How Does a Contracted Mail Carrier Spend a Workday?
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Arrive and Case Mail
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A contracted mail carrier arrives at the post office at the mail route's designated start time usually between 6:30 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. The mail carrier signs in, checks the mail case for customers starting or stopping mail holds for vacations, new forwards for those customers moving out of the area and new customers just moving into the area. Multiple cases form a "U" shape around the carrier's work area. These cases have "slots" designated for each mail delivery on the route in the order that the contracted mail carrier makes deliveries. Typically, a mail route has between 200 and 700 different delivery stops or mailboxes. The mail carrier begins casing the mail including catalogs, magazines, newspapers and large envelopes into the "slots." Routes are set up so that the carrier spends about half the day casing mail and the other half of the day delivering mail.
Sort Parcels, Pull Mail Down and Load Mail Delivery Vehicle
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Once the mail is all in the case in individual "slots," the carrier sorts the parcels into the order in which they will be delivered. Once the parcels are organized, the mail carrier pulls down the mail from the case in order of delivery and places the mail either into trays or into bundles. The trays or bundles are stacked onto a cart with the organized parcels. When all the mail is pulled out of the case, the carrier pushes the cart out to the vehicle loading area. The vehicle is loaded by stacking the mail trays and parcels needed for the earliest deliveries next to the driver. The cart is pushed back into the post office, the carrier signs out and takes an office key.
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Deliver Mail and Parcels
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The carrier climbs in on the right side of the vehicle to begin deliveries. City mail carriers use a LLV (Long Life Vehicle) that is similar to a step van. City mail carriers have designated stop areas where they park their LLV, then get out and walk to deliver mail using a mailbag. Rural mail carriers use their own private vehicles and drive them from the passenger side or purchase right-hand drive vehicles. The rural carrier rolls down the right side window and proceeds to the first stop. Once stopped the carrier looks through the mail to verify that every piece is for that mailbox, opens the mailbox and places the mail inside. If the flag of the mailbox is up, the carrier retrieves the outgoing mail and places it in a bag. If the carrier has a parcel that will not fit into the mailbox, it is taken to the door of the home or to a delivery area arranged by the customer. If a package or letter requires a signature the carrier must go to the door, if no one is home a notice is left in the mailbox, but the package or letter is taken back to the post office. These procedures are repeated until all the mail and parcels are delivered. The carrier returns to the post office, unloads the empty tubs, returns items not signed for and drops off the outgoing mail that was retrieved from mailboxes. The carrier signs out for the day.
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- Photo Credit Julia Fuller
