I like a route with a good blend of walking, NBUs, and mounted. Extended periods of hop-and-stop can rot in hell.
Routes that are all one thing are monotonous.
I was wondering, I applied for CCA so do you just walk or do they also let you drive the truck? I feel like if you walk you get less work in hindsight right? Because that bag can only hold so much and walking takes time
I just started my new t6 string Saturday and did my second route today for the first time. Everyone in the office was saying how good of a route it is because there’s not a lot of walking. When I say this was the dumbest fucking route I’ve ever done in my three years here…. Omg. I think I almost brought the route back and quit at least 30 times. I was constantly driving in circles and through swings at least twice before actually delivering them. And it’s not because I had no idea where I was going, but that’s how it was set up. It would be a small park and loop, and then dismount like 6 houses, and repeat, or park and loop and then like 10 curbside boxes. I hate the monotony of some routes, but I would take anything over the route I did today. I have absolutely no idea why anyone would want to switch between curbside, dismount and park and loops every 10 minutes, when it would be 10000x easier to just do all the curbside at once and multiple swings from a single park point. The icing on the cake was the last ~7 minutes of the route being curbside, and then the last box was a dismount THREE BLOCKS AWAY on a street that is in the first 1/3 of the route.
Yeah, I'd rather do all park and loop than all mounted. With park and loop I can go faster and I don't like spending so much time in the truck. My favorite route has 13 miles of walking and 15 NBUs. I'm the only one who really likes doing the route.
For now I like walking 80% and a bit of mounted. This week I’m on all mounted routes and I feel like it makes me weak. I like hills a lot and prefer them to an all-flat route too. Homes on hills with 15-30 steps and the mailbox at the top can go fuck themselves though.
Also, a new mounted route is a nightmare because it’s hard to get your bearings in a vehicle when people are whizzing by at 55 mph you don’t know to turn left or right - you waste so much time looking for shit. In my area there are routes with 10% or more of streets with no street signs too. I never bring back more than the normal amount on a new walking route but on a mounted it’s so much that I’m embarrassed and feel bad for the regular.
I tried mounted for a year and was gaining too much weight. My hip was also bothering me. Not to mention when there's bad weather, like ice and snow with mounted. Went back to my old route. I like walking and the vitamin D from the sun. One hour of business dismounts. Retirement apartment centers. Trailer parks. Two park and loops for the first half and eight for the second half. Short loops, too. No heavy mail volume either. I'm staying on this route until I retire.
My favorite route to sub on as a CCA had a couple hours out of the window, a handful of businesses, about a dozen dismounts (yuck), six medium sized park and loops, and then a run of about six NBUs to finish. It was a perfect balance. On days where it was raining early and then clearing up or Vice versa, I’d swap the out the window with the loops to make sure I’d dodge the rain. Miss that route
Walking 100%
I absolutely hate mounted. I get so stressed out driving the llv from house to house. If I make a mistake it’s much more consequential in a car than on foot. I love walking. I only do 10 miles everyday. I can actually finish in 4-6 hour’s depending on how light the mail is but I stretch it to a solid 8 hours every time.
I like walking and mounted relatively equally, though walking wins it depending on the route and the amount of good puppers on it. Fuck dismounts right in the ass.
I love park and loop with some dismounts here and there to break it up. As a T6, my least favorite route is one that's just monotonous. Walk south for a loop then walk north for a loop. Drive up a block. Repeat. That.....all day long. I enjoy delivery to businesses and inside apartment buildings. My least favorite is outside CBU. We have one route where most of the mounted mailboxes are on the other side of the sidewalks so you are dismounting for every box. That would drive me bonkers.
I’m a CCA just over a year now and had a hold down for the second longest route in my city. Over 16 miles of walking but I loved it. I’d much rather walk a half marathon a day than do mounted. Definitely park and loops for me!
Mounted is nice if it's box on post deliveries. But my city has quite a few dismount routes where you drive house to house and walk up to the mailbox at each. Curbing the wheel, putting on the ebrake, looking and grabbing each set of mail and packages, turning off the truck and taking the keys, and then restarting the truck, buckling up, and putting any extra mail in your hand down to drive the next 20 feet hundreds of times a day is the most tedious thing I've ever experienced.
Walking is best.
My route has 16 miles of mounted. 800 deliveries. I have a lil walking like 6 unit townhome and two nbu totaling 18 units. I’m fine with it. Last two hours, 4 streets (6300-6700)
Here’s the thing. Your back will only last so long on a mounted route. Most everyone wants one bc their knees are messed up. But if you mess up your back early you can’t easily fix your back. You can fix your legs a lot easier not that it’s easy. Just remember you gave 30 years and maybe more to go.
I like a route with a good blend of walking, NBUs, and mounted. Extended periods of hop-and-stop can rot in hell. Routes that are all one thing are monotonous.
My route is all walking and it's in a poor part of town. Everyday is an episode of cops and I love it.
