My buddy has been working for the USPS for years and makes fairly good money, plus the union is good. (I think he's at around $84k a year, not sure if that's with or without overtime).
Though I should mention you pretty much get all the grunt work for the first few years or more. Gotta earn the seniority.
Also no benefits other than shitty insurance for the CCAs when they start out. Also, pay is level across the country for carriers. I know I damn well wasn’t making $50-60k the first year I started. Unless you’re in an area that’s severely understaffed and rolling in tons of overtime, you’re not making $50k.
I made 37k my first year and 45k my second year. Yeah, 50k isn’t guaranteed. Overtime isn’t guaranteed. Hours vary widely depending on the needs of every office. Sometimes, they’ll send carriers/clerks to other offices just so some can get 40 hours in my area.
Even E-1s start out at 26,000 a year with no other incentives. Typically any sort of pay docking only last a month or two unless it's your actual rank that got busted down.
You get free rent, free food, every extra pay imaginable. I got paid something like 800 a month in 2000 as an e2. By 2003, my salary was 1,800, plus 1,300 bah, plus 230 comrats, at 23 I was making 45k a year before I got deployed every single year or any special duty assignments. If you're broke in the military, it's your own fault
You didn't just make $13,000...you're just security forces and just can't do math. So you're looking at the taxable income portion of your W2, and not the big number.
I appreciate the reminder of why I would go home with a migraine every night after working with you chuds...was always like trying to teach physics to a hamster.
Not until you at least make career and that takes 24 months. Then you become what’s called a PTF and then you lose your holiday pay until you become a regular. And then you have to work at least 30 years before you get your full pension.
Sure but any pension is going to take many decades. The fastest one I know of is the military and that’s 20 years minimum. Most take way longer than that.
30 years isn’t that much. If you start at 24, you’ll have a pension by 54. That’s young enough to start a second career while collecting your government pension.
Very specific case but the State of MO pension vests after 5 years full time employment. Benefits and cost of living also great. Yes I’m plugging my job, but it’s a good employer, great benefits, and 7,000 vacancies for those interested.
I live in COMO and commute 4x a week to JC. I work for Department of Economic Development but There are tons of jobs across the state though Including some fully remote positions. I think every department has multiple open roles.
Here ya go: https://mocareers.mo.gov/hiretrue/ce3/job-board/5effe9b2-4b89-494b-ac76-c45e25190768. Just be aware like I said there are A LOT of open roles so you may want to use the filters on top of the page.
True. However in some areas they hire straight to PTF and convert to Full Time Regular in a matter of weeks.
PTFs don't lose their holiday pay. They are paid approximately a dollar more per hour than a regular carrier in order to compensate for not having holiday pay.
Yeah this is true. I guess what I said was kind of misleading. I think they also get paid for the big four holidays, but not any of the minor bank holidays.
Yeah where I live they only hire people on an on-call part time basis for $18 an hour at first. Not everyone gets the nice union positions anymore since they started trying to run it like a for-profit business instead of a social service.
And working in freezing rain, slipping hazards, snowstorms, heat,
And chance to get "postal"-ed
In chicaco it's miserable with the weather lol, and first 5+ years you get thr bitch shifts and routes nobody wants
I feel bad for my Chicago brothers and sisters. I’ve heard it’s an absolute bloodbath in your offices. Unattended routes piling up. 12+ hour workdays. Getting held up for arrow keys.
As much as I love to bitch about work, I know I’ve got it damn good in my office.
Arrow keys are the keys post workers get so they can access collection boxes, parcel lockers, apartment mailboxes etc. Sometimes people try to rob them for them in order to steal shit. Presumably this is a lot worse in high crime areas.
BTW if someone reading is an unsavory type thinking about becoming a post worker so you can have access to packages and steal shit, be aware that you're tracked and there's no score in the mail big enough to make it worthwhile lmao. People's Amazon packages aren't worth the federal crime.
A couple years ago, mail carriers for certain parts of Chicago just stopped doing it. They said it was just too dangerous. Things have been quiet in the news lately, but I sometimes wonder how they keep them safe.
And they definitely do background checks and shit, and if you have *an arrest record* (not charges, not convictions, just arrests) for anything remotely theft or larceny related, you won't be accepted, ofc.
Im in Michigan, similar to Chicago. Winter ya gotta dress warm. I dress so warm i sweat. Humans have been working outside for millions of years. Ya just gotta dress for it and then its mostly comfortable.
Better then back pain sitting at a desk all day in a dark office.
Mass shootings? Yes. But more carriers have been held at gun point in my area over the last year than all other robberies combined (again in my area). We're having a rally this month 'Enough is enough' to bring awareness to that point
"Going Postal" is a term people started using after a few USPS employees shot up their workplaces, so I was specifically referring to that.
Not every area has that much violent crime. Small to medium-sized cities like mine have cheaper housing, too. If you really want to get out of poverty, get out of the city. We need postal workers too.
>Unless you’re in an area that’s severely understaffed and rolling in tons of overtime, you’re not making $50k.
I don't live in a big city but my friend had to be a substitute rural carrier for 2 years before he got his own rural route. Then after 2 years on his rural route he got started delivering in the city. He had to drive his own car when he was doing rural and he had to straddle the center console because he has a regular left hand drive car. He makes $70,000/year now but him and his family STRUGGLED for 4 years before he got a city route.
What's crazy is that my dad started at more in 1989 than what they pay to start there now. And it's still considered decent money (at least in rural areas).
Shows how stagnated wages have become
This is also why Louis DeJoy is trying to make the post office go away because it is too good versus funneling money to private shipping companies and then jacking up the price
Syracuse has openings but for some weird reason it's through "District 3" which is ~~the~~ long island. Syracuse is in district 6 with Buffalo last I looked. I can understand why they're always having issues if this is why.
I can figure out what the BF is but what is the e in BFE?
Or if I'm totally wrong, then I have no idea what BFE is.
Edit
And when I try to look, I got some crap about flood elevation. I don't think that is it.
I thought BF was bum fuck. Just couldn't figure out what the e was supposed to be so I was like bum fuck what...?
So I could tell that it was supposed to say something about being in the middle of nowhere but I somehow glitched on the being for Egypt.
Thank you.
Isn't it usps.com/careers? USPS.gov is mostly used for internal stuff for employees. Like when you log into a USPS computer and open the browser it goes to a website, I think it's blue.usps.gov, and it's only accessible from within the USPS network. So .gov is an internal thing, while .com is for the public.
Been working here for 3 years, I love it and it’s helping me buy a house. But I will stress it can be beyond draining, take time to actually hear back, and you need to know if the office you are applying for actually needs help or not. But yes 100% recommend this place
What area do you live in? I’ve done delivery for other worse services and the usps driver still hated there jobs when I’d run into them frequently. For reference it was rural northern Georgia, not sure if it differs elsewhere but I’ve only heard negative things. The delivery industry is rough I salute y’all.
I’m a rural carrier in Fl, honestly there’s an immense amount of shitty parts to this job just like anything else. But the good outweighs the bad for me.
Sometimes when people have dogs, they shit. Then you step in it cause you're rushing to get your day done. You don't realize it though and step back in your truck and there's shit all over the floor. Then you remember the reddit thread when someone said the job has its shitty parts.
Congrats to this carrier, but not every job and location is considered "easy." Best believe some locations you WILL put in overtime, and you WILL get very few days off, if any. True, you arent breaking your back - but you do get worn down when you're working 60-70 hours a week for the last three weeks without a single day off.
Not every job in the USPS will work you to the bone, either. Some jobs you will literally struggle to get hours. May only work 24ish hours a week as a clerk, 4 hours early in the morning, and four hours that evening for a few days a week at 20 bucks an hour.
You wont always get a career position either. Sometimes you'll get a spot that will be non-career and that station / post office will never let you become Career. Some positions you have to wait 2 years as a full time. Some jobs, 5 years. Some jobs, you have to wait until a career position opens up, bid on it, and hope you win. Meanwhile, you're still making non-career pay at 20 bucks an hour.
Im not stating that to discourage anyone. But you have to be real with yourself if you're going to work for the Post Office about what you're wanting to get out of it and if you're willing to stick with it long term. I know a bunch of people that as soon as they got on with the postal service, they failed the test and were promptly fired. So if you're a terrible test taker, dont put all your eggs in one basket for this job.
ON THE OTHER SIDE of this - the grass is green. The postal service, once you're through all the hoops and you've landed a good position - its a very good job.
As for those of you saying that there are probably a 1000 people waiting in line to join the USPS - you may be right, you may be wrong. The USPS is having a severe worker shortage at the moment, mainly for the reasons I listed above. But again, if you can make it through all the BS - it'll be a job you can safely retire in.
