They always have help wanted signs in the little room that I stand in for mail carriers with there own vehicle and insurance for some weird amount of pay. ex. $14.13/Hour
Those are for RCA's (Rural Carrier Associates) contractors, essentially.
But with the Postal Service, it's not like you have a business of your own and get to make decisions based on what makes you money and more profitable.
You are in all actuality an uncompensated employee.
I don't see how the IRS has not delivered a smackdown to the PO regarding this issue, other than the subcontractor contract must be bulletproof.
RCA's are the least respected extension of the PO that cover areas of service the PO deems too high cost for profitability in providing staffing for fully compensated employees.
The only real perk for RCA's was a vehicle maintenance agreement that defrayed some of the expense in driving hundreds of miles a day, but that has been restructured (I don't know all the details, just that now full maintenance is up the RCA).
Otherwise, the RCA has to follow all postal guidelines, as well as be at the beck & call of the PO's distribution schedule and mail acceptance windows,
as if they were an employee.
With essentially no recourse against demeaning treatment by supervisors like employees have, many RCA's (alot of them) say screw this, and quit,
because (more) frequently they are an unwitting whipping post for inept management having a bad day.
Sadly, all pressure rolls downhill, and with carriers being at the end of the delivery chain, vacant RCA positions will never be in short supply.
//begin somewhat political rant
It is important to keep our mail system's 6 day delivery intact, and force congress and the USPS to innovate new methods of generating revenue other than focusing on eliminating carriers.
What you may have heard about 5-day delivery, is just that. Delivery. All other functions within the USPS would continue.
The 40,000 jobs eliminated would be carrier positions, many of whose routes are already approaching levels of physical limitation unless you are 25 years old.
The PO has a baby boomers job force, many of which are disabled vets, and the average age of 60+% of the 660,000 USPS employees is 50.
Please write or call your congesspeople and tell them that the communications system Ben Franklin developed to keep the public securely informed is too important to our nation's history, tradition, and infrastructure to undermined by short-term fixes which need long-term vision and solutions for success.
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blmailus1.htm
[SIZE=-1]On July 26, 1775, members of the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, agreed ". . . that a Postmaster General be appointed for the United States,
who shall hold his office at Philadelphia, and shall be allowed a salary of 1,000 dollars per annum . . . ."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]That simple statement signaled the birth of the Post Office Department, the predecessor of the United States Postal Service
and the second oldest department or agency of the present United States of America.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/09/AR2010050903080.html
"The value of going to four days -- removing a second day -- is even greater," he said.
Although no such plans exist, Potter said that Tuesdays are the second-slowest day of the week.
National Association of Letter Carriers:
http://www.nalc.org/
American Postal Workers Union:
http://apwu.org/
Thanks
end somewhat political rant//