Pro's/Con's of being a RCA

wolfound · Jun 29, 2017

<blockquote class="spPostEmbedQuote">4807 said 
Wolfound - Don't forget about clerks, management and postmasters. You WILL at some point work with someone who will try to get you fired or hate you for some reason and EVERY other position you ever work with will think you have it so much better than they do and will bitch nonstop about it. </blockquote>
been there...doing that now...have a reg carrier that just hates me for whatever reason her twisted mind can think of. Goes to MGT saying i am harassing her all the time...its to the point now that even when i say "good morning,her name here" she runs into MGT office saying i am picking on her...really? Then if i say Good morning to everyelse BUT her...she runs to MGT and says I am singling her out by NOT saying Hello......WTF....I could go on and on but this is a good example of the insanity that she comes up with........................ i just laugh, cuz it is so STUPID.......and what? are we in grade school again?

hunchback · Jun 29, 2017

I will add you can't realistically retire before 60 years old and by then, on a POV route, you will be damn near an invalid from the wear and tear on your body.

How's that for a rosey outlook into your future,

I thought about sugar coating it but didn't want to lie to this person

D.B.Cooper · Jun 29, 2017

They've driven the job so far down in to the dirt... I think anybody who knows much about it now could pretty easily convince somebody to not start down the RCA path nowadays... but if we did that with every RCA Wannabee... then I guess we'd never get a day off...

So, RCAWannaBe... it's a great job... go for it... be my sub... <img title="Wink" alt="Wink" src="https://www.ruralmailtalk.ruralinfo.net/wp-content/sp-resources/forum-smileys/sf-wink.gif" />

wolfound · Jun 29, 2017

Can ya wait til I put on my hip boots,DB?

mtyler27 · Jun 29, 2017

Oh my....

I took this job in January because it was NOT retail or food service! I've done both of those and LOATHED it.... I used to be a teacher, but my hubby hated the fact that I brought so much work home everyday, in the form of lesson planning and grading (I taught mostly high school science, some junior high). When you counted all that time I spent working away from work (I even graded tests at a baby shower), I got paid far less than I do now... After taking time to have kids, my certificate is expired now too. Hubby wanted me to sub so I'd have the same schedule as our kids, but frankly, it turns out, I don't really like young kids that much, and have no desire to spend my days with other people's kids on their worst behavior ("hey, we've got a sub today!")....

I've also worked office jobs where I felt like a rat spinning in a wheel. While I don't enjoy management's shenanigans, I do enjoy the work. I'm out on my own most of the day, listening to my music and enjoying (sometimes) the weather. I'm doing something useful to society. When the truck is empty, I'm done and can go home. I don't have to think about work anymore until the next day...

I'm really hoping I don't start thinking the negative things I read on here and on Facebook, because if I do, I fear there will be absolutely no job in the world where I'll fit it....

btdtret · Jun 29, 2017

mtyler27 -- Yeah, someone with a positive outlook and attitude -- try to hang on to it as long as you can!

-- Sorry -- the "Yeah" should have been a "YEA!".

D.B.Cooper · Jun 30, 2017

<blockquote class="spPostEmbedQuote">
btdtret said 
mtyler27 -- Yeah, someone with a positive outlook and attitude -- try to hang on to it as long as you can!

</blockquote>
With less than 6 months in, we all probably had an optimistic outlook... after a few years, I think we're all more where JunkChucker is where he posted in # 3 of this thread:

"Morale is at an all-time low. Welcome aboard the SS Misery! Take a seat in the back – for a long, long time. 

Seriously though, if you can find another job with similar pay, do that. This job will steal your soul. "

So, for any newbies out there with still good attitudes... as Bill said... enjoy it while you can... stop back in a few years for an attitude check... <img title="Laugh" alt="Laugh" src="https://www.ruralmailtalk.ruralinfo.net/wp-content/sp-resources/forum-smileys/sf-laugh.gif" />

<div class="spPostContentSection"> </div>

heyman1104 · Jul 3, 2017

Pro: Nice fat paychecks

Con: Everyone else at the office

Pro: Nice fat paychecks

Con: You'll never enjoy another Christmas season. Period.

Con: Unnecessary stress put on you by management for various reasons

Pro: Federal job, eventually leads to a career with a full benefits package

Con: Will wear your body out (so do most jobs with a decent wage)

Pro: Solitude. Hours of it, every day.

Con: Solitude. Hours of it, every day.

Vehicle suggestions: Currently, I use a 2002 Chevy Blazer. It's tough, cheap, has good cargo room, and will go anywhere. But it sure does love gas. When I first started, I had a 1994 Buick Lesabre that I paid $500 for. It had no grille, a few different colored body panels, and no A/C. Also I occasionally had to punch the door before the window would roll down. But it was front wheel drive, had a bench seat and column shifter, and a giant trunk that I could fit a lot in. Wasn't quite as bad on gas, but still used enough. If you live in an area that gets any amount of snow, then you'll want a solid SUV (because we do work in snowy conditions and have to drive off the road to get to some boxes). Whatever you get, make sure it's something that you can drive from the passenger seat, or it will be utterly useless in this job.

wolfound · Jul 5, 2017

oooopppppppppssssssssssssss

H.Guders · Jul 5, 2017

Feast or Famine.

