So what\'s it like to be a mailman?
 

Wondering if there are any postal carriers out there who can give me some sort of idea what it's like to work for the USPS.

Considering looking into employment as a carrier, but have heard good and bad things about the job. A few things I'm curious about...

- Pay...i.e. how often do you get raises? How much OT is allowed?
- How micromanaged are carriers? How harassed are they by supervisors, etc?
- Chance for advancement withing the USPS?
- Physically what does it do to you walking that much every day? I see the good, some point out the bad to me..
- What can a carrier get capped at salary wise?
- Benefits/Vacation?

Thanks for any input!

Re: So what\'s it like to be a mailman?
 

- Physically what does it do to you walking that much every day? I see the good, some point out the bad to me..


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I know someone who is a mailman and he spent a week in the hospital because of heat exhaustion from being outside in the heat. The weather was in the 90s everyday with high humidity, and he just couldn't take it; despite drinking a lot of water. Obviously this doesn't happen to most mailmen, but it goes to show that it can be very physically taxing.

Re: So what\'s it like to be a mailman?
 

1. get job at USPS
2. steal mail and hide it in basement/attic/garage
3. ???
4. profit!

Re: So what\'s it like to be a mailman?
 

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1. get job at USPS
2. steal mail and hide it in basement/attic/garage
3. ???
4. profit!

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Not quite the feedback I was looking for...curiously funny though. Thanks for your keen wit and insight. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: So what\'s it like to be a mailman?
 

When I was a kid, mailman was considered the greatest "cush" job ever. They'd give you the keys to a truck, and eight hours to go do about two hours work, unsupervised. If you were dumb enough to bring the truck back after two hours, they'd give you more work to do. The pay was good for unskilled labor, and the benefits were second-to-none.

Then, competition reared its ugly head. Suddenly, productivity was expected. The UPS/FedEx model of supervision was adopted: "Faster! Faster! You're not going fast enough!"

This explains why it became trendy for postal workers to snap, bring a gun to work, and shoot the place up (hence the origin of the phrase "going postal").

I mention all of this in case you, like many others, were under the impression that it's still a "cushy" job. Those days are long gone.

Re: So what\'s it like to be a mailman?
 

Possible bonus - one time sexed a 34 year old female carrier who had the most amazing body from all that walking [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] (sorry, did not take pics)

Re: So what\'s it like to be a mailman?
 

I read an article a long time ago about how the drive to cut costs resulted in carriers being expected to meet unrealistic goals that took virtually no account of their workload, and at the same time being incredibly micro-managed by superiors and force-fed a lot of pressure and criticism for failure to meet essentially "feel good" targets set by management to make management look good and like they were efficiently cutting costs. This made huge chunks of the postal service feel trapped and very angry, as well as overworked, and that's when you started hearing about workers "going postal."

I'm not sure how much that has changed these days. It's pretty standard now to run operations understaffed and just pile the work on others until a workplace becomes provably ridiculously unmanageable and unproductive, or someone quits or has a heart attack or something and legal worries crop up. So I wouldn't be surprised to see the postal service still dangling from a branch of that tree of management theory.

On the other hand, you can work in the postal service behind a counter, too, which looks extremely easy in some post office branches, and merely not very at all in others. I'd probably go for the indoor job if it were me, to save my back and keep the frustration level low.

Re: So what\'s it like to be a mailman?
 

My brother works for Canada Post.

He started seasonally as a sorter. However, in order to get on permanently he had to work as a carrier for a few months.

That is a brutal, brutal job. And according to him, the vast majority of carriers have massive substance abuse problems to cope with it (working drunk and/or stoned is common for carriers). Mail carrier is one of the most physically demanding jobs there is. If you are not prepared for this both mentally and physically, you will be crushed.

It's one thing to walk five or ten miles in a day with a load, it's another thing to do this every day. Day in and day out.

However, if you have an inside job it's extremely cushy. Particularly if you're competent since most people working for the post office are not.

BTW - According to my brother, driving the mail trucks is the WORST job. You're micromanaged like crazy and on a very tight schedule at all times.

Re: So what\'s it like to be a mailman?
 

wow....mailman just stopped by the house as i read this thread....classic timing...gg life....

Re: So what\'s it like to be a mailman?
 

The mail never stops. It just keeps coming and coming and coming, there's never a let-up. It's relentless. Every day it piles up more and more and more! And you gotta get it out but the more you get it out the more it keeps coming in. And then the bar code reader breaks and it's *Publisher's Clearing House* day!!!

Re: So what\'s it like to be a mailman?
 

a buddy of mine got a hernia when one of the harry potter books came out. he said some households ordered 3-4 books, because no one could wait to read it.

if you do become one, be thankful that the harry potter books are over.

Re: So what\'s it like to be a mailman?
 

Our mail carrier is on disability from hauling so much crap. Now all the other guys have to pitch in to cover his route. Bet they're not too thrilled with it. Went into our mail room yesterday and it completely reeked of sweat after his visit.

