Poor upper management strangles potential of job, quality of services provided, and possible enjoyment of the job at all
Pros
- Mail Handler Assistant (MHA) jobs are physically demanding, but not technically difficult. - Gloves provided on request - Ear plugs provided on request - Breakroom has microwave meals, sandwiches, snacks, and drinks available for purchase - There is an MHA Union you can join that will provide protections to you starting on your 91st day. They are still a useful organization for leveraging complaints and possible contract violations through even before your 91st day.
Cons
- Night shift, by necessity of how the mail is received and prepped for distribution - Pay is low (18.22/hr + 1/hr for night differential; 70 hours across 2 weeks nets you a little above $1k after Fed taxes.) Unless you're living in some exceptionally poor housing, this will probably not be able to pay both your rent and any remaining bills. This means you'll need another full-time job on top of this one. - Work is repetitive in nature with little variety (Air mail; unload bags and boxes, stack bags, sometimes drive tugs/assist tug drivers, push/pull carts and bins) - Upper management/Plant management over-hired the position and subsequently cut everyone's hours from 8hrs/shift to 6hrs/shift (minimum 4hrs/shift guaranteed in contract), effectively making the job more half-time than full-time. Compounds issue with low pay. - Upper management/Plant management make decisions unilaterally but without talking to one another and without really knowing anyone else's roles within the plant. This results in decisions that make little to no sense and are not thoroughly explained for anyone's benefit. Additionally, other sections' perceptions on mundane things (i.e., team cooking and bringing in food a la potluck style) are used to restrict others from doing said mundane things (our team suddenly was restricted to bringing in food for one another to 1 time a week, seemingly because other sections were upset by it) - Takes 1-2 years to move from contract position to career position at this time; with the above currently happening it seems unlikely anyone would ever stick around long enough to be career USPS.
