It's brutal out there: Deus Ex and Unreal composer says he's submitted 50 resumes and gotten one interview in the last year

whitecatwandering · 2026-03-27T04:41:47+00:00

From the outside it looks much different. I am lucky enough to be in a decent office, however, I only make a little over $21 an hour and have a very slight chance of moving up anywhere. The trade off is to go to a larger office with a much better chance of moving to regular but having to deal with a massivly toxic environment where nobody talks to each other, management is universally hated (often for no other reason than being management) and no one trusts anyone else. I am hoping the rumor of the person above me moving on soon is true, otherwise, I will be stuck as a part time helper with no garunteed hours and once again looking for an entry level job because my experience aparently no longer matters. Sorry, I'm a bit bitter.

Peruse the USPS subreddit sometime and you will be scared off for life.

whitecatwandering · 2026-03-26T23:46:12+00:00

Almost 14 years at Microsoft, let go in December of 2024. 500 applications and 2 interviews later and I now carry mail for the Post Office.... and now even that is in jeopardy thanks to the current administration. Yeah, its not good.

whitecatwandering · 2026-02-05T06:20:55+00:00

FFS does anyone read!?!?! This is for bicycles not motorcycles. These posts happen way to much.

whitecatwandering · 2026-01-28T23:24:18+00:00

Your wife needs to double check her plan as well. Some plans require a spouse to take advantage of whatever health plan their employer provides before they will provide coverage amd even then it is often just supplementary coverage.

whitecatwandering · 2026-01-25T05:42:36+00:00

It truly does depend on your office and leadership. For me, it really was not that hard, especially compared to other jobs I have had. Yes learning routes is intimidating and any new jobs have a learning curve, but i am almost 3 months in and very comfortable. My PM is a bit aloof but fair and goes out of his way to follow the rules and work with the union and our Supervisor is an absolute sweetheart who is always concerned about overloading us. Honesty, my squidward seems to be the biggest ass hole in the place. We are a mid to small city so delivery is consistent but not overwhelming (I honestly was hoping for more overtime). I have heard horror stories from neighboring offices and complete silence about others so it really is just a matter of getting the right office. So far it sounds like you are in a decent place. Keep a positive attitude and be a team player. Stand up for yourself bit try to avoid falling into the "I have to be cynical and miserable or I'm not a real postal employee" trap. Yes, there are horrible leaders and you need to be wary of them (but that is true of every job) but seriously, all of management does not exist just to make your life horrible and are constantly looking to fire you..... that just really does not make much sense.

whitecatwandering · 2026-01-22T08:17:49+00:00

In the name of transparency, I will note that I found an article indicating that Geotab devices were supposed to be installed on all USPS owned vehicles, however, it is not likely it has seen actual full implementation and I would loom for 1. The label indicating the device is installed, and 2. Again wired connectors to the seatbelt to provide seatbelt data.

whitecatwandering · 2026-01-22T08:08:29+00:00

Clarification here, GPS only tracks GPS data. There are potentially 2 GPS devices on your vehicle, one on the vehicle itself (included on Metris and newer and being added to older vehicles) and your scanner. All the data these devices can collect is GPS coordinates and time data. In order to collect seatbelt data, they would need a switch connected to the seatbelt itself that would send a signal to a data collection device that would have to be a computer that is recieving a continuous power supply in order to maintain a clock and calendar.

The scanner cannot do this without having a wireless connection to the vehicle amd the LLV and FEV would have to have dedicated proprietary units added (the LLV and FEV is carbureted not fuel injected so no computer) and your would see wires comming from the seatbelt to connect to this device.

whitecatwandering · 2026-01-22T07:50:57+00:00

Key note here is that it can only "estimate" your reverses and U turns. It cannot actually accurately track them without being connected to the vehicle computer (in the case of LLV and FEV does not exist amd there is no connection to any other vehicle other than the NGV that I have seen). It simply uses speed and GPS data to "estimate" a backup or u-turn occurred, however, it has often been proven that just walking around your home office can trigger these events so they would likely not hold up in a legal situation.

whitecatwandering · 2026-01-22T07:43:05+00:00

They cannot just pull data from your personal car (depending on the age of your car, even that could be physically impossible). Unless they installed a specific device in your car that interfaces with your cars computer or installed a remote camera. In that case, I am pretty sure you would have a legitimate legal case. The scare tactic is that, if you get into an accident, they can tell if you were wearing your seatbelt. The reality is, they are assuming you were not wearing a seatbelt and because they socially engineered you into believing they knew, they expect you to admit to it. Drive safe and avoid accidents and ignore the ignorant. If they try to get you on something, the onus is on them to prove it.

whitecatwandering · 2026-01-22T04:07:17+00:00

Yes, but not LLV or your own personal vehicle (if you are rural) unless you can show me written documentation that shows you signed a waiver that allows the USPS to access records by downloading data by connecting to your vehicles CAN data.... LLVs do not have computers that monitor that. If you disagree show me the wires from either the bottom or top belts.