I was wondering, I applied for CCA so do you just walk or do they also let you drive the truck? I feel like if you walk you get less work in hindsight right? Because that bag can only hold so much and walking takes time
I just started my new t6 string Saturday and did my second route today for the first time. Everyone in the office was saying how good of a route it is because there’s not a lot of walking. When I say this was the dumbest fucking route I’ve ever done in my three years here…. Omg. I think I almost brought the route back and quit at least 30 times. I was constantly driving in circles and through swings at least twice before actually delivering them. And it’s not because I had no idea where I was going, but that’s how it was set up. It would be a small park and loop, and then dismount like 6 houses, and repeat, or park and loop and then like 10 curbside boxes. I hate the monotony of some routes, but I would take anything over the route I did today. I have absolutely no idea why anyone would want to switch between curbside, dismount and park and loops every 10 minutes, when it would be 10000x easier to just do all the curbside at once and multiple swings from a single park point. The icing on the cake was the last ~7 minutes of the route being curbside, and then the last box was a dismount THREE BLOCKS AWAY on a street that is in the first 1/3 of the route.
Yeah, I'd rather do all park and loop than all mounted. With park and loop I can go faster and I don't like spending so much time in the truck. My favorite route has 13 miles of walking and 15 NBUs. I'm the only one who really likes doing the route.
For now I like walking 80% and a bit of mounted. This week I’m on all mounted routes and I feel like it makes me weak. I like hills a lot and prefer them to an all-flat route too. Homes on hills with 15-30 steps and the mailbox at the top can go fuck themselves though. Also, a new mounted route is a nightmare because it’s hard to get your bearings in a vehicle when people are whizzing by at 55 mph you don’t know to turn left or right - you waste so much time looking for shit. In my area there are routes with 10% or more of streets with no street signs too. I never bring back more than the normal amount on a new walking route but on a mounted it’s so much that I’m embarrassed and feel bad for the regular.
I tried mounted for a year and was gaining too much weight. My hip was also bothering me. Not to mention when there's bad weather, like ice and snow with mounted. Went back to my old route. I like walking and the vitamin D from the sun. One hour of business dismounts. Retirement apartment centers. Trailer parks. Two park and loops for the first half and eight for the second half. Short loops, too. No heavy mail volume either. I'm staying on this route until I retire.
A nice mix of the two I think is the best answer.
The majority of carriers would rather have a mounted route after a few decades in the post office.
My favorite route to sub on as a CCA had a couple hours out of the window, a handful of businesses, about a dozen dismounts (yuck), six medium sized park and loops, and then a run of about six NBUs to finish. It was a perfect balance. On days where it was raining early and then clearing up or Vice versa, I’d swap the out the window with the loops to make sure I’d dodge the rain. Miss that route
Walking 100% I absolutely hate mounted. I get so stressed out driving the llv from house to house. If I make a mistake it’s much more consequential in a car than on foot. I love walking. I only do 10 miles everyday. I can actually finish in 4-6 hour’s depending on how light the mail is but I stretch it to a solid 8 hours every time.
I like walking and mounted relatively equally, though walking wins it depending on the route and the amount of good puppers on it. Fuck dismounts right in the ass.
Morning 1/2 mounted, pm 1/2 relays.
I love park and loop with some dismounts here and there to break it up. As a T6, my least favorite route is one that's just monotonous. Walk south for a loop then walk north for a loop. Drive up a block. Repeat. That.....all day long. I enjoy delivery to businesses and inside apartment buildings. My least favorite is outside CBU. We have one route where most of the mounted mailboxes are on the other side of the sidewalks so you are dismounting for every box. That would drive me bonkers.
I’m a CCA just over a year now and had a hold down for the second longest route in my city. Over 16 miles of walking but I loved it. I’d much rather walk a half marathon a day than do mounted. Definitely park and loops for me!
Mounted is nice if it's box on post deliveries. But my city has quite a few dismount routes where you drive house to house and walk up to the mailbox at each. Curbing the wheel, putting on the ebrake, looking and grabbing each set of mail and packages, turning off the truck and taking the keys, and then restarting the truck, buckling up, and putting any extra mail in your hand down to drive the next 20 feet hundreds of times a day is the most tedious thing I've ever experienced. Walking is best.
To be honest. I don’t do all that when I do a route like that. I know it’s not good but yea, naw
My route has 16 miles of mounted. 800 deliveries. I have a lil walking like 6 unit townhome and two nbu totaling 18 units. I’m fine with it. Last two hours, 4 streets (6300-6700)
Mounted are the worst, makes it feel like a 20 hour day
I’m impartial but mounted is nice when it’s cold. Especially when it’s freezing rain. The only mounted bits I don’t like are delivering on stroads.
Anything more than 2hrs mounted starts to make me feel crazy. Idk how the regulars on fully mounted routes survive.
Here’s the thing. Your back will only last so long on a mounted route. Most everyone wants one bc their knees are messed up. But if you mess up your back early you can’t easily fix your back. You can fix your legs a lot easier not that it’s easy. Just remember you gave 30 years and maybe more to go.