Working at US Postal Service in Fredericksburg, VA: 2 Employee Job Reviews by Real Employee working in Fredericksburg, VA Area

"In an attempt to understand the deterioration of the United States Post Office, one can look directly at the treatment of their associates: specifically, the Rural Carrier Associates (RCA). While I have a personal interest in the way business is handled when it comes to the RCAs, I will do my best to maintain objectiveness. However, I was emotionally vested in the USPS because I believed in the rhetoric when I was hired as an RCA. According to Indeed website, there are approximately 1,104 RCAs in the United States; which means this will make little to no impact within the USPS. However, I hope it will reach enough people to influence a few people who are interested in applying for the position. I will endeavor not to be Machiavellian with this observation. This is a direct observation within the Richmond, Virginia district, so my lens is limited in a small pool of the USPS. Nonetheless, if my experience with the USPS in the Richmond district is a reflection of how the rest of the USPS runs as a company, then it is likely there will be a significant change in how people receive their mail because the post office is going to fail. The position as a Rural Carrier Associate is a better than average pay position. I do not have any complaints about the pay. However, there is a serious flaw in how RCAs are paid. While City Carrier Associates CCAs use a standard electronic time clock, Rural Carriers and RCAs use a timesheet to track their hours. It is the responsibility of management and supervisors to maintain the integrity of the hours RCAs work. Unlike the time clock, the timesheet is a seriously flawed system when it comes to keeping track of RCA hours. Rural carriers have fixed routes and their hours rarely fluctuate. RCAs do not have the luxury of staying on one route, which means time sheets, handwritten times, are supposed to be tracked by management. Unfortunately, there has been a consistent problem with payroll for RCAs."