Ask a Mailman (City Letter Carrier) anything

1237 Questions

Last Answer on February 18, 2022

Are mail carriers allowed to take mail truck home everyday during their route? Curious because my neighbor does this daily and usually in his truck for a bit like 10-15 min then goes in his house for 20-30 min. Then leaves.

Asked by Anna almost 10 years ago

I believe it's allowed for a letter carrier to take home the mail vehicle to your own residence as long as it's within a reasonable distance of where you deliver the mail, I delivered mail to a letter carrier's home who delivered mail on a nearby route. He'd bring his vehicle home daily (I could set my watch by him) and eat lunch. Our normal lunch break is 30 minutes and that includes the time it takes to get to and from your postal route. If the carrier was there for more than 30 minutes, that may not be appropriate but I can't really speak for anything that I don't personally know since the rules are so often enforced arbitrarily.

507 Votes

While driving the vehicle to make a delivery, another motorist points towards the back of your vehicle as if something is wrong. What do you do?

Asked by jonathon almost 10 years ago

I believe I have been asked this exact same question before with the same wording on this website. Anyhow, if this happened, I'd proceed with caution. When I felt it was safe to do so, I'd park the vehicle and walk around it to make sure everything looked okay. If I was in an unsafe area, I may think that it's some kind of setup to get my vehicle to stop and I'd just keep driving. Your scenario doesn't seem like it would happen very often and I don't usually pay attention to the actual other motorists gestures. I have driven a few times without the back tailgate being properly latched down which could make for a hazardous situation. I probably would be glad if someone had pointed that out to me.

506 Votes

Is it difficult to get granted a transfer? And do they make the "real" mailman cover the routes of the call offs,instead of so called slaves?

Asked by the gf of a shady mailman about 10 years ago

I don't know much about transferring between locations as I've never tried myself but I've seen it done quite a bit both into and out of my office. I believe you need to be off probation and maybe worked for a certain amt of time before being eligible to transfer. Also, whether or not a transfer is granted could depend on the staffing levels of the office you'd be leaving and/or the one you are requesting to transfer to. Usually transfers result in you losing local seniority so you go to the bottom of the list for carries as far as vacation requests and work assignment choices. With regards to your other questions, I'd never call anyone one slaves at the USPS? If you are implying the CCAs have to cover the routes for call offs, it depends on the managements and the staffing needs. As a regular carrier I usually fill in to do parts of routes that need coverage on any particular day and will be paid overtime to do this after finishing my own route. So when you say slave nobody is being forced to do this job. In my particular post office the staffing is perpetually not that good so both the CCA (of which we have very few) and the regular letter carriers fill in as needed. One main difference is that as a regular letter carrier you would rarely be forced to do overtime work if you choose not to and are not on the OTDL (overtime desired list).

506 Votes

Can mailmen refer mail for inspection because of a person's attire, religious garb, or what he subjectively perceives as being odd behavior? Can he collect data about the sender (identifying data, license #s, etc.) on the basis of such profiling?

Asked by Teddy almost 10 years ago

I don't know the answer to this question but I would generally think we can't do profiling based on what we see and then refer that to the USPSIS. There may be a branch of the USPS that does legally do such observation and data collecting but I know nothing about it nor have ever been approached about being involved in such activity. What you're asking about seems somewhat discriminatory so I would likely never want to be involved in any type of racial profiling.

506 Votes

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If the post office is close, does that mean the mailman stops running?

Asked by Aracely about 10 years ago

Generally that would be correct. If the PO is closed due to poor weather conditions it would usually mean our whole retail and delivery operations have been suspended. I don't know if there are still processing operations going on at the mail plants. It isn't too common for us to suspend delivery for an entire day, but in blizzards or states of emergency, it could be necessary for us to do so.

506 Votes

I share a large mailbox with a neighbor who never gets his mail. He is not at home often. I have been advised to throw out his junk mail. I don't think that is legal, nor my responsibility. What can I do without starting an incident. He's nice!

Asked by Meela about 10 years ago

I wouldn't get too involved with this if I were you. I mean you wouldn't get in trouble as far as I know but you are correct in saying it's not your responsibility. Who advised you to throw out his junk mail? I would never do that as a USPS employee. No mail is junk to me. A mailer is paying my employer to deliver a service (mail) and I deliver it all. There are certain classes of mail which are non-forwardable and get a better speed of service, but it's all mail. I think the way I'd handle it is one of two ways. The first suggestion is to do nothing as it's truly not your responsibility to get involved with someone else's mail. The second suggestion would be to periodically take all of his mail, rubber band it and leave it by his front door if you feel that is a safe and secure place to leave it. I don't now how your residences are situated. Thank you for this interesting question.

505 Votes

It is my understanding 1st Class mail is protected from search and seizure, however, what if a postman observes what he believes to be a suspicious letter? Is it routed to a special place for examining? Is the sender notified? Is the recipient?

Asked by Teddy almost 10 years ago

I have never come across this situation as far as I can recall. I'm pretty sure if there is a suspicious package or letter, I'd notify a supervisor who would then decide whether or not to call the USPS Potsal Inspection Service or local law enforcement. They also may want to segregate the item from other mail or people in case it is potentially hazardous material. I don't know how the notification process works with reference to the sender or recipient. This may be more common in a larger mail processing facility where the mail for many offices passes through to or from the local post offices. We aren't often taught about suspicious or potentially hazardous mail, though it is covered sometimes in service and safety talks.

504 Votes

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Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

Are mail carriers allowed to take mail truck home everyday during their route? Curious because my neighbor does this daily and usually in his truck for a bit like 10-15 min then goes in his house for 20-30 min. Then leaves.

While driving the vehicle to make a delivery, another motorist points towards the back of your vehicle as if something is wrong. What do you do?

Is it difficult to get granted a transfer? And do they make the "real" mailman cover the routes of the call offs,instead of so called slaves?

Can mailmen refer mail for inspection because of a person's attire, religious garb, or what he subjectively perceives as being odd behavior? Can he collect data about the sender (identifying data, license #s, etc.) on the basis of such profiling?

Also on Jobstr...

If the post office is close, does that mean the mailman stops running?

I share a large mailbox with a neighbor who never gets his mail. He is not at home often. I have been advised to throw out his junk mail. I don't think that is legal, nor my responsibility. What can I do without starting an incident. He's nice!

It is my understanding 1st Class mail is protected from search and seizure, however, what if a postman observes what he believes to be a suspicious letter? Is it routed to a special place for examining? Is the sender notified? Is the recipient?

Mailman (City Letter Carrier)

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

Are mail carriers allowed to take mail truck home everyday during their route? Curious because my neighbor does this daily and usually in his truck for a bit like 10-15 min then goes in his house for 20-30 min. Then leaves.

While driving the vehicle to make a delivery, another motorist points towards the back of your vehicle as if something is wrong. What do you do?

Is it difficult to get granted a transfer? And do they make the "real" mailman cover the routes of the call offs,instead of so called slaves?

Can mailmen refer mail for inspection because of a person's attire, religious garb, or what he subjectively perceives as being odd behavior? Can he collect data about the sender (identifying data, license #s, etc.) on the basis of such profiling?

Also on Jobstr...

If the post office is close, does that mean the mailman stops running?

I share a large mailbox with a neighbor who never gets his mail. He is not at home often. I have been advised to throw out his junk mail. I don't think that is legal, nor my responsibility. What can I do without starting an incident. He's nice!

It is my understanding 1st Class mail is protected from search and seizure, however, what if a postman observes what he believes to be a suspicious letter? Is it routed to a special place for examining? Is the sender notified? Is the recipient?

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