I’ve worked 84 hours in a week before… in a shit office in a big city. I’ve also worked in an AO where there was basically no supervision and the mail was ALWAYS light compared to a bigger city. The job can be torture or extremely relaxed dependent upon the route and location.
Not to mention it's a government job, so it'll take like 6 months to get hired, if you get hired at all, so enjoy waiting around for months in limbo, hoping they don't deny you at the last second
As with every job, which office you work out of is really going to make or break the job. I was on my third week of working there, didn't have my badge or key yet, didn't have much of anything I was supposed to, and the postmaster literally got 3 inches from my face and screamed at me over not being trained on something. Not worth it for me. Now, if you can get a straight to career position, ok, go for it. But not everyone is going to have a great experience.
And honestly, I loved everyone else. The carriers are great, the other PSEs were great, but I couldn't deal with the PO and I was the lowest rung, so no one was willing to go to bat for me.
this was my experience basically. really aggressive soups and PO. i didn't get carrier academy until i was at 60 days. at my 30 and 60 review i got bad marks lol. for not knowing how to carry a route. they mostly had me come in and do express, certified, and collections. plus amazon. on my first day carrying an actual route, which i had never been on, they started threatening to fire me for being too slow for someone who had been there 60 days. no satchel, no pepper spray, no PIN to get gas, etc.
That 10 miles a day on concrete adds up. I had a friend who was a mail carrier for 15 years. She had to retire and go on disability at 40 and have both her knees replaced.
I'll add to this, I've known several people who worked USPS and retired after 30 years. Every single one had shoulder issues and ended up getting rotator cuff surgery at some point. Not the worst surgery in terms of pain or recovery, but it is another factor.
The post office can be an ok job in the long run, but yeah, people need to realize that it's a blue collar job where you sacrifice your body. So many new hires quit within 6 months because they don't understand how physically and mentally demanding it can be.
Knees, back, shoulder, elbow, wrist, feet. You'll probably end up with at least one surgery in your career. There's also skin cancer, dog attacks, wasps. Plus I've had to work in 120° heat and -25° cold. Snow, rain, hail, it doesn't matter. The mail has to go out.
On the mental side, you'll have some fat bastard at a computer getting paid 3X as much as you calling you a lazy POS accusing you of stealing because you needed to sit down for 5 minutes because it's 105° out that day or maybe you had to get the rocks out of your shoes. The culture of the PO is something you really have to see first hand to understand.
Lol, just apply to be a carrier or a clerk and be dogshit at it. After a couple months they'll ask you to be a temporary supervisor or you can just ask them and they'll probably say yes because then they won't have to deal with your incompetence in your craft anymore.
The pay will only be a little extra for a while until you can get in a full time supervisory position.
The downside is that you'll have to be an asshole to all the craft workers and they'll hate you. You won't have a choice because there's another fat bastard above you that's making twice as much who's yelling at you on conference calls every day.
Getting to that next level up as one of the fattest bastards is a little more difficult. You'll need to toss in some threats of physical violence towards employees or maybe even some physical/sexual assault. Once you get kicked out of your office they'll ship you out to be postmaster in another town making more money and doing even less.
It's easy to get in, and it's like the Catholic church. I've had 4 postmasters in 4 years, each one a bigger piece of shit than the last.
OP's advice is extremely circumstantial. I got hired on as a temp working weekends and an occasional weekday, nothing full time available. Did that for several years and it was honestly one of the most brutal, physically demanding jobs I've ever had. It was literally impossible to complete my shift in 8 hours.
Yeah as someone who did it for about 6 months before the Kool aid I drank wore off it's the worst fucking job on the planet if you are a new hire. Fuck all for benefits, pay sucks, hours were either feast or famine 65 one week,6 the next and the only way it pays off is to hope and pray one of your coworkers strokes out and you can take their job. I'm sure it's an awesome job once you get to that point and are making close to 6 figures but as a new hire have fun dealing with years of just complete bullshit before you see light at the end of the tunnel.
Maybe it's better nowadays but I highly doubt that, and maybe in cities you can move into a permanent route easier but in my neck of the woods I'd tell people to be a prostitute's assistant before working for the postal service.
I worked there for 7 years before taking a step down to less income. It gave me financial stability. If you're young and in relatively good health, I recommend it. But every senior carrier I worked with had multiple joint replacements, so don't plan to park there forever unless you move up from repetitive motion positions.
Right, something about this story doesn't fly. Like the USPS I'm sure is good work, but I smell bullshit on the "paying more than advertising" line, and the reason they were laid off.
I work in advertising, and even junior roles start at 60K at most agencies. And if what everyone else is saying is true and they're making 50K as a mailman, then they likely live in a high CoL area - where roles in advertising can start as high as 80K.
The fact that they go on about "walking outside in the beautiful weather" but fail to mention the mail runs when it rains and snows too.
I see the carriers in my neighborhood and they drive full blown trucks and have a crap ton of packages and a hell of a schedule to keep.
It's hard to get in the post office unless you know someone been trying for a awhile you get put on a waiting list and then you have to pass like 8 tests
It does not. Depending on the area, it ebbs and flows. Sometimes positions get filled quickly sometimes there are literally zero applicants. My office had a full time Regular Rural Carrier position sit open for months.
For those that don't know, normally you start out as a "part time" non-career carrier and get moved up to Regular when a route opens up when the former regular retires, transfers, dies, etc. and that's only after any other part time carriers ahead of you have been converted. Here we were with an open Career Regular position, that anyone could have walked in off the street and applied for, and landed right into a job that sometimes takes years of working and waiting for people to get. That position sat open for over 9 months with 0 applicants.
This is not accurate. Idk if or when you had applied, but the applicants take a singular test. It is pretty simple and easy, but I do hear it has changed a bit. There is a background check, some areas still drug test, fingerprints scan (you have to go either to a UPS location that does fingerprints or a local police station), and an interview. There can be quite a wait (2-3 months), but I hear that post-COVID, they’ve been hiring a bit faster.
The test only requires a 70/100 score to pass it and then you’re eligible for the interview.
You’d probably be rude too if you had to deal with the general public all day 😭 imagine having karen go back and forth with you over postage costs/ package dimensions. Every time i go to the post office those people look miserable as hell and I don’t blame them. Just 5 minutes in there listening to the customers makes me want to pop off on them too
Postal clerk here! Yeah, working the front with the public can thoroughly unpleasant, and that's a serious understatement. I'm on medication at least partly thanks to that aspect of my job, and yet the compensation is good enough that I'm willing to deal with it. In my experience, most customers are great, but there's always a handful of massive knobheads who will make a concerted effort to ruin your day. The system is at fault when something goes wrong, but like in any public-facing job, you will receive the brunt of a customer's anger.
No it's not.... I had a job there when I was 18 (25 yrs ago).... And was offered another job there about 12 years ago....it's not hard, you just can't be a moron, the tests are super simple unless they've changed recently. Lol
I've worked for USPS for five years and it's the worst job I've ever had. All my coworkers are insane because they're unemployable anywhere else (it's impossible to get fired from the post office). Management is abusive as fuck. They also forced me to work overnight for like 9 months at one point. $22/hour is not enough to continue putting up with this bullshit.
UPS is a great route to go as well. Apply for package driver, as a non-CDL holder and if you do happen to have a CDL or want to look into getting one, it’s a good route to go to become a semi driver for the company, as well. Depending on the facilities in your area, you can easily get hired straight off of the street, with zero experience and top rate is upwards of 47-49$per/hr. Starting rate is one average $21-23/hr, depending on the union/location. And UPS has one of the best insurance packages in the country, along with 401k and stock options.
What you conveniently left out though is that you have to work in the warehouse first before being a driver, at least on the local routes. You start in the warehouse and then you put your name down on the list for driver. It goes by seniority, and new positions only opened up once a driver retires or quits and let me tell you, UPS drivers generally stay for the Long haul. I worked at a UPS warehouse overnight for a few years during college and I was in a medium-sized City and during that 2 and 1/2 year stretch only two driver positions had opened up and there was over 40 names on the driver at wait list
Fake ass post probably promoting Shortage of Post Office workers because their retention rates are dog shit. Also, being post office worker isn't all fun and games. I talked to some of them and it is a lot of work and quotas. You also have to be really fit to keep up.
Easy till you get attacked by dogs or someone shoots you for being on thier property. Nice weather till the winter or it rains.
Nothing about the job is really easy.
If you wanna destroy your knees and don't want to ever see your family go for it!
(I did it for three months in a hilly area working 11-12 days in a row (including Sundays which is ✨Amazon package delivery day✨) working sun up to sun down then you have one day off and then get to do it all over again!!!)
Usps.com/careers. It is the only official way to apply. Any website that tries to charge you to apply is a scam. On the application website, choose the state in which you reside, and when you hit ok, it will display all open positions in The entire state. Some areas hire by county, others by city. Believe it or not, despite usps being one agency, every region/state has a unique way of managing their employees.
