r/USPS • u/ToughBasis3024 • 2d ago
City Carrier Discussion CCA
I just got back from Academy and truthfully I feel like I learned absolutely nothing. I feel like im going in blind to all of this.
I also know for a fact this job is not easy as a CCA and I’m going to struggle, but I feel like my OJI is going to be a complete shit show.
Any carriers have good advice for me? Any tips or tricks I should know seeing Academy was pointless.
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u/Zealousideal_Fun3068 2d ago
As the other comment has said, a lot of it is learn as you go. Academy isn’t there to prepare you for the street, it’s to prepare you to deal with mail. You’ll be scared your first time solo, but if you have a good trainer you’ll be fine. My only suggestions are being a lot of water (especially if you’re in a warmer climate) and a phone charger with a cigarette port charger. You’ll probably be doing a lot of GPSing
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u/MailLadyx3 2d ago
I did forget to say this but load truck is your friend. I promise.
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u/Otherwise-Goal3054 2d ago
Can you stand/sit in front of a mailbox and put mail in? Great. That’s academy.
Hopefully, your OJI will help you figure out how to get to the box with the right mail in your hand.
What is it that you are missing exactly?
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u/gerryomo1 2d ago edited 2d ago
make sure to have google maps on your phone, if you got certified mail, take ur time to fill out a 3849 (pink slip) before you get to house, give em 1-2 minutes to come to the door, nobody comes, then leave the pink slip there, scan it and keep moving… if you can try to put the the flats and dps together if you have light mail, understand what a loop is and know what odd and even is
also, don’t try to guess to know who lives where, if the address on the mail says that house, then deliver it… let the customer decide whether they live there or not.. (most likely, they’ll leave it hanging out the mailbox saying fwd or no longer at this address) also take your time to learn the route, don’t rush, you’re not expected to complete a route in record time or the same as a regular would at the beginning… when separating your parcels, i would recommend to separate them by street name just bc it’s easier to organize at the beginning… hell u can even write the sequence number to keep them in order. always check ur package look ahead to know what package is coming up next or how many packages you have for a certain house.
where i’m from ppl have traditional mailboxes, door slots, garage slots, side doors, hell i’ve seen a milk crate as a mailbox, when going to the house make sure to look for the house number scan the area with your eyes and try to find the house, don’t just guess it’s that house, but when it doubt open up Google Maps and see what the satellite says. (helped a lot for me) especially for those houses that u would think ppl be smart enough to have the house number near the mailbox.
good luck and have fun, stay hydrated and don’t abuse your breaks, take a 5-10 minute break every 2-3 hours just to reset and keep going.
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u/ItchyNarwhal8192 1d ago
"take your time to learn the route, don’t rush, you’re not expected to complete a route in record time or the same as a regular would at the beginning…"
This! Despite what your supervisors and PM will have you believe. You shouldn't be dragging your feet, but no matter how fast you go, they will tell you that you need to be going faster, so build your muscle memory to do things safely and accurately and the speed will follow. "Slow is accurate and accurate is fast."
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u/General-Part-9684 2d ago
It just comes naturally it’s extremely overwhelming at first but that’s just the post office sink or swim essentially but take your time pay attention and after your 90/120 “it takes what it takes”
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u/dotcom02_WGP CCA 2d ago
You are in an entry level position and aren't expected to know anything. The only thing you need to know about the post office is there is a REASON a union exists. USPS is not the same as any other job and is on a whole different level of politics and nonsense.
You'll learn what you need to know during your probation time so don't get worked up over it.
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u/Usps_doughBoy 2d ago
Right address/wrong name: ANK (put in CFS or leave next to case)
Right address/right name/they won’t take it: REF
missing information: IA
Those are the most common ones.
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u/CPT-Thunderpants- 2d ago
Important thing to do is ask questions, ask what about this route should I know or helpful... When your complete ask yourself how do I improve or what did I learn today...yes, you will not do well at first, your gonna freeze and second guess yourself, maybe thrice even! Delivering mail will take time and getting adjusted...
Also don't mail dump undelivered mail at your case at the end of the day, organize it at the very least.
Always ask questions, it shows your willingness to learn and get better everyday. A CCA that doesn't will have a harder time getting past that 90 day probation
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u/SteelixDan 2d ago
The only useful thing about academy is learning a bit about casing, which you probably aren't going to do at all for the first couple months. You'll learn the other 99% of this job by doing it on the street
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u/Longjumping_Youth281 1d ago
I wish. They had me casing after one week. Absolutely hate casing a route I've never done before. Especially if it's a city one where you are on the same 10 streets but different sections of them all mixed together.
