Confessions Of A Mailman

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" - Mostly true.

It can be very stressful and working for the USPS is not recommended for someone who has problems handling stress. The following is based on my experience.

USPS is structured like the military, with a rigid hierarchy, but it is staffed by civilians - and nepotism is alive and well.

Your work time is measured in military hours, and then hundredths of an hour for minutes. (3:30 p.m. civilian time is 1530 military and 1550 USPS.) When I worked as a clerk, I made multiple clock entries per day - begin the tour, out lunch, in lunch, and end tour. (Note use of “tour” borrowed from the military.) You had to be within 5/100’s of an hour for the entire day or be subjected to disciplinary action. (You learn to keep track.) I also made entries when moving from one task to another. Management monitors exactly how long it takes you to complete a task.

Most people who work in the private sector have a better lunch and break schedule. At the USPS, you get a ten-minute break for four hours of work, and a 30-minute off-the-clock lunch if you work all day. Your assigned break area may be on the other side of a large processing center and walking can take up a lot of your break time. Your break time is also when you go to the restroom, unless you have an emergency.

A lot of USPS employees work 6 days a week. If your a flexible status worker, your one day a week off may be 12 days apart. You will be asked - or required- to work “all those holidays” most people assume you get off. During my 30 years, the only holiday I never worked was December 25. Flexible work schedules can change weekly. Nights to days to nights really messes with your biological schedule.

Everything is on a schedule based on logistics and the only thing that varies is the volume of mail. It must be prepped before going on a truck for transport to a processing and distribution center. Once there, further processing is completed before it is sent to an office for delivery, a bulk mail center or the airport. Meeting Critical Entry Time is the game. Sometimes, you have more mail than can be processed within the time allotted - but you’re still expected to get it done. Hello, 10-hour workdays - and you may have to work a scheduled off day.

I worked in the Consumer Affairs Office for a number of years. That was stressful due to the unending customer complaints. I regularly got cussed and I had to be sweet and offer apologies in return. Experience taught me not to tell people away from the job where I worked for fear they would come after me. It happened more than once.

Working on a delivery route is, even more, trying and demanding. It takes nerves of steel, trust me. When you see your mailman smile and wave, chances are he's anxious and tense on the inside. People just do not understand what we go through. I have been screamed at, cussed out, threatened, followed, and chased. I have even feared for my family and their well-being.

I once encountered a man who threw rocks at me and my delivery truck because his check was late arriving. I have had dogs unleashed on me for delivering something that was unwanted "like legal papers". A fellow colleague once had a gun pointed at him.

I understand how upsetting and distressing that it can be to receive a piece of damaged mail. You have to understand that each parcel passes through hundreds of hands before it reaches your local post office. We're by no means perfect and accidents do happen, however, chances are pretty good that the damage took place at a faraway facility. Sometimes we make an innocent mistake and leave a piece of mail at the wrong address. Please realize that we're doing our very best. Some days are harder than others. Sometimes we're quite frankly broken-down and burned-out from the endless hours and detestable people that we encounter day in and day out. Please try to have a bit of understanding and compassion.

It is not the easy greasy job everyone thinks it is..there is a lot of responsibilities that people don't think about. There is a lot of mental work and it can get quite physical. I retired with 31 years. I have an excellent retirement but I worked for every penny of it. It is a good job with good benefits but it is not for everyone. The post office today is not the same as when I was hired. Today making the numbers is more important than the service. That is my opinion as to what I see happening today. The pride of service just isn't there anymore.

I think one of the reasons that they are having difficulty finding and keeping valuable employees is that most people just don't realize what they're getting into when they accept the job. It can be (and usually is) very demanding and taxing.

It’s part-time to start and the length that people wait for a regular full-time position can last anywhere from a couple of months to years (3–9). During that waiting period, it’s all “part-time” but they’re working you well over full-time hours (especially during the holiday time).

There is no work-life balance. I missed Thanksgiving with my family because you cannot miss work on the day before or the day after. So when my whole family gathered together I could not be there with them. You really have no idea what you’re doing each day unless you have a bid on a route, and you can get called in on your day off by your office or potentially by another office in another city if they need the help. You can’t really refuse to work even if you had a day off and made plans.

You don’t know when you’re going home because it’s not a 9–5 job. It’s a 7- whenever you’re done job and then you ask your supervisor if they have anything else you can do before you leave. They constantly want you to deliver mail in the same amount of time regardless of how much mail you have.

It’s just a lot and especially if they hire you for Christmas you need to be prepped for 13–14 hour days every day until it’s over. That includes Sundays. For some it works out wonderful. For me it didn’t work out well.

Employment at USPS wasn’t all bad. I met some very good people and had some great experiences. But I am so, so very happy I am now retired.