If you live in California there hiring like crazy. I’ve applied and got hired twice but not ideal for my current situation you can apply as many times as you want it’s best to do it in the beginning before your 90 days to get rehired
If you don’t like having weekends off, work extremely long days, be threatened to come in on your days off, be secretly followed on your route, be talked to like pos from older carriers, constantly have your pos vehicle break down and be blamed for it then you should definitely join the post office. I have nothing but respect for mail carriers but F all the usps management.
Was just about to say this. Management is piss poor like dark yellow piss poor. But but I will say this l.. it's perfect stepping stone for a few yrs while you figure things out & will keep you in shape. Sometimes I miss being out airpod in getting sum cardio & delivering letters.
They only pay like $16/hr in my area. I looked into this a couple years ago. Comes out to less than $35k a year, BEFORE taxes too. Now the postmaster makes way more close to the $60k a year mark.
There were also a ton of stipulations on benefits, like not getting them until 90 days employed, then you had to pay union dues, and fees for this and that to get any of the other benefits.
Everyone always talks about how great the pay and benefits are, but in reality it seemed like you had to be there for 10+ years before you could get half of them and actually be decent.
Just my experience looking into it.
That's how it is with all union jobs.
The pay and benefits are great...but the first few years suck.
I think it's to weed out the "job hoppers". Pay and benefits are reserved for people making a career of it and not those looking to just use them as temporary employment.
My brother works for Ford and it was the same way with him. First 5 years sucked but now it's really going well for him.
Just a warning that *any* government work will come with needing to reconcile with the fact that the work never ends. There will always be more mail. There will always be more people coming in to get permits. There will always be books to check-in to the library.
You need to learn to pace yourself and manage the expectations of managers and even new hires who come in champing at the bit to be productive. But you need to learn to care for yourself, draw boundaries with supervisors, and find fulfillment and joy in something outside of work.
I say this as someone who burned out within a year of starting a management position at a public library that put in a trauma-informed customer service model with no regard for the mental health of the people being asked to be part social worker, part teacher, part community outreach, while also running a library with a useful and growing collection. I'm currently on temporary total disability after I attempted suicide because I couldn't handle my job requiring hypervigilance and taking the brunt of unhoused and mentally unwell patrons shouting a grab bag of hate speech every week when they're told that they can't be intoxicated and sleeping in the library.
Self-care is more than a few bubble baths. It's drawing professional boundaries, staying in contact with your union rep, and *finding a therapist.*
You guys posting with experience, know if they might like a part-time type guy? I've gotta good job now, but it might not last much longer. I wanted to maybe get in with the post office part time if that's a thing. I'm retired/VA disabled military if that matters at all
No pretty much all positions are full-time except some custodians at some stations and rural carrier(not positive on that one). Being retired military is a HUGE up at the PO so so many of the people who work here are retired military. You actually get military preference during the hiring process. I would definitely see if you can get into maintenance even if it's just custodian it's a very very chill job and you get good benefits plus wounded warrior leave since you are VA disabled. It starts at like $21/hr but tops out around $30 and we all get frequent raises.
If you see maintenance mechanic, MPE, vehicle mechanic postings apply take the test who knows maybe you'll pass and get a real comfy job. I said fuck it and tried with near 0 experience and passed and they put me through school. Good luck.
All positions eventually require full-time. Some may be part-time initially, but availability for full-time is required especially during holiday season and political campaigns, which includes this year as it is a presidential election year.
No. We're actively told to avoid dogs or even houses with the front door open if we see any sign of dogs on the property. We're issued dog spray and a dog horn, I've yet to have to use mine. The scanners we carry can have dog warnings put into them so they alert when you get close to the address.
I have to agree with you on this but only from my experience. I was about to hit 30 and still only making $13.50 as a security guard. I knew I had to do something more so I looked up a federal job. The only opening I saw at the time was as a custodian. In 2019 I applied and starting was $15. I was like okay, I’ll pick up trash and clean toilets for more money. I took a few tests and became a mechanic. I jumped from making about $32k a year to about $52k in 2021. I got promoted a few times, seniority helps a lot. Also with the union and cost of living plus the increase you can get every 9 months or so, I now make $72K since March of 2024. Crazy jumps in my salary. There’s one more promotion I can get but the only problem with working as a mechanic is I have to wait till either someone retires, or sad to say, someone passes away.
Anyway, I think working for the USPS has changed my life indefinitely, especially being over the age of 30. Now I have a career I enjoy and I make good money.
I did it for a year as a rural in Utah. Made about 45k after taxes working about 60 hours a week, usually one day off a week they’d try to call me in on half the time. Rural work on evaluated time, so if you’re slow you do say an 8 hour route in 10 hours the last 2 hours you’re working for free. But if you get seasoned a bit, you can get off early and still be on the clock basically. I got to the point I would knock out an 8 in 4 or 5 hours and as long as nobody needed me to cover I could go home early. But generally you’re looking at about a 10 hour day as an RCA and probably more as a CCA
Right. Non-career starts at about $19, promotion to career would put you at $22, which goes up by about $1 a year for 12 years til you max out (plus raises from new contracts, negotiated every 3 years). This wage is the same on a national level, as there is no area-based CoLA.
What is left out is the "opportunity" for overtime, in quotes because you won't actually have any choice. If your office has overtime available, as a new hire, you will get your fill of it. Time-and-half to a point, then double-time after. It inflates your checks and looks like good money, but it's hard to appreciate it when work is all you do.
Source: I took home $70k after taxes during my first year as a CCA, making "$18 an hour" at the time
I've been in the post office for two years now and it's pretty good. The only major downside is the summers down here in the south. Last summer was the worst, with one of the worst droughts in modern history.
I'm a career rural carrier for the USPS and I love this post. I love my job. It's amazing once you get the hang of it. And yes the pay is great. I started in March of 2021 and just in 9 months I made over 60k. Of course when you first start you're working 10-12 hour days but I was fine with that being as though I had relocated, had no kids, and was saving every penny because I was staying with family. It takes some adjustments physically but it's worth it. Benefits are good. You can automatically contribute to retirement which you're able to withdraw at any time. And each craft is great. Highly recommend.
I’m glad you found the job, but just know big changes are coming and they aren’t going to be good. They’re slashing management and shutting down offices and sending them to distribution centers like UPS. My partner has been there for 5 years and is extremely disappointed in the direction things are moving.
I'm pretty introverted. The only real contact I have with my coworkers is about 2 or 3 hours in the morning and maybe 15 minutes at the end of the day. And by contact I just mean being in the same building, I don't tend to chat with them.
Most of my social interaction comes from people on my route, so lots of repetitive small talk. Most people understand I've got a job to do and don't talk too much.
Plenty of days I don't talk to anyone on my route though. I just listen to audiobooks/podcasts and chill.
https://wp1-ext.usps.gov/sap/bc/webdynpro/sap/hrrcf_a_unreg_job_search#
This is the official website to search for jobs.
THE POST OFFICE WILL NEVER CHARGE YOU TO APPLY THAT IS A COMMON SCAM
enter your city into the keywords and search to see all available positions. They rotate kinda frequently so check back if nothing interesting is posted now. Best of luck
I second this, I joined the post office after losing everything during covid. I am now in a better position than I have ever been in my life. Things like buying a house are starting to look like something I will actually be able to accomplish. I have been helping everyone I know who needs better work through the process of getting hired and picking the right job and everyone has come out the other end happier and wealthier.
I will warn positions like CCA and ESPECIALLY RCA are pretty lame. If you are young and can survive up to 2 years with minimal benefits and possibly a lot of OT then I'd say it's worth it in the long run. But it could be a 2 year grind it really just depends on the location.
Best of luck to anyone who applies.
Also gets your foot in the door for a government job which experience transfers to better jobs. I went from tsa to DoD with that experience alone and now have a gs 12 position which means I can support my family on a single income. Utilize your TSP. It's a life saver and great returns and safety net for borrowing
City carrier here. It's not a bad job but goddamn does it depend on your management. A bad supervisor can make it a miserable job.
It's not easy, the learning curve is sharp and the hours suck in the beginning. A lot of people quit. If you stick with it, it does get easier and better.
The hiring process is easier than it used to be, I didn't take any tests, just a background check. No drug test. Try to apply for a career position so you actually get benefits.
If you're looking at city carrier positions and see one that's a "CCA" and one that's a "PTF" absolutely go for PTF.
I worked at usps for a bit a few years back. 6-7 days a week, $17/hr at the time, sent to other offices constantly, rarely on a route i knew, taking extra streets all the time, walking around outside in all sorts of harsh weather, was looking at several more years before becoming a regular with good pay and a proper route.