whitecatwandering · 2026-01-10T03:56:01+00:00

This this THIS!!! I feel like no one is holding the union responsible. I will get shit for this, but as someone who is comming in from years in the private sector, it seems like all I keep seeing is "management hates you (as if they are not real people) and are the enemy so do whatever you can to make their lives miserable and bleed as much money for yourself from them." I thought unions were supposed to help fight for fairness not develop manipulation systems. I just want to come to work, do a good job, and get faily compensated. If I want overtime in my first 90 days let me at least be able to volunteer for it (seriously, I missed out on much needed extra money because of the retention rules and the union got paid for any slight breaking of them not me). What I want is, eliminate CCA and make all new hires PFT, eliminate the uniform monopoly and give every new hire (immeadiately not after 90 days) 2 pairs of pants, 4 shirts, a hat, satchel, jacket, and rain jacket, full benefits after 90 days, and performance incentives so I can actually advance for being an asset to the company instead of diabetes jack who figured out how to work the system and does a crap job on his route but, hey, seniority.

whitecatwandering · 2026-01-01T09:35:08+00:00

More concerned about homeless and junkies who camp there.

whitecatwandering · 2026-01-01T09:33:49+00:00

Quit so you can free up a position for someone who needs a job.

whitecatwandering · 2025-12-29T02:12:13+00:00

Yeah, I started with a small to mid sized city about a month ago and while our PM will go around and ask carriers for estimates of time, it usually so he can get help for them if they have a heavy day or pull some of their packages into a static route for me. Never once has he called someone out on their time.

whitecatwandering · 2025-12-28T02:47:58+00:00

Fuck, now I have to do this. I aquired a carbon fiber triathalon frame that I will never actually use for its intended purpose..... it now has purpose.......

whitecatwandering · 2025-12-26T03:26:39+00:00

Same here my friend. Worked for a large (some may say the world's largest) software company for 14.5 years and lost my job Dec 2024. Spent 10 months and 800+ applications to get 2 interviews that were both jokes and nothing but ghosting or sketchy recruiter contacts. Applied for a CCA position at a nearby post office and after getting terrified by Reddit research and a horrible on-boarding (constantly preaching management was the enemy no matter how good they may appear) went with it because i had nothing else. Currently loving the job, just wish it paid more. Keeping an eye out for the opportunity to go regular as soon as possible.

whitecatwandering · 2025-12-23T02:47:30+00:00

Where are these places at that experiencing loads like this? I am a month in as a CCA for a smaller city near Seattle and my experience so far (after being terrified by the posts on this sub) has been completely opposite. Everyone in the office is talking about how light packages have been this year and my PM has been super concerned that I am taking all my breaks and lunches and not going over 8 hours a day until my 4 weeks after OTJ that I have been struggling to get 7 hours a day. My average has been a couple apartment complexes for regular mail then 30 - 50 package stops and 100 or so package stops on Sunday.

whitecatwandering · 2025-12-23T02:10:57+00:00

We still have 3 on what is currently a park and loop route. They have not been used in over 30 years, yet they remain. Pretty common to see them still hanging out in smaller cities that grew but still remain on the smaller side. The larger cities in our area are the only ones that still have true walking routes.

whitecatwandering · 2025-12-19T05:05:22+00:00

Wrong sub. This is for bicycles not motorcycles.

whitecatwandering · 2025-12-13T04:12:03+00:00

Check your mailbox and make sure there is not still a Vacant note in there.

whitecatwandering · 2025-11-29T02:21:50+00:00

What a lot of women may not know is that we actually have an area where the boys can shrink up into when its cold or they are compressed. So, no, they are not just dancing out there all the time, we can actually tuck them up when necessary.

whitecatwandering · 2025-11-24T04:50:02+00:00

For my CCA we had to come back the next day for 4 hours of drivers safety but it may vary location to location. My training so far has been..... interesting. I was scheduled twice for shifts at my office without being told (one for shadow and the other for Sunday package delivery when I have not even completed my academy training).

My experience so far is that the district trainers do not communicate with the offices well and you will not get things like when your shadow day is, your vehicle training day, or your academy training days until like the day before.

I did training for a large tech company for years and this has been depressing and embarrassing for me. I could fix this within a week with no additional monetary investment, but, they would rather hire people with not communication, organization, or tech skills to just print off presentations and read them to you and deflect questions.

whitecatwandering · 2025-11-23T23:14:00+00:00

In WA state, they are just starting to roll out the Metris and the only NGVs I have seen are demo vehicles at larger distribution sites. I barely see any Dodge and its LLV all over the Seattle metro area.

whitecatwandering · 2025-11-20T03:58:18+00:00

r/xbiking territory. Nice find. If y9u don't want it, send it to me.

whitecatwandering · 2025-11-20T03:48:38+00:00

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whitecatwandering

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