The Insanity of the United States Postal Service

Quote: Evenbob

I'm a night person, never go to bed
before 2am. I worked a graveyard job
for 4 years, loved it.

Oddly I am a morning person but like graveyard. I think it is because I like the solitude, plus you are hassled less. I liked nights in the grocery business despite most of the crew being a bunch of dope-smokers determined to work an unskilled job for life.

Back to USPS, unless O&G picks up I plan to go for their seasonal night gig this fall.

Quote: Evenbob

I took the test and got a job at the PO
in the early 70's. They give you the
shittyest job they have when you start,
hand sorting mail at 5am. Means I
would have got up at 4am and driven
downtown winter or summer. I never
went in, I knew I'd last less than a week.
I'm a night person, never go to bed
before 2am. I worked a graveyard job
for 4 years, loved it.

The best job at the PO in those days,
one everybody wanted, was a route
like Face has. You had to be there
years to get one. I was surprised Face
got one right away.

All save three in the training were all PSE's, the people who work in the office. Front line, sorting, that sort of stuff. And that's what happened right out of the gate. Be there by 0430, expect to be there until 1800, and FT right away by the sounds.

It doesn't seem too bad, if what you want are hours. Got a younger guy in my office, and the package sorting happens pretty much right behind me. There's a huge overhead scanner and all he does is hold the package under it. It speaks out loud and says "36" or "2" or "11" or whatever. Between he and I are rows and rows of bins, where each route's packages go. He spins and lobs the package into the bin, then on to the next one.

Tedious and mundane and monotonous, sure. But Federal pay and bennies for working indoors with no supervision? Some people would kill for that. I wouldn't. But some people would ;)

I can see why people would want to be an RC. It really is like working for yourself. You decide just about everything; the only thing concrete is it has to be every day (unless you have an RCA) and you have to work days (no overnights, obv). And in by 0800 out by 1300 while getting paid 8-9hrs is just boss.

Even RCA has its perks. I just signed up for another route, start the ride along next week. After two days of that, I'm scheduled to work 6 straight. Money in my pocket. But it's not what I was hired for. Jonny L calls and wants to go fishing, I just tell them to pound sand and I go fishing. They can't make me, it's not what I was hired for. It's sort of nice.

Quote: Evenbob

The best job at the PO in those days,
one everybody wanted, was a route
like Face has. You had to be there
years to get one. I was surprised Face
got one right away.

Apparently something has changed about the nature of the job? Locally one was advertised in the paper - there was something about it that seemed to be saying it wasn't going to be a snap to fill [just a feeling I got]. It was a use-your-own car thing for a specific route. Unemployment is plenty high around here, so they did fill it I'm sure, but ...

When I applied to work at the PO, everybody
I talked to said there was a waiting list as
long as your arm for routes. It meant being
out of the assembly line, out of the pressure
cooker. And it meant being outside. All the
routes in those days were walking routes in
the city. Packages went on vehicles. Country
routes were cars, but in those days one route
covered a huge area.

Can't imagine a postal job is too rough where the population is smaller. Even if the manning is down to a couple people if you only had a couple hundred residents in your town, how busy could it get?

But then not sure how their pay scale works for that.

Of course, maybe you are also the fire department, and the greyhound bus station in that kind of situation.

I notice when I took a few buses back in the day, the post office was sometimes the bus stop in small towns. D

Quote: odiousgambit

Apparently something has changed about the nature of the job? Locally one was advertised in the paper - there was something about it that seemed to be saying it wasn't going to be a snap to fill [just a feeling I got]. It was a use-your-own car thing for a specific route. Unemployment is plenty high around here, so they did fill it I'm sure, but ...

They have some kind of contract routes, they didn't always used to be as rural as you would think. Still remember visiting relatives an the carrier had a 280Z.

The post office always has been strange.

They consider the bulk mailers to be their customers, not the people who live in the houses with mailboxes on them.

Even residential customers now have to deal with centralized delivery box arrays.

If a sender pays for special delivery it just goes intothe box but no one tells you its there, so if you don't specfcally check after your normal delivery you won't find it.

Some people used to like the never get fired atmosphere but for awhile there bribery was rampant... soon after the NYC mall strike it became massive corruption and stupidity. One of the first customers to get his mail delivered by a soldier was a pornographer and he was ecstatic. Shows what things were like.

Saw a woman carrier in the store today. She
looked harried, rushed and frazzled. They
always look that way. They have a hunted
look, like they're always (always) behind
schedule. What a job..

Quote: Evenbob

When I applied to work at the PO, everybody
I talked to said there was a waiting list as
long as your arm for routes.

We have 4 RC's and 2 of them are out. One had a stroke, the other chronic hernias or some such. One of our RCA's has been working full time, and is very likely to go FT soon. The other is up in the air, but it's been said that the one RCA ahead of me has stated she doesn't want FT.If he's out and she don't want it, I'm in.

Or I could have to wait 9 years. Could go either way lol

Quote: rxwine

Can't imagine a postal job is too rough where the population is smaller. Even if the manning is down to a couple people if you only had a couple hundred residents in your town, how busy could it get?

But then not sure how their pay scale works for that.

It's all about that evaluated time, some mathamagician's processing of length of route and amount of stops. I just trained on the "longest" route, and it is super compact. One main artery of which I travel probably not even 5 miles, but that connects a mess of developments. There is no "driving". It's short in distance, but rapid fire boxes all day long. My route is quite stretched out. Assuming no U-turns, that one runs about 30 miles.

Small pops are usually very spread out. But whether you have to travel 40 miles or can nail 700 boxes within 5 miles, every route will be created to exist within that 7.5 - 9hr evaluated time.

Quote: Fleastiff

Some people used to like the never get fired atmosphere...

Lol, I noticed this a bit already. RC's talking to the management unlike anything that would fly anywhere else. Just straight contempt and disobedience. It was weird. My boss is a meek little mouse, and it's hard to not walk right over him. I dunno. I'm glad it's mostly like a "work for yourself" type of job. That way there's minimal dealing with anyone else, and I don't have to worry about dealing with difficult people =p

This is one of my daily stops...



It kills me lol. I just wanna go with. It's a little pick me up at the end of the day, to remind me that if I keep going, one day I can afford it =p

I know my local PO absolutely hates the big
businesses on the routes. They get 80% of
the mail. I live near Amway, they have their
own PO, but all their stuff has to go to USPS
of course.