Postal Letter

USPS Job New Hire?

I want to apply for a USPS job, mainly because my work is slowing down and they are cutting hours, I also would like to try a more challenging job as I have done my job for the past five years. I am currently 23 and going to college full time. I went to college to become a teacher but have changed my mind and would like to finish with my AA in general studies anyway. would have to work nights first if I wanted to do this becasue all the classes I need to take from here on out are a.m. classes. (I work a.m. now). So my question is what job would suite me best, I want to eventually deliver mail because I think it would be a job I enjoy, as I am very energetic and I'm active and run a lot. I think that job would suit me well thats why I am set out to see if that is something I may desire as a long term career. I am comfortable working my way up but my question is what exam I should apply for?

Public Comments

1. You would take the Postal Exam. The official website is below. Beware of scams. Many companies will promise you an unfair advantage on the exam, but they lie. Your schedule might be a problem for the USPS, especially if you are in a small town. They like for the post office to be the person's primary obligation. New employees pretty much have to work whatever schedule is leftover, after everyone else picks. The USPS doesn't like working around your school schedule. (Most schools do offer night classes. Or take correspondence or online classes from a different school.) Larger cities have night hours at major sorting facilities (usually at airports) so that's not as much of a problem. The Post Office also hires "casual labor." These are basically part time jobs, but sometimes good "casuals" get hired permanently. If you can't get on at the post office, try FedEx or UPS. PS- Most postal carriers deliver mail by truck. And, although the post office has great benefits and retirement plan, it can be very frustrating. That's where the expression "going postal" comes from.
2. When you apply for a PO job, except for temporary positions, you are actually applying to take the entrance exam for selected positions. You can find out what tests are being given at this site... https://uspsapps.hr-services.org/UspsLocate.asp Most of the open test announcements are for maintenance positions or truck drivers. I went through the listings for all states, and no offices anywhere are taking applications for the carrier test. You don't really have a lot of choices. Most post offices are not hiring career employees, and especially not career clerks right now (there are a very few exceptions); they are hiring Casual employees, mostly Casual carriers and Casual rural carriers. Casuals are temporary employees who get a fixed hourly rate and ZERO benefits. Essentially the post office has an undeclared hiring freeze (AGAIN!) and is trying to reduce the number of clerks on the rolls. As positions are eliminated in the mail processing centers, some clerks are being transferred to other offices or to carrying mail. Based on my conversations with people in HR, the post office is probably going to eliminate over 10,000 clerk positions nationwide. If you want to be a carrier, you need to plan on working between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., so forget a.m. classes.