Any postal employees or family of?

[jimmiej]

I'm a middle school band director, now for 25 years. I think I may have reached the end. I'm burned out.

Contemplating a career change. I'm 47 yo. Thinking of taking the Postal Battery Exam. Is that what they call it? Ordered the study material.

What can you tell me about working for the USPS? Is it a rewarding job? I can handle tedious work, same thing every day, etc. Looks like the starting pay would be similiar to what I'm making as a teacher.

Would like some thoughts from those with experience. Thanks.

 

[puffkin]

My SIL works for USPS.

There is a LOT of red tape. When she first started, she was considered temporary (not sure the name of the classification). She worked a lot of really odd hours and most holidays. She is finally FT-perm after several years and her schedule is a bit more solid now, but she still works some late days and weekends.

Her pay and benefits are decent. I think vacation is based on a seniority scale but don't quote me on that.

 

[ez]

from my experience I would encourage you to look elsewhere, honestly I feel as though I had 18 years of my life sucked away from me. It is a very thankless job and you are under pressure from management each and every day...they need to make their "numbers" Its very hard to explain to someone thats never worked there, but really, all my coworkers couldnt stand it either.
The previous poster is correct in saying you enter service at the bottom of the totem pole and are completely at their mercy as far as hours and days worked...often I was working 13 days in a row, and it took me 6 years to make "regular" Sorry but really had to put in my 2 cents here..besides that after I took the exam and scored extremely high it still took 2 years to get hired. Best of luck in what you decide.

 

[Holly]

My father is a retired USPS employee and I can assure he'd advise you to pass that one up.

 

[Savsmommy]

My DH, Mom and Stepdad work for the post office. DH has been there over 2 years and my mom and stepdad over 20. Once our kids are in school I'm going to take the test also.

 

[CarolG]

There's a postal forum on federalsoup.com - you may be able to get additional opinions there: http://community.federalsoup.com/4/OpenTopic

 

[wdw4us2]

I was a Letter Carrier for the USPS for 14 years and had 22 years years total in federal employment.

At the USPS, everyone starts out as a Part-time Flexible employee. What this means is that you are only guaranteed 4 hours of work when you are scheduled to come in. That said, there are times when you will work 10 hours a day. You won't know until you get to work. Most of the time I was a PTF, I generally worked between 35-50 hours per week. I was a PTF for a year and then became a Full-time Flexible. You don't become a Full-time Regular until you have a successful bid (on a specific route or work schedule). You don't have a set day off until you become a FTR.

As to the comments of other posters, they are true. I have never been in a job where you were at the mercy of your supervisor more than at the USPS. No matter how good a job you are doing, they are all about the numbers because that's how they (supervisor's) get their bonuses. So, they're all over you about not using overtime even if it is justified. They would rather have you misdeliver mail, not forward mail, make mistakes, etc. so long as you save them an hour of extra help. I'm not exaggerating!

Since the USPS is a union job, everything is done by seniority. Bids for routes, vacation time, days off, etc. If you're in a large post office it's not too bad. If you're in a smaller office, you can forget about getting vacation time during the prime weeks until you are high up on the seniority list. There is no Annual Leave granted during the month of December until after December 25th.


The job was great once you get out of the office. I made many friendships with my customers and enjoyed being outside. The aggravation wasn't worth my continuing until I could receive full retirement and I was fortunate that I was able to leave a few years ago and become a SAHM.

 

[jimmiej]

You don't have a set day off until you become a FTR.

So it's 5 days/week or 6? What about Sundays?

 

[wdw4us2]

So it's 5 days/week or 6? What about Sundays?

If they want, they can work you 7 days although it's generally 6 at the most. You could work seven four hour days, you're just at the mercy of the supervisor and how they want to schedule you.

The pay week runs from Saturday - Friday. Overtime is not determined by a 40 hour week. You get paid overtime (time & a half) once you go over 8 hours in a day, double overtime once you go over 10 hours in a day. When I was a PTF, there were many days when I went over 10 hours per day. I don't know if that's still the case now.

 

[jennyl772003]

I was a Letter Carrier for the USPS for 14 years and had 22 years years total in federal employment.

At the USPS, everyone starts out as a Part-time Flexible employee. What this means is that you are only guaranteed 4 hours of work when you are scheduled to come in. That said, there are times when you will work 10 hours a day. You won't know until you get to work. Most of the time I was a PTF, I generally worked between 35-50 hours per week. I was a PTF for a year and then became a Full-time Flexible. You don't become a Full-time Regular until you have a successful bid (on a specific route or work schedule). You don't have a set day off until you become a FTR.

As to the comments of other posters, they are true. I have never been in a job where you were at the mercy of your supervisor more than at the USPS. No matter how good a job you are doing, they are all about the numbers because that's how they (supervisor's) get their bonuses. So, they're all over you about not using overtime even if it is justified. They would rather have you misdeliver mail, not forward mail, make mistakes, etc. so long as you save them an hour of extra help. I'm not exaggerating!

Since the USPS is a union job, everything is done by seniority. Bids for routes, vacation time, days off, etc. If you're in a large post office it's not too bad. If you're in a smaller office, you can forget about getting vacation time during the prime weeks until you are high up on the seniority list. There is no Annual Leave granted during the month of December until after December 25th.


The job was great once you get out of the office. I made many friendships with my customers and enjoyed being outside. The aggravation wasn't worth my continuing until I could receive full retirement and I was fortunate that I was able to leave a few years ago and become a SAHM.

Unless things have changed, the above is for city carriers. Rural works differently. I was a RCA (rural carrier assistant) for a few years.

To start, you are a sub for another route. You work the regular carriers days off and vacation, etc. So, in essence, you never know for sure when you are going to work. You can learn additional routes, which can give you more hours, but still, it is very irregular.

If you live somewhere with a real winter, it sucks. Those trucks drive like crap in the snow. I'm sure walking in it is rotten too. My route was mostly mounted.

I was at the PO for 3 years, and it wasn't until 3-4 years after I quit that my number would have come up for my own route. My mom works at the PO and loves it though. I couldn't wait to leave.

ETA: back when I was there, there were no benefits for part time employees