Dumbassclerksyndrome
Well-known member
Ok… if I do this, realistically how long before officially retired?
Just turn in badge and walk out
- Thread starter Dumbassclerksyndrome
- Start date
Are you retirement eligible?
Dumbassclerksyndrome
Well-known member
MRA… 15 years Reg… I know penalties but don’t care
Dumbassclerksyndrome
Well-known member
or 
Morty
Well-known member
You have to fill out the proper paperwork, but yes starting with calling human resources. You don't want to lose the pension. You can defer it without penalty. Pick it back up at 62?
With 15 years, you some AL and SL, might as well burn through that. I'm sure you can conjure up an FMLA situation. Stress...
Dumbassclerksyndrome
Well-known member
So my understanding… if processed as deferred…once reach age 62 there is no penalty? I’m 60… absolutely cannot do this 2 more years
This is something you may cover while processing the retirement package. It should be in your blue book.
There is a series of four retirement classes each month that you may attend online. They are each Wednesday. How availablle the hours are will depend on your time zone. I do not know if you may take the four days off to attend the meetings or not. I hope some one with steward experience may know the answer.
RammerJammer
Well-known member
I knew a city carrier that kept working till 92. He was a Marine who guarded and swam at Warm Springs with FDR. He said “My last day (carrying mail)) will be the day I die.” He almost fulfilled that prophesy. I don’t wish to follow his example. I wish you good luck !
Dumbassclerksyndrome
Well-known member
Heck no!!! Applaud him but nope
Will your PM accommodate your leave request if you file for some sick and annual leave? If so, take advantage of it and get your "ducks in a row." You might recall my POV broke down the first Saturday of December, 2022. I told my sub that I would not be back and to make the necessary plans over the weekend.
I went in on the following Monday and turned in my badge and keys and submitted my leave request for two months. Then I started the retirement process. It went smoothly and still did not get completed until the end of March.
(I did offer to come back if they really needed me. Fortunately, they did not. But that may have made them a little more accommodating as far as the leave is concerned.)
If I were in your shoes, I would take the immediate annuity. Although I believe you will be penalized 10% for the 2 years of "early-out," I think you might be able to retain your health insurance benefits. I seem to recall a deferred retirement means you cannot keep FEHB.
A quick Google search stated you can maintain FEHB with a postponed retirement, but not a deferred retirement. It looks like you might be eligible for the postponed retirement, but I would urge you take your time and make sure you aren't burning any benefit bridges.
Dumbassclerksyndrome
Well-known member
This sounds like the scenario I will be taking. And since a new “H” rte… free Saturday provision will be put into use and submit leave till end of July. Probably won’t turn in keys/badge till all paperwork submitted
Dumbassclerksyndrome
Well-known member
Absolutely… been looking and figuring with calendar.
Dumbassclerksyndrome
Well-known member
When submitting leave slip(s), do you just do days consecutively or break into weeks?
maine
Member
You are eligible to retire. Pick whatever date you want. Use all annual you have earned and all sick days. It does take a couple of months after your retirement date to get your finalized annuity. You will receive a partial payment starting on the first of the month after your retirement date. So if you retire say May 31, you will get a check on July 1 for the month of June. Make sure to pick a day at the end of a pay period at the end of the month.
I submitted one month (4 weeks) at a time, but see no reason you could not do it for more. I did schedule some doctor-type appointments to use some of them up. I am not sure how the "free Saturdays" work, so just make sure you can use either sick or annual and not lose the free Saturday.
It has been over 6 months and there was only a couple of days I had some second-guessing. Then the next day when I don't wake til after 8 and the regret is gone.
You may not want to make the FEHB part of your calculations, as it is going the way of the passenger pigeon. I think it disappears the first day of 2025.
Everyone, all past retirees included, will be moved to a new postal plan. (Doesn't sound good.)
There will still be health insurance, but it won't be what you have now.
