can exactly answer your question properly. If the mail has already been sent, I don't know of any way to change the apt. number to the correct one. You can contact the sender so if they mail you anything in the future that they should address it with your correct apt. number. Since it seems like the mail has already been sent, you could leave a note on the mailbox of the apt. to where the mail was sent or you could could contact the post office to tell them there may be a piece of mail incorrectly addressed to another apt. # and that it should go to the mailbox that belongs to you. I don't know if either scenario will help as it probably depends on the willingness of your "neighbor" or the personnel at the USPS to assist you. I hope you get the mail you are waiting for.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=I%27m%20waiting%20for%20mail%20%2C%20but%20the%20mail%20I%27m%20waiting%20for%20has%20a%20different%20apartment%20number%20.%20How%20can%20I%20change%20it%20so%20that%20my%20mail%20gets%20put%20in%20the%20right%20mail%20box&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/15374)
It depends when you drop the letter in the blue collection box. If it is before the daily pickup time (which is usually posted on a label somewhere on the box) then it is likely going to be on the same dispatch truck as if you put the letter in a box at the PO. The truck then goes to a centralized mail processing facility. If you put the letter in a blue collection mailbox after the daily cutoff time posted on the mailbox, but the local PO is still open, you'd probably be better off bringing the letter there for mailing. At most POs you can probably bring in letter up until 1700 for same-day processing.
Share Answer: &caption=Jobstr.com&description=is%20it%20quicker%20mailing%20a%20letter%20at%20the%20post%20office%20versus%20dropping%20it%20in%20a%20local%20mailbox%20to%20get%20to%20the%20recipient%3F&redirect_uri=http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4154-mailman-city-letter-carrier-/question/14179)
-OR-
Login with Facebook (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-
Register with Facebook(Don't worry: you'll be able to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
Browse Jobs
Host a Q&A
Search
Submit Your Question
Host a Q&A
Last 7
