Job description part 3

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DELIVERY DUTIES
The delivery part of the day then begins. The route delivery consists of
sitting on the right hand side of a normal left hand drive vehicle, just
"off" the door with room for one bundle of mail upright between the carrier
and the door. The left leg is angled over to the left in order to operate
the gas pedal and brake. Parcels and "flat bundles" are piled between the
right foot and leg and the right wall of the car. Three bundles of strapped
mail sit in the driver's seat. The carrier steers with the left arm and
hand; using the directional signal or windshield wipers involves leaning
further with the left arm and hand to reach them. The right hand and arm are
involved in pulling the appropriate mail from the bundle on the carrier's
right, opening up to 500 or more mailbox doors and putting the mail in the
box and shutting the mailbox door securely. If the carrier has "box holder"
mail this entails an extra bundle to reach from when delivering the mail.
Rural letter carriers may have as many as 5 different "bundles" to get mail
from at each box. At each delivery stop that has a parcel too large for the
mailbox or requiring a "signature" for delivery the bundle between the
carrier and the door must be moved to the left side of the car, the legs
must lift over the flat bundled mail and parcels at their feet for them to
climb out of the car. Delivering  this parcel or mail consists of walking,
walking up and down stairs, walking on uneven terrain, twisting, turning,
bending, reaching and stooping (when removing the larger parcels from the
car). Many routes have a "collection box" on their route that requires
getting out of the car in the above described manner, bending and stooping
to remove the collection mail and putting it in the car and climbing back in
the car, getting their legs and feet over and past the flat bundles and
parcels on the floor. Since all the mail will not fit in the front area of
the vehicle carriers, on average of 3 times during delivery, have to stop
the vehicle and retrieve mail from the rear area of the vehicle. This
entails turning in the seat and getting up on your knees and bending over
the seat and reaching to get an average of 4 bundles of mail with an average
weight of 13-15 lbs. per bundle.  Delivery time is approximately 3 1/2 to 5
hours in all types of weather conditions. The heater/air conditioner in the
vehicle helps, somewhat, but one window has to be down at all times for
delivery.  On returning to the office the carrier must carry a tub of all
mail and small parcels collected for mailing from the route that day back
into the office. The size of the tub is 18"W X 13"L X 11.5" H, the weight
varies from day to day averaging 20-30 pounds.  Also, any parcels or mail
undeliverable that day. Parcels weigh up to 70 pounds. Once back in the
office a rural carrier will usually have mail to case.  Casing time is from
15 to 60 minutes.

SWEETIE
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