US Postal Service FAQ

Pros

Can't think of one at the moment

Cons

Never know when you shift will end because you will have to help other offices deliver mail

Pros

When you become Regular, you go home when you get done 1pm 2pm or whatever takes you. No direct supervisor. Very casual or no dress code (rural carrier), paid holidays, cell phone discounts, education help, good benefits overall.

Cons

It can take forever to become a Regular Carrier (years) and when you are a Sub you get overloaded with work, it is never enough how much you do, but if you hang in there it is worth it. It is very hard to advance in carrier or almost impossible!

Advice to Management

People with College degree should be taken in consideration to be part of management.

Pros

Competitive wage, "career employee" benefits include FEHB (health insurance options), FEDVIP (dental and vision insurance options), TSP (Roth and traditional, with 5% traditional match no matter which type of TSP used), full retirement annuity(?) after 30 years or age 62 w/ minimum 15 years (I believe), and life insurance options. Plenty of opportunities for advancement, guaranteed job, union protections, and regular wage increases based on length of employment up to 15 years.

Cons

Horrendous scheduling, 6 days/week, split shifts, either 30 hrs/week or 50. If you're lucky like me you'll be "converted " or promoted to a career position in little time. After that, good luck making "regular" or a normal, 40 hrs/week, set schedule. Many PTF clerks never attain a regular position in their career, as it heavily depends on their office's allotment of employees. Work culture is pretty crappy, many employees should have retired long ago, employee rudeness should be handled more effectively, and management is often unreasonable or unknowledgeable about either clerk or carrier operations and expectations. The hiring process is painfully slow and doesn't begin until the employee actually leaves, even if notice is given well in advance. There's a billion surveys and useless reports to fill out, along with incessant deadlines that just waste time. In a small RSS office it's assumed you're only either sorting mail or handling transactions, not handling phone calls, reports, writing second notices, changing locks, or literally anything else that legitimately needs attention within the office and are constantly hounded for using time for these tasks. Management is rarely supportive and often fails to follow through with promises of help. Since the COVID-related shipping boom, no employees were added to my former facility, only much larger stations were given the option, despite liberal leave policies, and copious FMLA use nationwide.

Advice to Management

Follow through with promises for assistance, cut the ridiculous certifications and surveys, and train management properly.

Pros

Great benefits, great pay, dependable hours, overtime is double not time and a half

Cons

Management doesn’t care if you have kids or outside responsibilities. They treat CCA’s like slaves and they make good employees quit. High turnover.

Advice to Management

Listen to employees. Don’t overwork your CCA’s because they carry the bulk of the extra work. Mandatory overtime means new employees are overworked and if they used more teamwork everyone could get job done quickly and easily. If you don’t have seniority don’t expect fairness.

Pros

Paid well. Good position for someone straight out of highschool/college with no family/pets/life. Once you're loaded up and out of the office, you don't have people breathing down your neck. Generally good people at the office.

Cons

The hiring process was strange and had bad communication. I heard nothing from my application, then a month later was given a contingent offer without interviewing and without a start date. Then I was interviewed, where they told me when I might be starting but they weren't sure yet. A week or two later, they gave me a start date. Scheduling was garbage. I was hired for a part-time position. They told me that there would be some overtime, but I never thought I'd ever work 84 hours in one week for a part-time position (I never worked less than 60/wk once I was trained). I was regularly scheduled to have one day off a week, but very regularly got called at 6am on that day off to tell me to come in. The time I didn't answer the call, I got a stern talking-to and was told I wasn't a good team player. When offered the position, I was told I would be able to get some Sundays off. I never did, and that was the final straw.

Advice to Management

Hire more people. Then hire a few more. If it's a full-time position, call it a full-time position. Create set schedules for CCAs, and if they're on call on their day off, tell them ahead of time, and pay them for it. Maybe schedule for 4 days, then on call for 2 then off 1.