Pros
Benefits for craft employees and pay/benefits for rural carriers. The USPS renegotiates pay and benefits every 3 years and each year the benefits usually decline. However, I did receive 5 1/2 weeks vacation after working 15 years and I received 8 hours sick leave a month and that never changed once I started receiving it. New hires may or may not receive those same vacation/sick leave benefits. Being a Federal employee, you can choose from many different insurance providers which was really nice.
Cons
With today's advancement in technology, the US Postal has fallen behind. Employment with the USPS was once known to be a secure job, but new hires today do not have that same level of security. You must work at least 7 years to be tenured. And for the first time in history, they have started layoffs. If you are a craft employee, the Unions are strong and will always help you attain the best pay, work hours, and benefits. However, the USPS has neglected their Postmasters and Managers in the pay, benefit and work hour categories. Craft employees make as much, if not more, than a lot of Postmasters. Consequently, the USPS has lost many good managers and the level of service has suffered dreadfully because of their intentional neglect. The pay scale for Postmaster Relief employees is embarrassing at $7/hour and 12 hours training for an employee who fills in for the Postmaster is not even possible, but that is all that is allowed. Postmasters use their own time, without reporting it, to insure Postmaster Relief employees are adequately trained to relieve them. Postmasters are working 6 days a week for years at a time because they can't find people to apply for the Relief jobs that have the same high level of financial and operational responsibility as the Postmaster, but for only $7/hour and NO benefits whatsoever. The stress level is extremely high in the USPS. For years, they promised Postmasters more work hours to get the job done if the Postmaster increased revenue. That never happened. I almost doubled revenue in my office and the USPS CUT my employee work hours so badly that I lost a really good worker. That forced me to start working 6 days a week.