Last edited:
Dumbassclerksyndrome
Well-known member
Every waking moment, we rural carriers are zoned in on one thing… do our job. We all love our job, but the stress factors that have now crept into every facet has become overwhelming. I’m not geared to just walk away and will continue to worry that customers are being treated as family. It’s a new step and hard to make that jump, but know now it’s time.
SilverHair
Well-known member
If you are financially able to delay your annuity (aka, pension), Postponed is definitely what you want rather than Deferred retirement. For Postponed retirements, you must meet MRA +10, which you already exceed. You actually resign, and then officially retire at age 62. Only employees who aren’t at MRA and have at least 5 years of creditable service must use Deferred.
The main advantage of waiting until 62 to officially retire is to avoid the 5/12 % per month (5% per full year) penalty for retiring before 62. Basically your High 3 is frozen (without COLAs) until you officially retire at age 62.
With Postponed retirements, you temporarily lose your FEHB and FEGLI, but can resume them when you retire at 62. You also must have had FEHB and FEGLI for at least 5 continuous years before resigning to be able to continue or resume them in retirement.
If you stay on the rolls until you are 60 1/2, and plan on a Postponed retirement, you can keep your FEHB insurance through 18 months of COBRA (though it’s expensive), which would get you to age 62.
If you decide to do an immediate retirement instead, you will take the 5/12 % penalty per month under age 62 (which you already said you are willing to accept). And you won’t receive COLAs until age 62. You will be able to keep your FEHB and FEGLI as long as you’ve had them for at least 5 continuous years up until you retire. FEHB will be roughly the same price, though you won’t be able to have it withheld pre-tax anymore, so it will feel slightly more expensive. It will change over to the new PSHB instead of FEHB in 2025, but you will get to choose which of those plans to be enrolled in when that rolls out. FEGLI tends to get expensive as an annuitant, so the retirement specialists I’ve heard speak about it don’t recommend keeping the optional ones except possibly Option A into retirement.
Free Saturday provision is awesome! I used it all the time when I had a J route with Monday as my relief day. Free Saturdays require that a full week of Annual, Sick, and/or Holiday leave cover Monday-Friday. There might be a few others that qualify, like Jury duty, but I’m not sure off the top of my head. I do know use of X days and LWOP interrupt that full week, as does relief days for J routes (K routes are not eligible for Free Saturdays since they already get a day off each week). You also must have enough AL and/or SL to cover all the days off, including the free Saturdays, even though you won’t be charged leave for the Saturdays.
For example, if a holiday falls on Monday, and you use AL and/or Sick Leave for Tues-Fri, then both the Saturday before the holiday, and the Saturday after are free, providing you have at least 6 days of AL and/or SL. You will only be charged for 4, but you have to have 6 on the books to show you could have used leave to get both Saturdays.
If you use an X day or LWOP this interrupts the full week off. So my opinion would be to use a full week of AL/SL (especially in a week with a Holiday) M-F to get both Saturdays free on each end, and then use the next M-F as LWOP/X days if your PM allows. Keep flip-flopping weeks like that to maximize your time on the rolls and free extra paid days off.
You can take up to 1/2 year of LWOP per calendar year and still be credited with that time as creditable service toward your annuity. You do lose earned AL and SL per full pay period of LWOP taken, which for an H route is 12 days. Since you have 15 years as Regular, you earn 1 full day of AL and 1/2 day SL per pay period. So for every 12 days of LWOP taken, you wouldn’t earn 1 day AL and 1/2 day SL.
Hope this helps and is not too confusing! Everything seems so complicated nowadays, even exiting this circus! Anyway, best wishes with whatever strategy you decide to use to escape this insanity!
Last edited:
SilverHair
Well-known member
With FMLA, you are permitted to use up to 12 weeks off, and it’s your right to use LWOP instead of AL or SL if you want. No need to beg PM for permission to take it as LWOP.
SilverHair
Well-known member
One clarification about Free Saturdays. Your full week can be any string of consecutive days off, not just taking M-F off. So if you took off Tuesday through the following Monday, you would also get the included Saturday off for free.
