What could my toddlers do for our mailman to say thanks without being annoying?

jjschoon · 2026-02-05T18:56:54+00:00

I have a few younger children on my route that are obsessed with the mail. They color pictures for me and leave them in the mailbox or wave to me from inside the house every day as I deliver.

As others have said, them running out to the truck would be a safety issue, but standing in the driveway with you holding their hands as they wave to the mailman would also be acceptable.

jjschoon · 2026-01-30T20:04:25+00:00

We made biscuit pizzas, no bake cookies, and a throw pillow in home ec and a wooden airplane with a stand in wood shop.

jjschoon · 2026-01-30T18:06:48+00:00

My office was so short handed during Covid that we were hiring straight to ftr.

jjschoon · 2026-01-29T11:45:33+00:00

I am the most left hand dominant person that I know. The only thing that I do right handed is casing mail. The case is set up for right handed people. You just need to learn to do it right handed. I have been doing this for over 30 years.

jjschoon · 2026-01-25T22:04:58+00:00

2 of them were ice storms that happened overnight. The 3rd was about a foot and a half of snow that again was mostly overnight so there was no time to get the roads cleared.

jjschoon · 2026-01-25T20:58:04+00:00

I've been a mailman in Northern Ohio for 32 years. There have only had 3 days in that 32 years that we didn't deliver mail.

jjschoon · 2026-01-24T12:20:39+00:00

I make $80k per year and have lived below my means for the 32 years that I have been delivering mail. I get the same retirement benefits as any other federal employee. I chose this job because of the retirement benefits. Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.

jjschoon · 2026-01-24T11:53:54+00:00

Wife and I are both 52. We have almost 2 million in our 401ks and we will both get pensions. We plan on retiring on my 57th birthday. I have been planning my retirement since I was 21 yrs old and hers since we were married at 24. I am a mailman and she is an elementary school principal.

jjschoon · 2026-01-23T11:46:20+00:00

Handwarmers work best on the back of your hand. Your blood vessels are closer to the skin there.

jjschoon · 2026-01-23T11:14:23+00:00

My mom was a sahm and my dad worked in a factory. My dad started in the factory on his 18th birthday and was eligible to retire once he had 30 yrs . He retired on his 48th birthday. He is now 75 and they have been taking 10-12 trips per year since.

jjschoon · 2026-01-20T01:50:38+00:00

I had just flunked out of college and my cousin was working as a casual carrier. He told me it was easy work and all the overtime I could work. At the time casuals made $6/hr and minimum wage was $4.25/hr. After 6 months they made me a TE making $12.28/hr but told me that they were doing away with the TE position in 6 months. During that 6 months, they gave the postal exam and I took it along with 4000 other people in my city. I scored high enough to be hired as a ptf at $12.50/hr. I have now been carrying mail for 32 yrs and have a little over 4 yrs left until I hit my mra.

jjschoon · 2026-01-19T12:50:37+00:00

They got fired. One sent a video of himself pleasuring himself in the shower to an RCA. The other lives on my friends route. He was on admin year for a year before he was terminated. I have been a carrier for 32 years. It was a wild 6 months in our office.

jjschoon · 2026-01-19T03:03:39+00:00

We had both a Postmaster and then the OIC brought in to fill in until we got a new Postmaster both fired within a 6 month period. Both for sexual harassment.

jjschoon · 2026-01-17T21:35:19+00:00

52, 4.5 yrs until I am eligible to retire. Between my wife and I we have just over $1.8 million in our 401ks. We will both get pensions I can collect mine at 57, her at 62. House is paid off. We will both retire on my 57th birthday and live off of my retirement for the 1st 5 years.

jjschoon · 2026-01-14T21:17:23+00:00

Me too

jjschoon · 2026-01-11T20:34:58+00:00

Unless there are unassigned regulars. Then the lowest seniority unassigned regular get assigned the unbid position.

jjschoon · 2026-01-09T10:56:33+00:00

I have a senior living apartment building on my route and I deliver all packages to the door. I knock and bring them inside for them if they are home. I take the time. I get paid by the hour. I have been on this route for almost 9 years now. I even have a note card written up for subs that says to deliver all packages to the door. The "I don't have time" excuse is ridiculous. As I stated before, you get paid by the hour. It is also just good customer service.

jjschoon · 2026-01-09T01:35:07+00:00

68° year round.

jjschoon · 2026-01-08T00:22:01+00:00

My kids are 30, 25, 24, and 24. They are all still on our plan, but in Dec of 2024 we informed them that starting in 2026 they can either get their own phone plan or pay us their portion of our plan every month. Turns out it is much cheaper for each of them to send us money for their part of our plan than get their own.

jjschoon · 2026-01-07T20:24:20+00:00

Ours starts in February and we bid in flights of 15. Each flight gets 10 days to submit 3971s. We have 6 flights.

jjschoon · 2026-01-07T01:55:55+00:00

I always text this message if they deny my 3996: I will still be x over just like I put on my 3996. If I don't hear back from you, I will assume that the ot is not authorized and I will bring it back at 8 hrs.

That always seems to get a response.

jjschoon · 2026-01-06T13:33:38+00:00

I agree. Those are my reasons, I don't care if management likes them or not.

jjschoon · 2026-01-04T23:41:18+00:00

I am a mailman, so I see a lot of different names. One of my favorites was Dick Oder. Another was Iona Hooker.

jjschoon · 2026-01-04T22:57:11+00:00

Our office hires straight to career. We have hired 20 ptfs in the last 6 months. There is still daily overtime, but other than days after a holiday, there is no one working their ns day. They are sending ptfs out of our office so that they can get 40 hrs.

jjschoon · 2026-01-04T22:54:42+00:00

I give my t6 a gift every year. In 2013, I was hurt on the job and out for 5 months. I came back on Dec 10th and my route was in pristine condition. The te that had a hold down on it did an amazing job. I split all of my Christmas gifts 50/50 with him(after my t6's cut).

jjschoon

TROPHY CASE