You can work months of 7 days a week in a row for now thanks from your regulars, but miss one letter and they'll turn on you.

Conversely, you can have one or two days of work a week, pick up a second job, and then get blamed when there are scheduling conflicts.

If you can make it, its a great job with good pay. But if you wind up in a bad office it'll be hell. My office is a good one, minus one old grump who can't handle his route. But I've been a sub for over a decade. Seriously, if one old guy would retire the rest of us already have the non-perishable party supplies bought.

WannaBeRCA · Jul 6, 2017

<blockquote class="spPostEmbedQuote">D.B.Cooper said 

Seems like maybe somebody don't Wanna Be an RCA anymore... maybe there's such a thing as too much honesty??? <img title="Confused" alt="Confused" src="https://www.ruralmailtalk.ruralinfo.net/wp-content/sp-resources/forum-smileys/sf-confused.gif" />

So much for curing the sub shortage... <img title="Wink" alt="Wink" src="https://www.ruralmailtalk.ruralinfo.net/wp-content/sp-resources/forum-smileys/sf-wink.gif" /> </blockquote>
I have years of experience as a meter reader for a couple of municipal utilities both on rural and city routes. Currently, I manage a house for an men's alcohol and drug rehab center. It is a consistent gig just with not great pay and that I am essentially a cat herder. This job has a little chance of further advancement.

The issue with this job is that it is so unpredictable. I support a large family with my wife and need at the least need a lateral move not down. If I could get 4 days a week it would balance out with my current job. When you take into account purchasing a vehicle or modifying it, traveling to the PO, paying commercial insurance for this vehicle, purchasing life insurance, AD&D, short and long term disability insurance on your own this is a significant move backwards for myself.

I am certain that I could well do the job and would be happy to do it. I enjoyed working in the elements. Even when it was cold and wet (always carried a dry washcloth in a sandwich bag so I could stop and dry my hands even for just a minute or two). I do not think this job is being packaged for someone in my situation. Seems they are targeting someone with kids out of the house, otherwise comfortable financially, looking for something to do after early retirement, a supplementary income rather than a real income IMO.

I hope that this doesn't read as me disparaging those of you that do this job as I have respect for you and what you do. This is just not what I had hoped it would be after researching and interviewing. Again, I appreciate everyone's time and effort in their posts.

D.B.Cooper · Jul 6, 2017

You seem very analytical, and I would think there's a employer out there that would LOVE to have somebody as well spoken and literate, and clear thinking as you... not to mention level of responsibility, etc... not sure what all job opportunities are available in your area, but you seem like you should fit in somewhere able to make at least a decent living... but we all know it's mostly about what opportunities are available...

I honestly think you'd be wasting a lot of time that might not pay off at the PO... but you're in a better position to know than me... I'm assuming the PO is not willing to give you any or much insight as to how long it might take you to make Regular carrier, or any real prediction on how much work you might expect to get...

I'm not trying to scare you off, but if I were starting right now, knowing what I know now... I personally would try elsewhere before going to the PO... I've actually argued before that if you compared a new RCA nowadays to a new Wally World worker... the Wally's World employee might do better over the next 10 years than the RCA, and might be making more than the RCA 10 years from now... I mean for somebody like yourself, there's a decent chance Wally's might make you a manager or supervisor, and they offer 'some' benefits, 401K, insurance, etc., that the RCAs do not get...

Whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck!!

12345 · Jul 9, 2017

<blockquote class="spPostEmbedQuote">H.Guders said 
Feast or Famine.
You can work months of 7 days a week in a row for now thanks from your regulars, but miss one letter and they'll turn on you.
Conversely, you can have one or two days of work a week, pick up a second job, and then get blamed when there are scheduling conflicts.
If you can make it, its a great job with good pay. But if you wind up in a bad office it'll be hell. My office is a good one, minus one old grump who can't handle his route. But I've been a sub for over a decade. Seriously, if one old guy would retire the rest of us already have the non-perishable party supplies bought. </blockquote>
As a sub I never expected or wanted thanks from the regular for working. That was what I was hired for. I just did not want to be bitched at to much if I could not work for a legitimate reason. We regulars would like subs that are not interested in working on short notice or the crappy days to quit so someone that really needs or wants the position can have the slot. A sub might be on the books but if they happen to be managements pet they do not work when it is not convenient for them. They want to maintain seniority but not work.

Sometimes the old grump in the office that cannot handle his route is the only person actually not willing to cut corners so it just seems that he cannot handle the route. He probably refuses to work off the clock, doesn't finger the mail between boxes, does the scanning at the proper location, and actually stops at stop signs. He may just be getting old but since he did not make full time when he was young he just needs to keep working. I would guess he does not enjoy being around you any more than you like being around him.

