Pros
- Decent living wage (but you will be verbally and mentally abused for every red cent). - If you weren't in shape when you started you will be by the time you are used up and thrown away. - Not a boring job. You will be busy. Too busy, in fact, to use the bathroom or take a break or eat a lunch or put one of their low budget band aids (that will fall off in 10 minutes) on the cuts on your hands. This is the only place that you will have to wash your hands BEFORE you go to the bathroom. - If you have no self respect or dignity, love abuse, and are a masochist and thrive on no self-esteem then this is the perfect job for you.
Cons
- Training. You have 3 days to learn a route AND the office procedures and if you are put with an abusive person to train you you won't have much of a chance at success. So-called trainer also did not like that I was driving the LLV "too safely" and obeying stop signs and wearing a seat belt. She also said I wasn't aggressive enough making left turns. She did not want me to adjust the mirrors on the left side of the vehicle so I could view behind me, she said it was not necessary and I didn't need to see back there. The second day she refused to ride in the LLV and took her own vehicle and I was supposed to follow her. She took off out of sight and in a hurry. Every one of her sentences to me began with "you can't" "you'll never" and "You're never gonna do 'dis." She disapproved of me on first sight, she looked me up and down and sneered. On the 3rd day she finally admits she hates working with other women (she'd rather work with men - most likely because she manipulates them) and she can't train (um, DUHH!). She didn't teach me anything. She just wanted to get the job done and be gone at her normal time and not be inconvenienced by training someone to fill in for her so she could take her earned time off. I lost count of how many times she stated she needed to retire. - Pep Talks. I was instructed by the postmaster and supervisor that the USPS had invested in me and that they are going to set me up for success. LIES. I was a racehorse that got shot in all legs coming out of the starting gate and was set up for an epic failure and then, when I am laying there with my broken racehorse legs, I get beaten by the PM, the supervisor and the dysfunctional USPS employees. - Head Games. Yes, you, too, can be set up to fail and then have your weaknesses exploited by the postmaster and the supervisor. I worked a total of 9 days and was only able to case and learn the actual case in the office 4 times before the start of a route. Time flies fast at the USPS. 90 days go by as fast as 9 days worked (and trained). - Urgency Factor. I was told I wasn't acting urgent enough to get the job done. Anyone with any common sense knows that 3 days of training will not give me the experience, accuracy and speed that someone who has been doing the route for 20 years has. At such an inexperienced level, urgency turns to panic and panic leads to accidents and mistakes. - Life Experience and Education Dismissal Factor. Basically, anything you've done prior to the USPS is irrelevant and unimportant. It doesn't matter. If you've studied the learning theory and classical/operant conditioning and how it applies to all living things it is belittled, dismissed and "does not apply to the USPS." The same goes for your work experiences. Nothing is more important than getting that 2nd class flyer in that mailbox that the "current resident" is going to immediately dispose of anyway, nothing! - Dysfunctional Co-workers. Well, obviously. They probably had to deal with all of the above and/or worse. Beware. You, too, could turn out like the woman who trained me.