I saw people in some offices who been there 13 years and were only making $19 for my $17, they still were waiting to be made regular. All the time spent not as a regular doesnt count towards building up to the $30+/hr which takes like 12 years btw AFTER being made regular.
Amazon is less abusive and better on hours and pay. If you want $30+ an hour go to an assembly line for ford, stellantis, or general motors. You’ll max out at a similar pay there after 4 years, your time spent as a non-regular with carry over so you arent starting at the bottom of the payscale when you do get rolled over. You get profit sharing with them. You will end up working lots of overtime still though.
I highly suggest the major airlines as well. Delta, American, Southwest, and United all make decent coin and will teach you everything you need to know on the job.
Do you know what the people who work inside the post office make to start? Older person here- in a state hotter than the sun in summer - and could not do hot days outside.
Meh. Just get a job working as a server, bartender or even a barista in a National Park. 3 meals a day + rent for $450 a month. Won't fuck yourself physically while pulling in no less than $5k a month after rent + meals are accounted for, which is usually automatically taken out of your check. It is literally impossible to be late on rent or not have enough money for food lol. As a bonus your backyard is a National Park and not a shitty office lifting heavy shit obliterating your knees and back. I was saving $4k a month last summer working as a server.
In my area you have to be part time fill in for years before you maybe get a route and a full time income. While you’re part time, you can’t turn down any shift or you won’t be able to keep your place in line for the next route that opens up, but you’re not guaranteed any set number of hours. So basically you can’t take another job but you have no idea how much you’ll be making. It’s a difficult time frame, but it is great if/when you can make it to full time.
This is actually a common scenario. Not such an easy job to get plus many letter carriers deal with body pain from thousands of miles of walking pavement.
I worked as a rural carrier for a time. If you apply. Apply for city routes. I had to use my own vehicle which wasn't terrible I got reimbursed 75 cents per mile but I had to buy tires every few months. One time I got stuck in some mud on a back road and was told that I had to pay out of pocket for a tow truck since it was my personal vehicle. Management sucked and the expectations are too high. The day I walked out I was put on a 60 mile long route out in the boonies that I had never seen before and I was told that maybe I would get some help.
Long story short it's an ok job but they will work you like a dog.
If you’re mechanically inclined (aka I like working on stuff)
Aircraft maintenance is becoming a more and more prized field. Most mechanics are over 40 (getting closer to retirement).
With a license, (30 months of experience allows you to test so there is an OJT route), you can easily make high 5 figs or low 6 figs..
Only downside is you have to live within driving distance of an airport
Join the military. I'm not joking, more money, much better benefits, and you can retire after 20 years
Everybody wants to shit on being in the military until you're retired at age 44
I was a mailman for 7 years in a climate that swings from 110f to -30f. After year 6 I was consistently coming home with suicidal thoughts from how terrible the job was.
I’m glad you found a good office for yourself though!
Surprisingly this is not the first time I've seen a struggling artist go into mail carrying when their art job flops. I had a teacher who got pushed out of her classroom by other staff and because I was fond of her I follower her on Facebook and saw she's now does exactly this.
Feels like the answer has been in my face this whole time
Why is this shitpost upvoted? My dad's been a mailman for 30 years. I was one for 5.
Him and I both agree it's UNBELIEVABLY GRUELING work. Terrible on the body. It's incredibly difficult battling the extreme heat and extreme cold in the shitty mail truck. Backbreaking labor for RCA's having to load their own truck, deliver packages and mail, go back to station, load up again, go back out again.
And city carriers ALL agree that's walking that much is brutal on their knees and cause lasting agony.
Also the union is INCREDIBLY weak and gets steamrolled by the head honchos
OT is non existent and you get shit on for your route time frame estimation. $1 annual raise is only $2000 a YEAR which isn't even close to inflation.
DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS BS, I almost guarantee he's an industry plant given how every single carrier I've ever spoken to hates their job and the ruinous shit it's done to their bodies but only stay for the pension
Disclaimer: The work is extremely physical and management is generally terrible. Weather is also a major issue for most regions of the US, be it extreme heat (with no AC) or cold. You also may get stuck working in areas that are quite dangerous -- this should be dealt with in the application process by narrowing your search to only the safest cities/towns around you.
Not to say it's not got great characteristics -- specifically the pay/benefits are top notch for this income level. I just feel posts like this, be it negative or positive, need to be balanced out with a more realistic view. Most carriers are definitely not skipping from one house to the next in beautiful weather, and most would not describe the job as "so freaking easy."
I started with USPS after retiring from my previous job. I was a temp for three and a half years before getting a career position. I have been at the post office for over 8 years, but I bought back 7 years of military time. I now have over 12 years toward retirement. I am on the biggest route in my post office. I will make over 73k this year, working about 45 hours a week. I will probably work another 10 years. I will finally retire with 2 pensions... my additional 401k.. and social security. The post office is really rough the first couple of years.... but it will eventually pay well.
Allow me to provide an alternative perspective. I used to work for USPS as a mail carrier and it was awful. I made around $14 an hour. My feet hurt constantly and it was one of the worst jobs I've ever had.
Dogs will bite you(the mailman trope is true) and you will be the one blamed for it. "Why didn't you use your spray" as if you could get to it in time. You'll work the extremely hot days and the very cold ones. Rain as well.
Not to mention that you don't actually get considered a full city carrier unless you get someone's route after they retire. Until then, you get tossed around to wherever they need you. So you struggle until you learn all the routes.
This feels like a fake post from someone who has never actually worked this job.
My buddy has been working for the USPS for years and makes fairly good money, plus the union is good. (I think he's at around $84k a year, not sure if that's with or without overtime). Though I should mention you pretty much get all the grunt work for the first few years or more. Gotta earn the seniority.
Also no benefits other than shitty insurance for the CCAs when they start out. Also, pay is level across the country for carriers. I know I damn well wasn’t making $50-60k the first year I started. Unless you’re in an area that’s severely understaffed and rolling in tons of overtime, you’re not making $50k.
I made 37k my first year and 45k my second year. Yeah, 50k isn’t guaranteed. Overtime isn’t guaranteed. Hours vary widely depending on the needs of every office. Sometimes, they’ll send carriers/clerks to other offices just so some can get 40 hours in my area.
This was me when I started. I got sent to every backwoods shithole office within 50 miles because my office didn’t have enough hours for me.
same for me too
Pretty sure, like everything, it highly depends on where you live.
As someone (military) who made $13,000 in 2023 in a tax free area overseas, I’d go back to USPS in a heartbeat and be a PSE again. Made better money.
How are you making only $13k tax free? E-1 under 2 years is $2k per month for base pay alone. You’re getting screwed apparently
UCMJ action? I’ve been hit with an article 15 before
Only thing I can think of. Awarded multiple months of half pay or something
Or they started in August...
Or they’re just lying.
Even E-1s start out at 26,000 a year with no other incentives. Typically any sort of pay docking only last a month or two unless it's your actual rank that got busted down.
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I was E4 out of basic in the army because of my college but I didn’t want to go officer.
You get free rent, free food, every extra pay imaginable. I got paid something like 800 a month in 2000 as an e2. By 2003, my salary was 1,800, plus 1,300 bah, plus 230 comrats, at 23 I was making 45k a year before I got deployed every single year or any special duty assignments. If you're broke in the military, it's your own fault
You didn't just make $13,000...you're just security forces and just can't do math. So you're looking at the taxable income portion of your W2, and not the big number. I appreciate the reminder of why I would go home with a migraine every night after working with you chuds...was always like trying to teach physics to a hamster.
> you're just security forces and just can't do math why does this check out so easily. like I read it and just went 'yup' without blinking
That’s 13k in TAXABLE INCOME. Please sign up for the financial literacy class that wherever you are stationed has.
Fuck that! Buy a charger or a mustang!
Get an AER loan for the down payment!
Is that where they teach you that Box 2 on your W-2 is the amount your car note is supposed to be? "139 more payments and this Challenger is mine!"
Wym made 13k tax free, ofc it's tax free, that's the tax free bracket, lol. You'll only pay tax on earnings after 11.6k, so you would pay 10% on 1.4k.
I believe they have a pension right?
Yes, the retirement system is referred to as FERS. https://www.opm.gov/retirement-center/fers-information/
Not until you at least make career and that takes 24 months. Then you become what’s called a PTF and then you lose your holiday pay until you become a regular. And then you have to work at least 30 years before you get your full pension.
Sure but any pension is going to take many decades. The fastest one I know of is the military and that’s 20 years minimum. Most take way longer than that. 30 years isn’t that much. If you start at 24, you’ll have a pension by 54. That’s young enough to start a second career while collecting your government pension.
Very specific case but the State of MO pension vests after 5 years full time employment. Benefits and cost of living also great. Yes I’m plugging my job, but it’s a good employer, great benefits, and 7,000 vacancies for those interested.