Re: So what\'s it like to be a mailman?
 

I worked as a casual carrier a couple years ago, just for a summer between freshman and sophomore year of school. I got paid $14/hr and worked between 60-70 hours every week, so I made a ton of money, at least for someone my age. I was the bitch of the post office, I did a route and a half everyday, sometimes more. I also worked in the ghetto of the neighboring town, where I got harassed by dealers and junkies, saw car chases and [censored].

I'll give you some tidbits from what I know about the post office ...

1) In the summer, the job SUCKS. If you're walking, the heat sucks. You have to carry a heavy bag on your back, while balancing magazines and [censored] on your left arm, and hold the actual mail in your left hand. It can get really annoying, especially when the magazines stain [censored] to your arm due to all the sweat. If you're driving a truck, it doesn't matter because its still hot as hell in there. We had a bunch of minivans that were used for some routes, they had AC and stuff, but we still had to get out and walk around once we drove to our points.

2) You're superiors are guaranteed to be [censored]. They pretty much have to be, there is always too much mail to go out.

3) A lot of customers will treat you like [censored], and get pissed at you for stuff you have no control over. You just gotta deal with it.

4) A lot of the people you work with are not going to put the effort in, and if you are a hard-worker, you will get stuck with their load.

5) There are actually some perks to working as a mailman. Like I said above, a lot of people don't work efficiently. If you want to be lazy, you can, nobody can really do anything about it. My one manager told me that unless you hit a car or sell drugs on the job or something completely retarded, its actually really hard to get fired from the post office. I remember this one lady was starting out with me, and while I was doing a route and a half everyday after like 2 weeks, she couldn't finish a route in a day at the end of the summer. Unfortunately, they couldn't fire her because of this. At least thats what they told me.

Also from what I've heard, you can make pretty good money if you don't have a college education, and the benefits are pretty good. Plus, if you get a route in a good residential area, the job is actually really easy and relaxing.

All in all, I came out of the summer with an extreme hatred for the post office and all the people that work there, but I could see how it would be an ok job. You just have to be fine with working outside in the summer and doing the same [censored] over and over and over again your entire life.

Re: So what\'s it like to be a mailman?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I worked as a casual carrier a couple years ago, just for a summer between freshman and sophomore year of school. I got paid $14/hr and worked between 60-70 hours every week, so I made a ton of money, at least for someone my age. I was the bitch of the post office, I did a route and a half everyday, sometimes more. I also worked in the ghetto of the neighboring town, where I got harassed by dealers and junkies, saw car chases and [censored].

I'll give you some tidbits from what I know about the post office ...

1) In the summer, the job SUCKS. If you're walking, the heat sucks. You have to carry a heavy bag on your back, while balancing magazines and [censored] on your left arm, and hold the actual mail in your left hand. It can get really annoying, especially when the magazines stain [censored] to your arm due to all the sweat. If you're driving a truck, it doesn't matter because its still hot as hell in there. We had a bunch of minivans that were used for some routes, they had AC and stuff, but we still had to get out and walk around once we drove to our points.

2) You're superiors are guaranteed to be [censored]. They pretty much have to be, there is always too much mail to go out.

3) A lot of customers will treat you like [censored], and get pissed at you for stuff you have no control over. You just gotta deal with it.

4) A lot of the people you work with are not going to put the effort in, and if you are a hard-worker, you will get stuck with their load.

5) There are actually some perks to working as a mailman. Like I said above, a lot of people don't work efficiently. If you want to be lazy, you can, nobody can really do anything about it. My one manager told me that unless you hit a car or sell drugs on the job or something completely retarded, its actually really hard to get fired from the post office. I remember this one lady was starting out with me, and while I was doing a route and a half everyday after like 2 weeks, she couldn't finish a route in a day at the end of the summer. Unfortunately, they couldn't fire her because of this. At least thats what they told me.

Also from what I've heard, you can make pretty good money if you don't have a college education, and the benefits are pretty good. Plus, if you get a route in a good residential area, the job is actually really easy and relaxing.

All in all, I came out of the summer with an extreme hatred for the post office and all the people that work there, but I could see how it would be an ok job. You just have to be fine with working outside in the summer and doing the same [censored] over and over and over again your entire life.

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This is the key. Remember, if you do this for 5 or 6 years, there is no way you will find another job that pays just as well. So if you don't have a degree, you are screwed if you ever want to leave but still make money.

Re: So what\'s it like to be a mailman?
 

[ QUOTE ]
My brother works for Canada Post.

He started seasonally as a sorter. However, in order to get on permanently he had to work as a carrier for a few months.

That is a brutal, brutal job. And according to him, the vast majority of carriers have massive substance abuse problems to cope with it (working drunk and/or stoned is common for carriers). Mail carrier is one of the most physically demanding jobs there is. If you are not prepared for this both mentally and physically, you will be crushed.


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Ask you bro if this explains why Canada post is the slowest postal service in the free world. My shipments to Hong Kong, Korea and Australia get delivered faster than Canadian.