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Monday, September 10, 2018

Indoors at the Post Office

My cousin asked me what I do in the post office. So I wrote this for him. Thought you might be interested.

Starting at 3am, I work inside the local post office as a shipping clerk. At all times of the day and night, mail arrives in large metal boxes on wheels or on pallets. We use a pallet jack to move the pallets around, like they do in a warehouse. Basically, I work in a government warehouse. I get paid more than double the minimum wage, because there is a lot of responsibility in handling the mail. Even if it does not require a lot of intelligence, it does require a lot of common sense and discipline, more than most people have.

At this post office, shipping clerks divide the incoming mail up between our 46 postmen and women, or mail carriers. 90% of the letters are sorted by a computer downtown, so they arrive in route order within trays for the carriers. We also have lots of magazines and large envelopes and catalogs and newspapers, collectively called "flats". We also have parcels - boxes and bags - which come in all shapes and sizes. We make sure that each parcel, flat, and tray of letters ends up with the correct carrier.

Mail carriers each have an enormous metal case that they stand in front of to sort their route's mail. In each case are slots for the 500-to-900 mailboxes on that route. When they are done "casing" their mail, they must "pull it down" into trays, which they then take to their trucks, along with all of their parcels. At this post office, every mail carrier uses a mail truck, unlike at my previous post office, where only one of the five routes had a mail truck. The other four routes required the carrier to use their own vehicle.

Much of my working time is spent sorting parcels, called "throwing parcels". Every carrier usually ends up with between 200 and 300 daily. There are very large heavy boxes, small white plastic bags, and everything in between. We must scan each parcel's barcode (if present) and then throw each parcel to each route's large wheeled hampers/trolleys.

Hampers are either very heavy orange plastic, or very old white canvas with a steel frame. In addition to those hampers, 14 of the routes also use 6-foot-long flatbed trolleys with heavy canvas netting on the sides. After throwing, if we miss the intended hamper/trolley, we have to walk over and correct our misthrow. If the parcels are heavy, we don't even bother throwing them, but instead, walk them over to the hamper/trolley.

Thankfully, we have a helpful scanner on a large mechanical arm near where we sort our parcels. When it scans a barcode, it announces loudly (in a Siri-like voice) which route the scanned item belongs to. We also have handheld scanners and scanners that fit over two fingers, but those scanners do not reveal the corresponding route, unless you have a special Bluetooth headset. There is only one, and somebody else always uses it.

I have not memorized all of the addresses on all of the routes yet. I have only been here for six weeks. There are several clerks who have the whole "scheme" in their head, and are very fast at sorting things.

A key component of getting a job with the US post office is a test, and memory plays an enormous part of that test. Nobody can work here without an amazing memory, which means the people here couldn't get other jobs in other fields, for whatever reason, yet are bizarrely good at remembering. Thus, my co-workers are all peculiar people. I fit right in, though my Aspergers Syndrome still makes me stick out on occasion.

I was fortunate that I was hired for this job. They were looking for 1 person officially, but they decided to hire 4, and I was at the end of that list. Compared to my current coworkers, my memory isn't that great, and I just barely passed the interview. But if I ever have car problems, this place is close enough that I can walk here in less than 10 minutes. In a few years, I hope to receive benefits. That would be nice.

On Sundays, I am the only employee working at this post office. I turn on the lights, unlock all the doors, open the safe, and accept all incoming parcels through our dock when the trucks bring them. Then I sort them. Our computer system here creates impromptu routes, based on the parcels present. There are 8-12 routes each Sunday.

Every post office has several "subs" called RCAs and CCAs. Understandably, the job of these subs is to fill in for carriers that are not present for any reason, and to be able to deliver on every route. (That was my job at my previous post office, which I held for 40 months.) On Sundays, only the newest subs must come in to deliver these parcels, one for each impromptu route. After they leave with their parcels, I have to sort even more parcels that have arrived for Monday. Sundays are usually 12-hour days for me.

Yesterday was a Sunday. It was another difficult day. I didn't get to sleep until 9pm, and everyday I have to wake up at 2am. The goal is always to get to sleep by 6pm, but that doesn't always happen. Some weeks I get a day off. Some weeks I don't.

The longer I stay here as a shipping clerk, the closer I get to receiving more humane working hours, and better benefits, and implied limitations on my physical labor. (Window clerks deal directly with customers, and are usually longtime postal employees.) It could take years, anywhere from 4 to 15. Interestingly, they have also trained me to do RFS (Remote Forwarding System). As long as I keep learning new areas of USPS knowledge, my increasing value should keep me employed here. I am certainly happy to be here, and I hope I am able to be here for the rest of my working days.