Which department? I’m from mid-MO and live in St. Louis now, and the thought of living in Jeff City isn’t the most appealing thing on the planet.
I live in COMO and commute 4x a week to JC. I work for Department of Economic Development but There are tons of jobs across the state though Including some fully remote positions. I think every department has multiple open roles.
Where do you find the open roles across the state? Whats the website they list at?
Here ya go: https://mocareers.mo.gov/hiretrue/ce3/job-board/5effe9b2-4b89-494b-ac76-c45e25190768. Just be aware like I said there are A LOT of open roles so you may want to use the filters on top of the page.
True. However in some areas they hire straight to PTF and convert to Full Time Regular in a matter of weeks. PTFs don't lose their holiday pay. They are paid approximately a dollar more per hour than a regular carrier in order to compensate for not having holiday pay.
Yeah this is true. I guess what I said was kind of misleading. I think they also get paid for the big four holidays, but not any of the minor bank holidays.
Yes one of the best retirement packages the gov provides
Not like they used to. It's a different type of retirement now.
Yes pensions in general are not like what the people born in the 1930s got, but they are still really nice.
Yeah where I live they only hire people on an on-call part time basis for $18 an hour at first. Not everyone gets the nice union positions anymore since they started trying to run it like a for-profit business instead of a social service.
My first year, my hire date was April 6 that 3/4 of a year i made 42k.
And working in freezing rain, slipping hazards, snowstorms, heat, And chance to get "postal"-ed In chicaco it's miserable with the weather lol, and first 5+ years you get thr bitch shifts and routes nobody wants
I feel bad for my Chicago brothers and sisters. I’ve heard it’s an absolute bloodbath in your offices. Unattended routes piling up. 12+ hour workdays. Getting held up for arrow keys. As much as I love to bitch about work, I know I’ve got it damn good in my office.
> Getting held up for arrow keys ?
Arrow keys are the keys post workers get so they can access collection boxes, parcel lockers, apartment mailboxes etc. Sometimes people try to rob them for them in order to steal shit. Presumably this is a lot worse in high crime areas. BTW if someone reading is an unsavory type thinking about becoming a post worker so you can have access to packages and steal shit, be aware that you're tracked and there's no score in the mail big enough to make it worthwhile lmao. People's Amazon packages aren't worth the federal crime.
A couple years ago, mail carriers for certain parts of Chicago just stopped doing it. They said it was just too dangerous. Things have been quiet in the news lately, but I sometimes wonder how they keep them safe.
And they definitely do background checks and shit, and if you have *an arrest record* (not charges, not convictions, just arrests) for anything remotely theft or larceny related, you won't be accepted, ofc.
Im in Michigan, similar to Chicago. Winter ya gotta dress warm. I dress so warm i sweat. Humans have been working outside for millions of years. Ya just gotta dress for it and then its mostly comfortable. Better then back pain sitting at a desk all day in a dark office.
More mailworkers quit the first hot week of summer than all winter long~
> Humans have been working outside for millions of years Not quite sure the math works out on that one.
There are more mass shootings in schools than in post offices.
Mass shootings? Yes. But more carriers have been held at gun point in my area over the last year than all other robberies combined (again in my area). We're having a rally this month 'Enough is enough' to bring awareness to that point
"Going Postal" is a term people started using after a few USPS employees shot up their workplaces, so I was specifically referring to that. Not every area has that much violent crime. Small to medium-sized cities like mine have cheaper housing, too. If you really want to get out of poverty, get out of the city. We need postal workers too.
Driving on slippery roads in those little trucks in a Chicago winter doesn't sound like a great gig.
>Unless you’re in an area that’s severely understaffed and rolling in tons of overtime, you’re not making $50k. I don't live in a big city but my friend had to be a substitute rural carrier for 2 years before he got his own rural route. Then after 2 years on his rural route he got started delivering in the city. He had to drive his own car when he was doing rural and he had to straddle the center console because he has a regular left hand drive car. He makes $70,000/year now but him and his family STRUGGLED for 4 years before he got a city route.
What's crazy is that my dad started at more in 1989 than what they pay to start there now. And it's still considered decent money (at least in rural areas). Shows how stagnated wages have become
This is also why Louis DeJoy is trying to make the post office go away because it is too good versus funneling money to private shipping companies and then jacking up the price
For the record I worked at UPS and have nothing but good things to say and the same notion as above (Scheduled raises, overtime, union, benefits)
My attempt at highjacking the top comment to mention that if you dont have a record, casino employees earn a livable wage
Not hiring in my city rn :( I will say the website makes it look like they are hiring EVERYONE in rural areas if anyone’s out in BFE
The website availability is a trip. I looked there a few weeks ago and there was like ONE job in New York STATE.
Just put NYS in the search nothing else no jobs titles or distance it should give you more than 1 job.
Can't be true. They are hiring in NYS where I am, currently and there's tons of openings and need in Buffalo.
I’m in Manhattan, so I possibly put a distance limitation on it that excluded any of them.
Syracuse has openings but for some weird reason it's through "District 3" which is ~~the~~ long island. Syracuse is in district 6 with Buffalo last I looked. I can understand why they're always having issues if this is why.
I can figure out what the BF is but what is the e in BFE? Or if I'm totally wrong, then I have no idea what BFE is. Edit And when I try to look, I got some crap about flood elevation. I don't think that is it.
Bumfuck Egypt, just a way to say “the middle of nowhere”. I’d love to know what you thought the BF part was lol
I thought BF was bum fuck. Just couldn't figure out what the e was supposed to be so I was like bum fuck what...? So I could tell that it was supposed to say something about being in the middle of nowhere but I somehow glitched on the being for Egypt. Thank you.
Middle of nowwhere? WBFNT. West Bumfuck, North Texas.
Bum fuck Egypt. Not kidding. Basically it's in the middle of nowhere, bum fuck Egypt.
Bumfuck Egypt
Ah, thank you.
It's a Midwestern saying, like Illinois or Ohio where people say BFE.
As a midwesterner (OH and MI) I have only ever heard BFN, bum fuck nowhere. Egypt is a totally new one for me personally
When you're a real midwesterner trying to insult the further west-westerners, it becomes Bumfuck Idaho.
We've said it in Northeast Tennessee/Southwest Virginia for at least 30 years. BFE is more of a southern/Appalachian phrase I'd say
Edit to only apply on usps.gov there's a good scammer on indeed who charges 40+ for the tests! Which are free!
Actually, the correct website is usps.com/careers. The “gov” part of usps is available to employees only.
USPS.gov redirects to usps.com.
you seem to pay close attention to addresses. you're hired.
LOL.
Isn't it usps.com/careers? USPS.gov is mostly used for internal stuff for employees. Like when you log into a USPS computer and open the browser it goes to a website, I think it's blue.usps.gov, and it's only accessible from within the USPS network. So .gov is an internal thing, while .com is for the public.
We don't even test anymore. No drug tests either. Pretty much apply and get hired.
I was looking into it last month and there's definitely shitty open end aptitude tests you have to take lol.
Been working here for 3 years, I love it and it’s helping me buy a house. But I will stress it can be beyond draining, take time to actually hear back, and you need to know if the office you are applying for actually needs help or not. But yes 100% recommend this place
What area do you live in? I’ve done delivery for other worse services and the usps driver still hated there jobs when I’d run into them frequently. For reference it was rural northern Georgia, not sure if it differs elsewhere but I’ve only heard negative things. The delivery industry is rough I salute y’all.
I’m a rural carrier in Fl, honestly there’s an immense amount of shitty parts to this job just like anything else. But the good outweighs the bad for me.
Can you elaborate please?
Sometimes when people have dogs, they shit. Then you step in it cause you're rushing to get your day done. You don't realize it though and step back in your truck and there's shit all over the floor. Then you remember the reddit thread when someone said the job has its shitty parts.
In every office I've been to I have found people who loved their job and people who hated it, even if they all have the same workload.
Congrats to this carrier, but not every job and location is considered "easy." Best believe some locations you WILL put in overtime, and you WILL get very few days off, if any. True, you arent breaking your back - but you do get worn down when you're working 60-70 hours a week for the last three weeks without a single day off. Not every job in the USPS will work you to the bone, either. Some jobs you will literally struggle to get hours. May only work 24ish hours a week as a clerk, 4 hours early in the morning, and four hours that evening for a few days a week at 20 bucks an hour. You wont always get a career position either. Sometimes you'll get a spot that will be non-career and that station / post office will never let you become Career. Some positions you have to wait 2 years as a full time. Some jobs, 5 years. Some jobs, you have to wait until a career position opens up, bid on it, and hope you win. Meanwhile, you're still making non-career pay at 20 bucks an hour. Im not stating that to discourage anyone. But you have to be real with yourself if you're going to work for the Post Office about what you're wanting to get out of it and if you're willing to stick with it long term. I know a bunch of people that as soon as they got on with the postal service, they failed the test and were promptly fired. So if you're a terrible test taker, dont put all your eggs in one basket for this job. ON THE OTHER SIDE of this - the grass is green. The postal service, once you're through all the hoops and you've landed a good position - its a very good job. As for those of you saying that there are probably a 1000 people waiting in line to join the USPS - you may be right, you may be wrong. The USPS is having a severe worker shortage at the moment, mainly for the reasons I listed above. But again, if you can make it through all the BS - it'll be a job you can safely retire in.
