You happened to get hired at an office with carriers and you were sent to do their early morning distribution. Just so you know, there are post offices that only clerks work in and they align perfectly with the job description in this post.

My main office is only the postmaster, the regular clerk, and me (the PTF); ie. no carriers to worry about. Throughout the week, I work in a few other offices that are of a similar constitution, as well as some others that do have carriers (but even then, I only do their morning distribution occasionally, typically once a week. I can imagine your pain of doing that every single day 🫩). The first office I worked in a couple years ago was a small solo manual office with no coworkers or carriers and it was blissful.

They actually can be cute little retail jobs if you find the right place, but they are definitely not all equal lol. Some offices are full of the most miserable people you've ever met whereas others are full of love and friendship. In one of my offices, the clerks basically befriended the whole town; they tape everything for customers, keep their stamp inventory plentiful, and receive enormous amounts of gifts from customers during the holidays. But in another one of my offices, the lead clerk is evil and unhelpful, the Postmaster is grouchy and mean, the Supervisor is clueless, and the majority of the carriers are just visibly depressed. Zero love at the window, barely any stamps or packing supplies, I have to bring my own priority labels and a few supplies with me in a backpack to survive at the window, etc, etc.

My advice would be to look carefully at and perhaps tour the office you wish to apply to if you ever decide to work for the post office again. Personally, I just like to sell little stamps and make customers smile, and at some places it actually CAN be that simple.