D.B.Cooper · Jul 15, 2017

<blockquote class="spPostEmbedQuote">wolfound said 
So, you want to be a mail carrier? Great….start at the bottom become a Rural Carrier Associate! And maybe, if you are lucky, you will advance to becoming a regular carrier. But don’t hold your breath.

How would you like to work every Saturday, every Monday that follows a major holiday when the work load is the heaviest?

Then become an RCA!

You will do the exact same job as the person you are substituting for, but make less than half the pay they do… how great is that?

You get no benefits, no sick leave, and no vacation time. Who needs that anyway?

You become a slave to your phone, because you have to always be available at a moment’s notice to fill in for someone that “just didn’t feel like coming to work today.” Only 3 denials to work and you’re fired!

You can’t plan anything; you can’t go anywhere, because you just might be needed to “fill in” on a route you are clueless about.

You get off every holiday, but don’t expect to get paid for it. Ever.

You will instantly be able to be two places at once! Because you will get blamed and thrown under the shame bus for every mis-delivery, every mis-sorted or misplaced piece of mail even if you are nowhere near it when it is misdirected!

If you’re lucky enough to be assigned a vehicle, it will be old, and broken. Don’t expect heat in the winter, coolness in the blazing heat…you’re shown how to drive it safely, but secretly allowed to drive like a NASCAR race driver, because you are given impossible deadlines. You can expect to send that truck to vehicle maintenance monthly, and you may or may not ever get it back. The replacement they give you to drive will last about a day, before the transmission falls out.

If you drive your own car, expect to put on new brakes every 1000 miles, replace the transmission annually, and scratch, scrape dent and ding it beyond recognition. You have to extra insurance on it, because it is a vehicle for hire while you deliver mail from it and your insurance agent is just going to laugh when you ask for tort insurance. Oh, the Post Office will pay you for every mile you drive it for them, but it just barely covers what it costs YOU to drive it.

You have Union Rep, and pay dues. But he ain’t gonna help you. You are a lowly substitute. Your dues go to pay for his trips to the state and national conventions! While he lives it up, you cover his route. Your reward? A contract that does nothing to protect you at all. A contract that barely even recognizes your existence.

Yes siree! If this sounds like the kind of unfair, lowly slave- like job for you…then by all means…apply today. </blockquote>
" Yes siree! ..." Pretty good lil rant.... <img title="Laugh" alt="Laugh" src="https://www.ruralmailtalk.ruralinfo.net/wp-content/sp-resources/forum-smileys/sf-laugh.gif" />

The Wolf has fallen silent... so out of character... what happened??? <img title="Confused" alt="Confused" src="https://www.ruralmailtalk.ruralinfo.net/wp-content/sp-resources/forum-smileys/sf-confused.gif" />

H.Guders · Jul 21, 2017

<blockquote class="spPostEmbedQuote">12345 said 

As a sub I never expected or wanted thanks from the regular for working. That was what I was hired for. I just did not want to be bitched at to much if I could not work for a legitimate reason. We regulars would like subs that are not interested in working on short notice or the crappy days to quit so someone that really needs or wants the position can have the slot. A sub might be on the books but if they happen to be managements pet they do not work when it is not convenient for them. They want to maintain seniority but not work.

Sometimes the old grump in the office that cannot handle his route is the only person actually not willing to cut corners so it just seems that he cannot handle the route. He probably refuses to work off the clock, doesn't finger the mail between boxes, does the scanning at the proper location, and actually stops at stop signs. He may just be getting old but since he did not make full time when he was young he just needs to keep working. I would guess he does not enjoy being around you any more than you like being around him. </blockquote>
This is not your office's kindly old nice guy playing by the books. My office has that guy too. The point of my post was to illuminate to the person asking that in some offices you will have that one fellow who is unwilling to cooperate, and part of his idea of noncooperation is to go slow. Trust me when he has somewhere to be he can be just as fast as anyone else. The only fingering of the mail he does is when he is sneaking handfuls of his DPS into your trays for when he shows up an hour early every day on the smallest route, and waits for his chance to run to management when you find it and try and give it back. Some coworkers are active participants in trying to get everyone else canned. Because our guy does that. Did manage to have a camera running that watches your mail before you even get to the office? Well you have no evidence then, and are ignored.

Such people do exist in this service and we all know you can't get rid of them. But those of us playing by the rules have to be careful. When does this guy step up his antics? When he really wants to get the subs fired, what's his next step up?

The actual work of being an RCA can take some getting used to, and it becomes pretty nice. Coworkers and Management are the real wildcards. One coworker watches you get harassed, you'll be amazed how often they'll say nothing happened just to avoid being slowed down on their rush through the day.

You can also wind up with the guy that sings 80's songs all day and is a mobile jukebox. We've got that guy too.