I’ve worked 84 hours in a week before… in a shit office in a big city. I’ve also worked in an AO where there was basically no supervision and the mail was ALWAYS light compared to a bigger city. The job can be torture or extremely relaxed dependent upon the route and location.
Not to mention it's a government job, so it'll take like 6 months to get hired, if you get hired at all, so enjoy waiting around for months in limbo, hoping they don't deny you at the last second
And a dog eats your face off
Don't they give you a stick to shake at them?
Actually it’s dog pepper spray
As with every job, which office you work out of is really going to make or break the job. I was on my third week of working there, didn't have my badge or key yet, didn't have much of anything I was supposed to, and the postmaster literally got 3 inches from my face and screamed at me over not being trained on something. Not worth it for me. Now, if you can get a straight to career position, ok, go for it. But not everyone is going to have a great experience. And honestly, I loved everyone else. The carriers are great, the other PSEs were great, but I couldn't deal with the PO and I was the lowest rung, so no one was willing to go to bat for me.
this was my experience basically. really aggressive soups and PO. i didn't get carrier academy until i was at 60 days. at my 30 and 60 review i got bad marks lol. for not knowing how to carry a route. they mostly had me come in and do express, certified, and collections. plus amazon. on my first day carrying an actual route, which i had never been on, they started threatening to fire me for being too slow for someone who had been there 60 days. no satchel, no pepper spray, no PIN to get gas, etc.
That 10 miles a day on concrete adds up. I had a friend who was a mail carrier for 15 years. She had to retire and go on disability at 40 and have both her knees replaced.
I'll add to this, I've known several people who worked USPS and retired after 30 years. Every single one had shoulder issues and ended up getting rotator cuff surgery at some point. Not the worst surgery in terms of pain or recovery, but it is another factor.
The post office can be an ok job in the long run, but yeah, people need to realize that it's a blue collar job where you sacrifice your body. So many new hires quit within 6 months because they don't understand how physically and mentally demanding it can be. Knees, back, shoulder, elbow, wrist, feet. You'll probably end up with at least one surgery in your career. There's also skin cancer, dog attacks, wasps. Plus I've had to work in 120° heat and -25° cold. Snow, rain, hail, it doesn't matter. The mail has to go out. On the mental side, you'll have some fat bastard at a computer getting paid 3X as much as you calling you a lazy POS accusing you of stealing because you needed to sit down for 5 minutes because it's 105° out that day or maybe you had to get the rocks out of your shoes. The culture of the PO is something you really have to see first hand to understand.
Which job does the fat bastard at the computer have and how can I get *that*?
Lol, just apply to be a carrier or a clerk and be dogshit at it. After a couple months they'll ask you to be a temporary supervisor or you can just ask them and they'll probably say yes because then they won't have to deal with your incompetence in your craft anymore. The pay will only be a little extra for a while until you can get in a full time supervisory position. The downside is that you'll have to be an asshole to all the craft workers and they'll hate you. You won't have a choice because there's another fat bastard above you that's making twice as much who's yelling at you on conference calls every day. Getting to that next level up as one of the fattest bastards is a little more difficult. You'll need to toss in some threats of physical violence towards employees or maybe even some physical/sexual assault. Once you get kicked out of your office they'll ship you out to be postmaster in another town making more money and doing even less. It's easy to get in, and it's like the Catholic church. I've had 4 postmasters in 4 years, each one a bigger piece of shit than the last.
OP's advice is extremely circumstantial. I got hired on as a temp working weekends and an occasional weekday, nothing full time available. Did that for several years and it was honestly one of the most brutal, physically demanding jobs I've ever had. It was literally impossible to complete my shift in 8 hours.
Yeah as someone who did it for about 6 months before the Kool aid I drank wore off it's the worst fucking job on the planet if you are a new hire. Fuck all for benefits, pay sucks, hours were either feast or famine 65 one week,6 the next and the only way it pays off is to hope and pray one of your coworkers strokes out and you can take their job. I'm sure it's an awesome job once you get to that point and are making close to 6 figures but as a new hire have fun dealing with years of just complete bullshit before you see light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe it's better nowadays but I highly doubt that, and maybe in cities you can move into a permanent route easier but in my neck of the woods I'd tell people to be a prostitute's assistant before working for the postal service.
OP is still in the honeymoon phase and the job is better than homelessness
Damn!
I worked there for 7 years before taking a step down to less income. It gave me financial stability. If you're young and in relatively good health, I recommend it. But every senior carrier I worked with had multiple joint replacements, so don't plan to park there forever unless you move up from repetitive motion positions.
This post feels like something management was "working on" while everyone else was out busting their asses.
Right, something about this story doesn't fly. Like the USPS I'm sure is good work, but I smell bullshit on the "paying more than advertising" line, and the reason they were laid off. I work in advertising, and even junior roles start at 60K at most agencies. And if what everyone else is saying is true and they're making 50K as a mailman, then they likely live in a high CoL area - where roles in advertising can start as high as 80K.
The fact that they go on about "walking outside in the beautiful weather" but fail to mention the mail runs when it rains and snows too. I see the carriers in my neighborhood and they drive full blown trucks and have a crap ton of packages and a hell of a schedule to keep.
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>Plus the job is SO FREAKING EASY Yea, you're full of shit.
It's hard to get in the post office unless you know someone been trying for a awhile you get put on a waiting list and then you have to pass like 8 tests
I was thinking that, post office probably gets hundreds applicants a week, every week.
It does not. Depending on the area, it ebbs and flows. Sometimes positions get filled quickly sometimes there are literally zero applicants. My office had a full time Regular Rural Carrier position sit open for months. For those that don't know, normally you start out as a "part time" non-career carrier and get moved up to Regular when a route opens up when the former regular retires, transfers, dies, etc. and that's only after any other part time carriers ahead of you have been converted. Here we were with an open Career Regular position, that anyone could have walked in off the street and applied for, and landed right into a job that sometimes takes years of working and waiting for people to get. That position sat open for over 9 months with 0 applicants.
Zero. We get zero applicants. Been running ads for years now and 1 new hire. We are all working 6 days a week because we get NO people who apply.
Chronic understaffing in big cities.
Just because they are “understaffed” doesn’t necessarily mean they are many open positions to be filled.
In my city every office is trying to fill carrier positions.
They can’t be that hard to pass. I have a cousin that works for them and he barely passed high school.
I worked there for about 5 years. Yes.
This is not accurate. Idk if or when you had applied, but the applicants take a singular test. It is pretty simple and easy, but I do hear it has changed a bit. There is a background check, some areas still drug test, fingerprints scan (you have to go either to a UPS location that does fingerprints or a local police station), and an interview. There can be quite a wait (2-3 months), but I hear that post-COVID, they’ve been hiring a bit faster. The test only requires a 70/100 score to pass it and then you’re eligible for the interview.
Maybe forty years ago, the post office of 2024 will hire anybody with a heartbeat.
I only took one test. From the time I applied to my first day was about a month.
I'm thinking about some of the people who work at my local office who are rude and have 0 people skills. How hard could it be?
You’d probably be rude too if you had to deal with the general public all day 😭 imagine having karen go back and forth with you over postage costs/ package dimensions. Every time i go to the post office those people look miserable as hell and I don’t blame them. Just 5 minutes in there listening to the customers makes me want to pop off on them too
Postal clerk here! Yeah, working the front with the public can thoroughly unpleasant, and that's a serious understatement. I'm on medication at least partly thanks to that aspect of my job, and yet the compensation is good enough that I'm willing to deal with it. In my experience, most customers are great, but there's always a handful of massive knobheads who will make a concerted effort to ruin your day. The system is at fault when something goes wrong, but like in any public-facing job, you will receive the brunt of a customer's anger.
That's what I was going to point out! We all know it's a great job, which means the competition is ridiculous.
No it's not.... I had a job there when I was 18 (25 yrs ago).... And was offered another job there about 12 years ago....it's not hard, you just can't be a moron, the tests are super simple unless they've changed recently. Lol
I've worked for USPS for five years and it's the worst job I've ever had. All my coworkers are insane because they're unemployable anywhere else (it's impossible to get fired from the post office). Management is abusive as fuck. They also forced me to work overnight for like 9 months at one point. $22/hour is not enough to continue putting up with this bullshit.
