Pros
To be fair, the Post Office will test your abilities and fortitude when it comes to working in this kind of business. I like thinking about the many times I delivered mail the day after a federal holiday, which is an o.k. perk to have federal holidays off to some degree, on a Tuesday with box holders and in a rainstorm! The crazy part: I still came back the very next day for more. In a way, you will learn about yourself and what you can do. The salary is o.k. if you can get the hours to back it up. $18.50/hr can be the equivalent of minimal wage if you're only guaranteed one day a week, even if you're also compensated for fuel from EMA. It's also great to deliver mail in a postal vehicle instead of your own car. Although, I should point out that not all locations at USPS have LLVs, which is the case of this station in Odessa. If you are a hard and dedicated worker, you will have the respect of some of the older veteran regular carriers. Not only will they back you up when you can and WILL be in a bind, but will offer excellent tips on how to perform your duties effectively.
Cons
Where do you begin? The biggest problem with being a substitute carrier is that your always on-call. You can forget about trying to make plans far in advance. Your office will call you in at the last possible minute for you to run a route, but to add for a little levity it always seems to happen when you commit to something. By the way, management almost never calls you to let you know that the schedule has changed and what route that you're on. You have to call them find out at the beginning, the middle, AND at the end of every week to cover yourself to avoid an "Investigative Interview", also known as an interrogation. There's almost no way to get a second job to support yourself without either burning out or the second job conflicting with the Post Office. Management has no sympathy on this matter. They want you working for them well into the evening and into your second job. If your job presents a problem to them, they will make you choose to either work for USPS or resign, regardless of how long you worked for them and your dedication to the job. As mentioned before, not all offices have vehicles that you can use. Which means you will be required to use your personal vehicle to deliver the mail. You will tear up your vehicle delivering mail. You will spend more money regardless of what compensation you get from USPS on maintenance, insurance, and fuel for your car delivering mail. Plus, the only time you start getting benefits is when you make it to career level, which would be regular carriers and above. No life or health insurance for you. And then there's the concern about management. Probably, the poorest and soulless collection of snollygosters, popinjays, and ninnyhammers I have ever had the displeasure of serving under. I have seen them spend more time at my station standing around talking about their vacations and their social life, than actually doing there job. Rather than call in additional help from another office, an RCA would appreciate that, they would prefer to over burden all the substitutes by splitting routes. Rules constantly change here in the Odessa Post Office depending on the time of the month. You'll find yourself already in breech of another rule that was added to your office within 24 hours after you left for the day without even trying. It does not matter how long you worked at the post office, management will treat you like you've been working there for a couple of weeks and berate you as such. No such thing as praise for your hard work in this office. Plenty of criticism to spread around and none of which are constructive. It seems the only time management is interested in talking to you is if you've done something wrong, which I guess is a good heads up especially when you see a union representative waiting to take a statement as your called to the carpet.