Carriers engaged exclusively in the collection service must not remain in the workroom of the office except while depositing and facing the mail collected by them. Carriers must register on the automatic clock register upon reporting, leaving, returning and ending for each trip which begins and ends at the post office. The time from the clock tapes is copied into the time book or pasted into a suitable book and preserved, and constitutes the official record of time. Should the clock register be out of order the time recorded by carriers on their daily trip reports is entered in the time book. One carrier must not register on the clock for another. If this rule is violated both the carriers concerned will be removed.
The time of reporting, leaving, returning and ending for each trip must also be recorded by the carriers on their daily trip reports; the entries on these reports must be made at the beginning and end of each trip, and must not be deferred until the close of the day. When collections are made in the morning, on the carrier’s way to the office, the first and second entries on the trip report must be the time of opening the first box. When a carrier completes his delivery on his route and does not return to the post office the time recorded on his trip report for returning and ending on that trip must be the time of his last piece of mail.
Where carriers are unable to deliver all mail matter taken out on the last trip of the day without making overtime, they must return to the post office within the eight hours prescribed with the understanding that they make a full report to the superintendent of the station, and a full statement will also be made on the trip report of the day. Carriers are required to deliver all mail taken out on the earlier trips, even though such delivery necessitates exceeding the time allowed by the schedules for such trips, unless collections are made for an important dispatch, in which event the latter must be met and mail remaining undelivered will be delivered on the following trip.
Every letter carrier must keep a route book, which should be a complete directory of the persons served by him, and all changes of address should be posted daily. Carriers must record daily in their log books the disposition made of all undelivered mail. The forwarding of mail, and notifying publishers of changes of address is clerical work, and should not be performed by carriers.
Carriers are not permitted to perform clerical work. Their work must be confined to the collection and delivery of mail; the routing of mail for delivery; the making up or “logging” of undelivered matter; receipting for and the recording of registered mail; posting route books; the facing of mail collected by them, and, at offices where hand-feed canceling machines are used, the facing of mail directly into such machines, and to duty at carriers’ delivery windows.
In the performance of their duties letter carriers must be civil, prompt and obliging. Carriers must attend quietly and diligently to their duties, and under no circumstances must they loiter or stop to converse on their routes, and they must refrain from loud talking, profane language, and smoking in the office or on their routes.
Carriers must not solicit, in person or through others, contributions of money, gifts, or presents; issue addresses, complimentary cards, prints, publications, or any substitute therefor intended or calculated to induce the public to make them gifts or presents; distribute, offer for sale, or collect the proceeds of the sale of tickets to theatres, balls, concerts, fairs, or any other entertainment; issue for profit souvenirs or postal handbooks, or in any manner co-operate with or assist the publishers of souvenirs or postal handbooks to secure the patronage of the public; compile city directories for public use or assist publishers to compile the same; borrow money from patrons on their routes; or contract debts which they have no reasonable prospect of being able to pay.
Carriers must not engage in any business during their prescribed hours of service, or conduct any business after hours which offers the temptation to solicit patronage on their routes, or which, by reason of their position in the Government service, gives them special advantage over competitors, such as book canvassing, soliciting insurance, selling sewing machines, or other kindred occupations.
Letter carriers may be reprimanded, suspended with loss of pay, or removed from the service for infractions of the Postal Laws and Regulations, of orders of the Department, and of orders of postmasters not inconsistent therewith, as the nature or gravity of the offenses may require. All reprimands and suspensions must be reported to the First Assistant Postmaster General (Division of Free Delivery) for approval and entry in the carriers’ efficiency record.