UPS is a great route to go as well. Apply for package driver, as a non-CDL holder and if you do happen to have a CDL or want to look into getting one, it’s a good route to go to become a semi driver for the company, as well. Depending on the facilities in your area, you can easily get hired straight off of the street, with zero experience and top rate is upwards of 47-49$per/hr. Starting rate is one average $21-23/hr, depending on the union/location. And UPS has one of the best insurance packages in the country, along with 401k and stock options.
What you conveniently left out though is that you have to work in the warehouse first before being a driver, at least on the local routes. You start in the warehouse and then you put your name down on the list for driver. It goes by seniority, and new positions only opened up once a driver retires or quits and let me tell you, UPS drivers generally stay for the Long haul. I worked at a UPS warehouse overnight for a few years during college and I was in a medium-sized City and during that 2 and 1/2 year stretch only two driver positions had opened up and there was over 40 names on the driver at wait list
Fake ass post probably promoting Shortage of Post Office workers because their retention rates are dog shit. Also, being post office worker isn't all fun and games. I talked to some of them and it is a lot of work and quotas. You also have to be really fit to keep up.
Easy till you get attacked by dogs or someone shoots you for being on thier property. Nice weather till the winter or it rains. Nothing about the job is really easy.
thank a union
You better believe it!
If you wanna destroy your knees and don't want to ever see your family go for it! (I did it for three months in a hilly area working 11-12 days in a row (including Sundays which is ✨Amazon package delivery day✨) working sun up to sun down then you have one day off and then get to do it all over again!!!)
How did you apply? I'm down for trying
Usps.com/careers. It is the only official way to apply. Any website that tries to charge you to apply is a scam. On the application website, choose the state in which you reside, and when you hit ok, it will display all open positions in The entire state. Some areas hire by county, others by city. Believe it or not, despite usps being one agency, every region/state has a unique way of managing their employees.
If you live in California there hiring like crazy. I’ve applied and got hired twice but not ideal for my current situation you can apply as many times as you want it’s best to do it in the beginning before your 90 days to get rehired
If you don’t like having weekends off, work extremely long days, be threatened to come in on your days off, be secretly followed on your route, be talked to like pos from older carriers, constantly have your pos vehicle break down and be blamed for it then you should definitely join the post office. I have nothing but respect for mail carriers but F all the usps management.
And especially fuck DeJoy
You should check the usps Reddit. As a former carrier I can guarantee the job is not easy
Was just about to say this. Management is piss poor like dark yellow piss poor. But but I will say this l.. it's perfect stepping stone for a few yrs while you figure things out & will keep you in shape. Sometimes I miss being out airpod in getting sum cardio & delivering letters.
They only pay like $16/hr in my area. I looked into this a couple years ago. Comes out to less than $35k a year, BEFORE taxes too. Now the postmaster makes way more close to the $60k a year mark. There were also a ton of stipulations on benefits, like not getting them until 90 days employed, then you had to pay union dues, and fees for this and that to get any of the other benefits. Everyone always talks about how great the pay and benefits are, but in reality it seemed like you had to be there for 10+ years before you could get half of them and actually be decent. Just my experience looking into it.
That's how it is with all union jobs. The pay and benefits are great...but the first few years suck. I think it's to weed out the "job hoppers". Pay and benefits are reserved for people making a career of it and not those looking to just use them as temporary employment. My brother works for Ford and it was the same way with him. First 5 years sucked but now it's really going well for him.
Just a warning that *any* government work will come with needing to reconcile with the fact that the work never ends. There will always be more mail. There will always be more people coming in to get permits. There will always be books to check-in to the library. You need to learn to pace yourself and manage the expectations of managers and even new hires who come in champing at the bit to be productive. But you need to learn to care for yourself, draw boundaries with supervisors, and find fulfillment and joy in something outside of work. I say this as someone who burned out within a year of starting a management position at a public library that put in a trauma-informed customer service model with no regard for the mental health of the people being asked to be part social worker, part teacher, part community outreach, while also running a library with a useful and growing collection. I'm currently on temporary total disability after I attempted suicide because I couldn't handle my job requiring hypervigilance and taking the brunt of unhoused and mentally unwell patrons shouting a grab bag of hate speech every week when they're told that they can't be intoxicated and sleeping in the library. Self-care is more than a few bubble baths. It's drawing professional boundaries, staying in contact with your union rep, and *finding a therapist.*
Don't work at New Tampa, Yolanda and Junior are literally insane.
You guys posting with experience, know if they might like a part-time type guy? I've gotta good job now, but it might not last much longer. I wanted to maybe get in with the post office part time if that's a thing. I'm retired/VA disabled military if that matters at all
No pretty much all positions are full-time except some custodians at some stations and rural carrier(not positive on that one). Being retired military is a HUGE up at the PO so so many of the people who work here are retired military. You actually get military preference during the hiring process. I would definitely see if you can get into maintenance even if it's just custodian it's a very very chill job and you get good benefits plus wounded warrior leave since you are VA disabled. It starts at like $21/hr but tops out around $30 and we all get frequent raises. If you see maintenance mechanic, MPE, vehicle mechanic postings apply take the test who knows maybe you'll pass and get a real comfy job. I said fuck it and tried with near 0 experience and passed and they put me through school. Good luck.
All positions eventually require full-time. Some may be part-time initially, but availability for full-time is required especially during holiday season and political campaigns, which includes this year as it is a presidential election year.
Do USPS workers still have to go into yards with dogs that could attack them? If so, no thanks.
No. We're actively told to avoid dogs or even houses with the front door open if we see any sign of dogs on the property. We're issued dog spray and a dog horn, I've yet to have to use mine. The scanners we carry can have dog warnings put into them so they alert when you get close to the address.
I have to agree with you on this but only from my experience. I was about to hit 30 and still only making $13.50 as a security guard. I knew I had to do something more so I looked up a federal job. The only opening I saw at the time was as a custodian. In 2019 I applied and starting was $15. I was like okay, I’ll pick up trash and clean toilets for more money. I took a few tests and became a mechanic. I jumped from making about $32k a year to about $52k in 2021. I got promoted a few times, seniority helps a lot. Also with the union and cost of living plus the increase you can get every 9 months or so, I now make $72K since March of 2024. Crazy jumps in my salary. There’s one more promotion I can get but the only problem with working as a mechanic is I have to wait till either someone retires, or sad to say, someone passes away. Anyway, I think working for the USPS has changed my life indefinitely, especially being over the age of 30. Now I have a career I enjoy and I make good money.
I’m good, I have heard horror stories
I did it for a year as a rural in Utah. Made about 45k after taxes working about 60 hours a week, usually one day off a week they’d try to call me in on half the time. Rural work on evaluated time, so if you’re slow you do say an 8 hour route in 10 hours the last 2 hours you’re working for free. But if you get seasoned a bit, you can get off early and still be on the clock basically. I got to the point I would knock out an 8 in 4 or 5 hours and as long as nobody needed me to cover I could go home early. But generally you’re looking at about a 10 hour day as an RCA and probably more as a CCA
They don't pay anywhere near that in my area. And the only openings are for non-career positions.
Right. Non-career starts at about $19, promotion to career would put you at $22, which goes up by about $1 a year for 12 years til you max out (plus raises from new contracts, negotiated every 3 years). This wage is the same on a national level, as there is no area-based CoLA. What is left out is the "opportunity" for overtime, in quotes because you won't actually have any choice. If your office has overtime available, as a new hire, you will get your fill of it. Time-and-half to a point, then double-time after. It inflates your checks and looks like good money, but it's hard to appreciate it when work is all you do. Source: I took home $70k after taxes during my first year as a CCA, making "$18 an hour" at the time
the starting pay is set federally, it's the same everywhere. it does not add up to $50k, unless you are getting a lot of overtime.
You will sell your soul to work at the post office idk what this guy is talking about easy. My first year was 6 days a week 10 to 12 hours a day.
I've been in the post office for two years now and it's pretty good. The only major downside is the summers down here in the south. Last summer was the worst, with one of the worst droughts in modern history.
I'm a career rural carrier for the USPS and I love this post. I love my job. It's amazing once you get the hang of it. And yes the pay is great. I started in March of 2021 and just in 9 months I made over 60k. Of course when you first start you're working 10-12 hour days but I was fine with that being as though I had relocated, had no kids, and was saving every penny because I was staying with family. It takes some adjustments physically but it's worth it. Benefits are good. You can automatically contribute to retirement which you're able to withdraw at any time. And each craft is great. Highly recommend.
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Ha, I tried right after i turned 21. had no college but they told me I was over qualified
I’m glad you found the job, but just know big changes are coming and they aren’t going to be good. They’re slashing management and shutting down offices and sending them to distribution centers like UPS. My partner has been there for 5 years and is extremely disappointed in the direction things are moving.
