If something sounds too good to be true, it typically is there for a reason. In this case, the high starting pay is there because you're guaranteed less than 10 hours of work a week and yet are expected to keep your entire work schedule open so that 1-2 times a month they can call you in to do a route you've never done before. Since you're new you're the lowest rung on the latter, which means the extra route hours you do pick up will be the scraps no one else wants. Almost everyone has to work another just to pay basic bills until they hit full time, which on average takes 10 years. Yet management will get mad at you when you mention you have another job that needs your attention, because to them USPS is the only job you should care about, despite making below the poverty line. For rural carriers, no matter how many hours you work, you only make what your route is estimated to take for a carrier that's typically worked 10+ years on that route. In other words, even easy routes will take months before you get close to that estimated time, so the hourly rate will technically be lower then advertised since your route pay will be divided by more hours. This especially hurts during holidays as packages go up but route estimates do not. Overall, I would not recommend this unless you're either a bored, at home parent or a recent high school graduate living with parents that are ok with you mooching for 10 years before you hit full time... assuming it's that quick.
