13 Things Your Mail Carrier Won’t Tell You

[luv]

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/life/...l-you-2445111/

1. Maybe your dog won’t bite you. But in 2009, 2,863 of us were bitten, an average of nine bites per delivery day. That’s why I wince when your Doberman comes flying out the door.

2. Remember this on Valentine’s Day: It takes our machines longer to read addresses on red envelopes (especially if they’re written in colored ink).

3. Why stand in line? At usps.com, you can buy stamps, place a hold on your mail, change your address, and apply for passports. We even offer free package pickup and free flat-rate envelopes and boxes, all delivered right to your doorstep.

4. Media Mail is a bargain, but most of you don’t know to ask for it. Sending ten pounds of books from New York City to San Francisco through Media Mail costs $5.89, compared with $16.77 for Parcel Post. Besides books, use it to send magazines, manuscripts, DVDs, and CDs; just don’t include anything else in the package.

5. We don’t get a penny of your tax dollars. Really. The sale of postage, products, and services at our 36,000 retail locations, and on our website, covers all of the post office's operating expenses.

6. UPS and FedEx charge you $10 or more for messing up an address. Us? Not a cent.

7. Paychecks, personal cards, letters—anything that looks like good news—I put those on top. Utility and credit card bills? They go under everything else.

8. Sorry if I seem like I’m in a hurry, but I’m under the gun: Our supervisors tell us when to leave, how many pieces of mail to deliver, and when we should aim to be back. Then some of us scan bar codes in mailboxes along our route so they can monitor our progress.

9. Yes, we do have to buy our own stamps, but a lot of us carry them for customers who need them. If we don’t charge you, that’s because we like you.

10. Use a ballpoint pen. Ink from those felt tips runs in the rain.

11. Please dress properly when you come to the door. A towel wrapped around you doesn’t cut it. And we definitely don’t want to see you in your underwear!

12. We serve 150 million addresses six days a week, so we’re often in the right place at the right time. We pull people out of burning cars, catch burglars in the act, and call 911 to report traffic accidents, dead bodies, and more.

13. Most of us don’t mind if you pull up to our trucks while we’re delivering and ask for your mail a little early. But please get out of your car and come get it. Don’t just put your hand out your window and wait for me to bring it to you.

"We don’t get a penny of your tax dollars. Really. The sale of postage, products, and services at our 36,000 retail locations, and on our website, covers all of the post office's operating expenses."

This is true. The post office is one of the (if not the only) government agencies that is 100% self-sufficient. They do not get tax dollars or money from the government. Whenever postage goes up, it's typically because the cost of technology used, gas, cost of benefits, or wages have gone up.

Anyway, I just thought I would share this. I know my dad has told me several of these, but I didn't know if everyone was aware.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Coogs

Here is one I have never understood. So what if you include something else in the package. Who is going to know besides the person you mail it to?

Any time I've done it, they've made me open up the package at the post office before accepting it.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by luv

I've taken the civil service exam twice. I got an 87. Dad said that might be good enough to get a job on a rural route somewhere in mid-Missouri, if I'm lucky.

Is that out of 100?

[luv]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

What's on the civil service exam? I vaguely remember hearing about it in the past, but didn't know that it still existed. What type of questions do they ask?

Memory questions. You get so long to memorize four boxes that have three sets of address ranges in each. Then, you are given several addresses and you must say which box it would have been included in. No looking back.

Speed. You have a certain amount of time to go through and say whether the two addresses listed are the same or different.

Following orders. You just listen to the person giving the test, and do what they tell you to do (go to question 4 and mark D).

[luv]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

Is that out of 100?

Yep.

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by luv

Yep.

How much does it cost to take it?

[Coogs]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Any time I've done it, they've made me open up the package at the post office before accepting it.

I have never had that happen. And I do not do this often either. But I still don't see the harm in sending a note/letter inside the box with said package.

[phisherman]

Originally Posted by luv

I've taken the civil service exam twice. I got an 87. Dad said that might be good enough to get a job on a rural route somewhere in mid-Missouri, if I'm lucky.

I got a similar score, somewhere in high 80's.

my dad was pissed. he worked for the postal service his entire adult life, though he only carried mail for 3-4 years back in the 60s.

the only reason that i wanted to work there was for the retirement. the benefits are/were OK, but I get equivalent benefits and better pay working where I currently do.

[Predarat]

Originally Posted by ClayWhit

No kinky stories of daytime sex? Feh!

I have a vid like that on my labtop, but there is no sound. Its actually kind of lame for pron.

[luv]

I've heard that you don't have to have the civil service exam anymore. Just pass all of the background checks (federal, state, criminal, drug). However, you don't get benefits for a longer period of time, and you usually end up with either the grunt jobs that no one else wants, or the routes that no one else want if you deliver.

Yeah, you know the area of town you would never go in? That area.

[phisherman]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

How much does it cost to take it?

I don't remember it costing anything.

[luv]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

How much does it cost to take it?

It's been forever ago. If there was a cost, I don't recall what it was.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by luv

Yep.

That score doesn't seem bad. So I take it you have to get a 95 or better to get considered.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by luv

Memory questions. You get so long to memorize four boxes that have three sets of address ranges in each. Then, you are given several addresses and you must say which box it would have been included in. No looking back.

Speed. You have a certain amount of time to go through and say whether the two addresses listed are the same or different.

Following orders. You just listen to the person giving the test, and do what they tell you to do (go to question 4 and mark D).

How interesting. I had no idea it was like that. I figured it was a bunch of questions about Tammany Hall and the succession order of the presidency and stuff.

[luv]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

That score doesn't seem bad. So I take it you have to get a 95 or better to get considered.

That's what dad said. He got a 95, plus 10 points for being a veteran.

Just think, if I had been a veteran, I'd probably be working at the post office.

[luv]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

How interesting. I had no idea it was like that. I figured it was a bunch of questions about Tammany Hall and the succession order of the presidency and stuff.

I'm not even sure what the technical name for it is. I've always just thought of it as the civil service exam. There might be different kinds, and this one is specific to the post office? I don't know.

Now I'm curious....