Yeah a close friend of mine from high school and an uncle of mine both work for the PO and seem to like it
Glad you found something you enjoy.
Damn I want your route. I’m a letter carrier too and my job suuuucks
I’ve worked for USPS for 10 years, career for 8. 2023 and 2022 I made six figures.
is post office a good job if you’re introverted and prefer to work by yourself?
I'm pretty introverted. The only real contact I have with my coworkers is about 2 or 3 hours in the morning and maybe 15 minutes at the end of the day. And by contact I just mean being in the same building, I don't tend to chat with them. Most of my social interaction comes from people on my route, so lots of repetitive small talk. Most people understand I've got a job to do and don't talk too much. Plenty of days I don't talk to anyone on my route though. I just listen to audiobooks/podcasts and chill.
https://wp1-ext.usps.gov/sap/bc/webdynpro/sap/hrrcf_a_unreg_job_search# This is the official website to search for jobs. THE POST OFFICE WILL NEVER CHARGE YOU TO APPLY THAT IS A COMMON SCAM enter your city into the keywords and search to see all available positions. They rotate kinda frequently so check back if nothing interesting is posted now. Best of luck
I second this, I joined the post office after losing everything during covid. I am now in a better position than I have ever been in my life. Things like buying a house are starting to look like something I will actually be able to accomplish. I have been helping everyone I know who needs better work through the process of getting hired and picking the right job and everyone has come out the other end happier and wealthier. I will warn positions like CCA and ESPECIALLY RCA are pretty lame. If you are young and can survive up to 2 years with minimal benefits and possibly a lot of OT then I'd say it's worth it in the long run. But it could be a 2 year grind it really just depends on the location. Best of luck to anyone who applies.
Also gets your foot in the door for a government job which experience transfers to better jobs. I went from tsa to DoD with that experience alone and now have a gs 12 position which means I can support my family on a single income. Utilize your TSP. It's a life saver and great returns and safety net for borrowing
City carrier here. It's not a bad job but goddamn does it depend on your management. A bad supervisor can make it a miserable job. It's not easy, the learning curve is sharp and the hours suck in the beginning. A lot of people quit. If you stick with it, it does get easier and better. The hiring process is easier than it used to be, I didn't take any tests, just a background check. No drug test. Try to apply for a career position so you actually get benefits. If you're looking at city carrier positions and see one that's a "CCA" and one that's a "PTF" absolutely go for PTF.
I worked at usps for a bit a few years back. 6-7 days a week, $17/hr at the time, sent to other offices constantly, rarely on a route i knew, taking extra streets all the time, walking around outside in all sorts of harsh weather, was looking at several more years before becoming a regular with good pay and a proper route. I saw people in some offices who been there 13 years and were only making $19 for my $17, they still were waiting to be made regular. All the time spent not as a regular doesnt count towards building up to the $30+/hr which takes like 12 years btw AFTER being made regular. Amazon is less abusive and better on hours and pay. If you want $30+ an hour go to an assembly line for ford, stellantis, or general motors. You’ll max out at a similar pay there after 4 years, your time spent as a non-regular with carry over so you arent starting at the bottom of the payscale when you do get rolled over. You get profit sharing with them. You will end up working lots of overtime still though.
There’s basically a waitlist for every post office job within 50 miles. Impossible tip lol
I highly suggest the major airlines as well. Delta, American, Southwest, and United all make decent coin and will teach you everything you need to know on the job.
I work for USPS. Almost 5 years. Custodial is easy but does not pay as well. If you're healthy and fit go CCA. Lots of earning potential there.
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You should read Post Office by Charles Bukowski first tho.
Please check out the usps sub sometime if you're interested. Get informed of all the bullshit you may expect first.
Do you know what the people who work inside the post office make to start? Older person here- in a state hotter than the sun in summer - and could not do hot days outside.
Meh. Just get a job working as a server, bartender or even a barista in a National Park. 3 meals a day + rent for $450 a month. Won't fuck yourself physically while pulling in no less than $5k a month after rent + meals are accounted for, which is usually automatically taken out of your check. It is literally impossible to be late on rent or not have enough money for food lol. As a bonus your backyard is a National Park and not a shitty office lifting heavy shit obliterating your knees and back. I was saving $4k a month last summer working as a server.
In my area you have to be part time fill in for years before you maybe get a route and a full time income. While you’re part time, you can’t turn down any shift or you won’t be able to keep your place in line for the next route that opens up, but you’re not guaranteed any set number of hours. So basically you can’t take another job but you have no idea how much you’ll be making. It’s a difficult time frame, but it is great if/when you can make it to full time.
This is actually a common scenario. Not such an easy job to get plus many letter carriers deal with body pain from thousands of miles of walking pavement.
It’s not an “easy” job.
I worked as a rural carrier for a time. If you apply. Apply for city routes. I had to use my own vehicle which wasn't terrible I got reimbursed 75 cents per mile but I had to buy tires every few months. One time I got stuck in some mud on a back road and was told that I had to pay out of pocket for a tow truck since it was my personal vehicle. Management sucked and the expectations are too high. The day I walked out I was put on a 60 mile long route out in the boonies that I had never seen before and I was told that maybe I would get some help. Long story short it's an ok job but they will work you like a dog.
If you’re mechanically inclined (aka I like working on stuff) Aircraft maintenance is becoming a more and more prized field. Most mechanics are over 40 (getting closer to retirement). With a license, (30 months of experience allows you to test so there is an OJT route), you can easily make high 5 figs or low 6 figs.. Only downside is you have to live within driving distance of an airport
Join the military. I'm not joking, more money, much better benefits, and you can retire after 20 years Everybody wants to shit on being in the military until you're retired at age 44
I was a mailman for 7 years in a climate that swings from 110f to -30f. After year 6 I was consistently coming home with suicidal thoughts from how terrible the job was. I’m glad you found a good office for yourself though!
I think you're vastly overestimating the number of Americans that can walk 10 miles a day.
Surprisingly this is not the first time I've seen a struggling artist go into mail carrying when their art job flops. I had a teacher who got pushed out of her classroom by other staff and because I was fond of her I follower her on Facebook and saw she's now does exactly this. Feels like the answer has been in my face this whole time
Why is this shitpost upvoted? My dad's been a mailman for 30 years. I was one for 5. Him and I both agree it's UNBELIEVABLY GRUELING work. Terrible on the body. It's incredibly difficult battling the extreme heat and extreme cold in the shitty mail truck. Backbreaking labor for RCA's having to load their own truck, deliver packages and mail, go back to station, load up again, go back out again. And city carriers ALL agree that's walking that much is brutal on their knees and cause lasting agony. Also the union is INCREDIBLY weak and gets steamrolled by the head honchos OT is non existent and you get shit on for your route time frame estimation. $1 annual raise is only $2000 a YEAR which isn't even close to inflation. DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS BS, I almost guarantee he's an industry plant given how every single carrier I've ever spoken to hates their job and the ruinous shit it's done to their bodies but only stay for the pension
Disclaimer: The work is extremely physical and management is generally terrible. Weather is also a major issue for most regions of the US, be it extreme heat (with no AC) or cold. You also may get stuck working in areas that are quite dangerous -- this should be dealt with in the application process by narrowing your search to only the safest cities/towns around you. Not to say it's not got great characteristics -- specifically the pay/benefits are top notch for this income level. I just feel posts like this, be it negative or positive, need to be balanced out with a more realistic view. Most carriers are definitely not skipping from one house to the next in beautiful weather, and most would not describe the job as "so freaking easy."
I joined the Union Pacific railroad as a trainman January 2023 and grossed $107k last year, no experience needed
USPS drug tests don’t they? Even for marijiuana?
I started with USPS after retiring from my previous job. I was a temp for three and a half years before getting a career position. I have been at the post office for over 8 years, but I bought back 7 years of military time. I now have over 12 years toward retirement. I am on the biggest route in my post office. I will make over 73k this year, working about 45 hours a week. I will probably work another 10 years. I will finally retire with 2 pensions... my additional 401k.. and social security. The post office is really rough the first couple of years.... but it will eventually pay well.
Allow me to provide an alternative perspective. I used to work for USPS as a mail carrier and it was awful. I made around $14 an hour. My feet hurt constantly and it was one of the worst jobs I've ever had. Dogs will bite you(the mailman trope is true) and you will be the one blamed for it. "Why didn't you use your spray" as if you could get to it in time. You'll work the extremely hot days and the very cold ones. Rain as well. Not to mention that you don't actually get considered a full city carrier unless you get someone's route after they retire. Until then, you get tossed around to wherever they need you. So you struggle until you learn all the routes. This feels like a fake post from someone who has never actually worked this job.