Letter carriers of yesteryear on grandfathered contracts get paid really well with great benefits and more than a fair pension. This practice stopped a long time ago.
A letter carrier hired today goes through some real ******** before being put on full time. When they do, their package isn't that great but still better than a minimum wage job and if you don't have many skills, you can do this gig pretty well if you are a conscientious person.
You are paid for what CP, through some means of mathematics, has deemed your route worth. They literally measure every metre and figure how long it would take on an average day to do your job. If they figure your job is a 6 hr per day/5 days per week and is worth $30k per year, that is what you earn. That is it, that is all...no overtime, no extra wages, no bonus structure and just this week you would have received your holiday 'bonus' which is an envelope full of coupons. Better than nothing but really not that nice to have given to you once you give it some thought.
In order to be part of this illustrious society, you have to supply your own vehicle (contract calls for a minivan but many do without and come Christmas it is nearly impossible to do without). Pay for your fuel, maintenance, insurance (min $2 million liability). If your car breaks down, you are expected to rent a vehicle out of pocket and get your *** to work. So if you have half a brain, you don't use a piece of **** to do your job.
If your route is 30Km round trip per day, that milage is factored into your annual wage. So for time and machine you make about $30 odd thousand per year. Now think, objectively and without prejudice, is that letter carrier fairly compensated?
Let's add a little more information. This is Christmas time and the parcel numbers are very high. My wife had nearly 200 parcels this past Monday. Of course they are varying sizes but nevertheless they don't all fit in one vehicle so she had to reload twice. Her route is a 6 hour route and about 30km round trip. It seldom takes her less than 6 hours to do her job and usually takes more. I can tell you first hand, she is far from lazy and will make every attempt to go to the door - she knows how painful it is to have to go to the local retail outlet. Knows most of her regulars by first name and will take a moment to ask about their day or their ill spouse. On Monday it took her 11 hours and 2 loads to do her job. She lost money that day, again on Tuesday and Wednesday. When I say 'lost money' after expenses and unpaid overtime she worked for far less than minimum wage. This will be all of December by the way.
Not a pity party, just the truth of the matter. She chooses to go to work so for CP and can leave at any time so I am not asking for pity for her, just asking you to consider understanding what these 'lazy ****ers' give you before you call them down to the lowest.
The advantages to working for CP...despite some belief, they are not going out of business so you know you will have a job tomorrow. Their union is worth **** and is run by spineless ****ers that are in it for their own benefit so count that **** out but at least they get basic benefits which is usually a bit better than a lot of private companies can afford to offer. You are to some extent your own boss. As long as you are getting the job done, you are left to your own.
As for not being able to get fired...really guys!? Do you realize how difficult it is for an employer to fire an employee at any company? It is the same at CP. Every call made to the station against a letter carrier is followed through to the end and the carriers are guilty until proven innocent. My wife had one household call every day for weeks saying that their mail wasn't delivered. Her boss rode her like a rented mule about it until she took her boss by her ear to the community mailbox to show her a mailbox stuffed full of mail. The household owner lost their key and thought they would have to pay for a new key so conjured up this petty ******** to get some attention.
In short, it really isn't a fairly compensated work environment. If you had a choice to do any job at all and make $30k per year but have about $11k in expenses meaning you net $19K per year after taxes to give more than 40 hours a week of your time, would you do it?
" we used to say. That kind of work builds character. Look at me now:laughing7:
