| Almost anyone can get a job at the local United States Post Office without any prior training or taking an exam. The postal job is called TRC. TRC stands for Temporary Rural Carrier. Only it goes on indefinitely, so it isn’t really temporary. The TRC job is a relief or substitute mail carrier job. The TRC works whenever the regular carrier takes a day off from work and usually on Saturdays. Currently the position pays $13.05 an hour plus about $0.60 a mile for the length of the rural mail route. This job gets you trained so that when a real position opens up you are the first choice because you already know the job. How do you get a job at the post office the easy way without taking the civil service or the United States Postal Service carrier exam? Go to your local United States Post Office during regular business hours Monday through Friday. While most United States Postal Service (USPS)offices have Saturday hours, the postmaster usually has that day off. You don’t have to go to just your post office. Go to any post office that is within a reasonable commute from your home say less than 30 miles. Step 2 Ask the postmaster if the office is accepting job applications for a USPS Temporary Rural Carrier (TRC) or Postmaster Relief (PMR) position. These positions are not usually advertised in the newspaper, nor are they listed on the www.usps.com website. If the postmaster says, “No,” ask if he or she knows of any post offices looking for TRCs. If you find out about one, go there next. If not, ask if you could leave your name and number just in case a job becomes available. Follow this same procedure at each post office you go to. Step 3 Fill out the USPS job application and return it to the post office as soon as you can, preferably by the next business day. Include any documentation requested such as a local police clearance. Step 4 Go to your required drug test as scheduled. You pee in a cup in the bathroom stall at one of the larger post offices. You may need to drive to the next town for this. Step 5 Go to your scheduled job interview. It will not be with the same postmaster as the postal service has trained “interviewers.” Step 6 Go to your scheduled physical. This is not a real physical. You fill in the little dots with a number 2 pencil on a questionnaire. The nurse, a USPS employee, feeds the completed questionnaire through a scoring machine. If anything is flagged, you may need to obtain written documentation from your doctor saying you are physically able to work. For example, “Have you had an MRI in the last 5 years?” If you answer yes, your doctor will need to certify that you are able to work without limitations. Step 7 Attend your scheduled USPS job orientation. This is about 8 hours a day for four or five days. You are paid for all of these hours at $13.05 currently per hour. You are also paid for mileage if the training facility is farther from your house than your assigned post office. Step 8 My mail truckAttend Rural Associate Training for one week. You learn to sort mail between first class, second class, and bulk rate mail. You learn to case mail, scan mail, and deliver mail. You are paid for all of these hours at $13.05 currently per hour. You are also paid for mileage if the training facility is farther from your house than your assigned post office. Step 9 Practice stopping quickly at mailboxes without hitting themPractice driving your vehicle from the passenger seat. Spread your legs and use your left leg to run the gas and brake. This is why you need an automatic transmission. If you are too short, put a 1×6 on your seat. Practice stopping and taking off from mailboxes with your car. Step 10 Schedule your job shadow day with the postmaster. You will ride around in a car with the USPS regular carrier that you will sub for on his or her days off. Carriers take vacation, sick leave, and some get either every Saturday or every other Saturday off from work. This is when you will work. Step 11 Schedule days to come into the post office to work for training. You will practice casing the mail. This takes a while to learn. Routes have between 200 and 800 mailboxes each. You learn the customers in the order they are delivered. You case the mail before you take it out in your car to the street to deliver it. Step 12 Begin delivering the mail each time the regular carrier takes a day off. Congratulations, you are a TRC, a USPS temporary employee. However, you are trained to do the same job as the RCAs and regular carriers. Now register online to take the Postal Service Exam. After you take it you will be on the list for the RCA and regular jobs. RCA positions currently start at $17.98 plus mileage. When a job opens up in your post office or one of the three that you registered for during the exam, you will be first choice for the job. Why? Because you are already trained and can start almost immediately. Not only that but you will be proficient in days instead of months. |
