US Postal Service reviews

-DO NOT (I repeat) DO NOT join the Union when you are in your probation period (3 months), when you are in training, and the Union Rep comes in. During your probation period, if you do something wrong, the Union cant do ANYTHING for you, yet, your paying Union dues? Its a joke. When the Union rep comes to your class, ask him/her this simple question, "So, if I should encounter a problem with management, and need from the Union, will you guys fight for me, being Im paying Union fees and all?". He/She, (like my rep) will dodge that question, or answer it with something ridiculous. Think of it like politics, when they are asked a question that catches them off guard, and they do their best to avoid it. My suggestion, is once you complete your 3 month probation, then by all means join the union (you would have saved yourself $150). But even then, the union looks at CCA's more like an ATM machine, then people theyd want to help. They choose to help "the regulars" for the most part. -Work 6 days a week, and potentially 7 (Sundays for Amazon) -You are treated HORRIBLY by management. They will tell you to complete a route in, say, 4 hours. Yet, you don't know the area, let alone the route. After 4 hours, you are maybe half way done. They will blow up your phone, drive to you and confront you face to face, yell at you, put you down, tell you you're too slow, etc. All so they can make THEIR numbers look good. They have NO regard on what areas you do or dont know. Need to go to the bathroom? You better bring an empty plastic bottle, and go in the back of your truck (everyone does it, no one talks about it). Its disgusting, you feel like scum, but you have no choice. -Lastly (and the reason I quit), is if your branch is overstaffed, or another branch is short staffed, you will receive a lovely wake up call around 6am, to let you know that you're required to report to an alternative branch location other than your own. So during a 2 weeks span, I had reported to 8 (yes 8) different USPS locations. You are tossed around like a rag doll, and can never develop a rhythm for a particular route (or a particular branch for that matter). So as you can imagine, you are forever being yelled at for your time. What the hell do you expect? Its not your fault you dont know the area. Again, they do not care, they will belittle you, scream at you, threaten your job, etc. Just remember, its NOT your fault!!! Its the disgusting individuals who manage you. They are all the same, all of them. You'll get that "occasional" manager who "gets it", but that's a rarity. In any case, enough was enough, and I told them that either you keep me at the location I was assigned to, or I'm done. The rest is history. I was never so happy to leave a job. The worse experience of my life.

As a TE/CCA: For starters, you must understand that this position is not guaranteed by any means. You are basically signing up to be a temporary employee which means managers always remind/threaten you that if you don't comply, you are out. CCAs are not considered human. You are just a number. Regardless of how hard you work, you are just a number. They don't care if you've never been late or your baby is sick....if you mess up (get sick for more than a day, have an accident) you're out. If they're laying off they will not take into consideration that you were a good worker, you're out. You are often given the worse routes that no one else will take. Which means walking routes, routes in bad neighborhoods, or routes that are difficult to run. You are expected to complete tasks that are almost impossible. For example, most routes take 6 hours outside of the office to complete according to the carrier that runs that route everyday. As a CCA you are almost never on a familiar route so of course you are going to get turned around a few times and take longer than the regular carrier. Sometimes you may complete the route in 8 hours, which is not terribly bad BUT on top of the unfamiliar route, most of the time you are given a piece off of another unfamiliar route (called hand offs) where the carrier got sick or called off. With the unfamiliarity of the original routes plus the "hand-offs", you will most likely be out delivering mail until dark. Meanwhile the managers call you every hour to see where you are and rush you. It's impossible. Remember when I said if you don't comply they will threaten you by calling you disposalable? This is where that comes in so do not think of bringing the mail back regardless of the time. I've been in bad neighborhoods sometimes after 9pm. Forget being in school full time or even a single parent and working here because you don't have set hours. One day you may get off at 6pm and the next day 9pm. You do not get to have a life outside of the Post Office. You are basically expected to work everyday without any set hours. If you rush to get done early because you have somewhere to go, they will send you back out (sometimes after dark) to help someone else who wants to ride the clock. Do not think of taking days off for a vacation because IF you are lucky to request days off, you get the leftovers of what no one else wants. So you may be able to get a Tuesday of Wednesday. Saturday's off as a CCA are impossible. They always promise you that you will move up to a permanent position if you work hard and wait. I was there for 3 years and another lady was they for over 9 years as a CCA but even she was in the same position. No room for growth. No benefits, health insurance, etc. The old people who like riding the clock will take all day to complete route because they are either lazy, want the overtime, or slow because they know they can't be fired. As a CCA, expect to pick up the slack here. Managers will send you out to help them (even though they don't want your help). You are often sent to other stations when they needed help. Sometimes the other stations were up to 40 mins away and you had to use your own car to get there (you're reimbursed for gas like 60 cent a mile or something). I was sent to other stations sometimes 4 times a week because I was a good worker and they requested me. Other CCAs probably got sent away around 3 times a week. As a mail handler: Pay sucks! $10 an hour for somewhat difficult work. A lot of lifting. Work every holiday Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years, etc. No benefits. Regular workers slacked off and you have to do their work and yours too because you get no respect and are easily replaced if you don't. Take these positions only if you are in school or need some quick extra cash and don't plan on staying for longer than a couple of years. There is no room to move up and I personally in 3+ years have never seen a temporary employee been hired on permanently. You should not try to make a career out of this place because it won't happen, you will be like my co-worker almost 10 years in and still no 401k or health benefits and still being threatened to be replaced (even though she was the hardest working person there)