I heard that City Carrier is worst job cuz they have to deal with weather, dogs, and hazard in neighborhood. I think not.
I worked average 10 hrs (2 hrs OT) everyday cuz of volume of mail and I'm a rookie. I'm trying to case mail as quick as I can find house numbers on case. House numbers are never organized. Basically think of "U" route and house number are divided into even and odd. When actually on the route, you just simply walk one side if first letter start with first house number and walk to end of street then cross street then continue till you finished with mail and you're next to LLV truck so you can just either pick up more mail for another route on next block or drive off.
I dealt with dogs. What I do when dog approach me, I stopped on my track and stay still while fingering mail and let dog sniff or bark at me. One dog growled at me just few feet away. I waited for owner to get their dog out of my way or I just move slowly on other way around. I have mace with me and ready to spray.
catty