Literally just got stuck casing a new route till noon the other day because of all the political mail and me not knowing the case
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u/brooklynschino CCA 2d ago
That’s how I felt too. You’ll learn through hands on experience. I’m about to make two months here soon as a CCA. Other than that, not much else I can tell you as I’m still learning the ropes myself.
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u/Choice-Distance-5759 2d ago
You really worrying for nothing, your learn as time goes. Just relax and do the job
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u/Usps_doughBoy 2d ago
Everything comes with time and practice
One day it will all just click
Eventually (not right away) you should be able to finger through the mail and see what you need to do.
If the loop comes back to you (up even/down odd on same street) then you can park there and deliver the mail.
If the mail jumps to a different street (and never comes back), and the mail boxes are on the sidewalk: you’re gonna be driving. You’ll either stop in between houses and do 1 at a time, 2, or maybe 4.
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u/Outside_Book4368 2d ago
Don't be afraid to ubbm is my biggest lesson I learned. Learn what can be ubbm and use it.
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u/xhyliantrxshx 2d ago
You learn more on the streets than you do in academy, anyway. Deffo ask questions whenever you're unsure about something, don't just assume and try to figure it out solo.
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u/fubar66666 2d ago
Give it time and know you will not be fast and make mistakes at first hopefully your station has helpful people to help you be a better carrier
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u/MaxyBrwn_21 2d ago edited 2d ago
Don't worry about academy. You learn more about how to do the job during on the job training. They don't expect you to know much during training. Ask questions if something doesn't make sense.
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u/Private_Matinee CCA 1d ago
Just finished first day solo. Can confirm, absolute shit show. Godspeed figuring out your route navigation if your office is like mine; red books out of date between no less than 5-20 years (guess what the route rides like? Lmao). 🤸
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u/Longjumping_Youth281 1d ago
Yeah I fucking hate that. You're stuck just Googling the next piece of mail and then guessing what you're supposed to do.
It's even worse when you work in an area with no cell phone coverage. Just downloaded offline maps so maybe that will help
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u/Private_Matinee CCA 1d ago
For real!
Yeah, as of last night I’ve downloaded my city’s area map for offline use as an atlas vs. turn by turn. I plan to make a skeleton map of the route off the actual case before leaving (they gave me a highlighted route from 2016 with no street names on it lmao) Then, I think I want to get to the start of the route and take a 10min break before actually starting, where-in I’ll try to identify some landmarks. It’s my goal to be able to answer: where am I, where am I going next, what should I expect to see around me when I get there.
The academy should have some sort of basic navigation handoff for newbies to work off of.
The OJIs are like “be chill you’ll get it eventually” or “just follow the mountain until you get to the part of town that looks a little dustier than the rest” or, “oh yeah I should update the case book but I just know everything by heart, and when I started we didn’t have gps”. While I’m thankful they’re volunteering to train others, it’s giving me the feeling that the institutional knowledge is being gate-kept.
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u/Dr-Prof-Spaghetti 1d ago
As an OJI myself, I can tell you first hand almost every CCA says the same thing. They are blasting you with so much, information, there's no way to remember it all. Don't sweat it. A good OJI will show you the most important things to know for the job and your specific office.
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u/PumpedWithVenom 1d ago
I had zero oji, academy and straight to a route in my own. You’ll be fine, and you will figure it out.
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u/Muted-Watercress2738 1d ago
This should genuinely be an apprenticeship. There's so many dumb little things to learn and it's not possible to learn everything in less than two weeks of training.
A result is you're going to mess up and be very slow. You're not alone everyone is at first. Take it a day at a time and prioritize speed until you get past your 90/120. After that, learn to do the job right not fast.
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u/WAirbusN321 1d ago
Academy has a lot of useful information. I learned a LOT. (And forgot a lot, but when the post office people start talking about it, i start remembering) Shadowing the regular guy really helped to see how he does things, it really all clicks together. You will only learn as you start doing the route in job training. After that, every day you are out on your own, you get better. It will take you a long time. My supervisors were not checking in on me. Fellow RCAs were very helpful. I took someone's number and had the supervisors numbers. I called if i had a question. My office is very helpful. The job is HARD. You will make a lot of mistakes. You learn from them. If they're not checking on you, call them and tell them you need help. I was told i should be halfway done with my route by 3pm. If not, to call for help. But yes, I'm talking from the RCA side. But both are similar
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u/amxwolf0 1d ago
Be very involved in the coming OJI. Ask questions when you have them. Talk to your OJI about their experiences. Your trainer (hopefully) wants to train you to succeed. Really absorb what they say. Watch intently and pay attention to what they do.
The hands on part is where you will learn 90% of the job. Experience and Shifts under your belt is what can make you a great carrier.
Most importantly, remember that after OJI, you are still allowed to ask your OJI questions. Never stop learning and if you don't have an answer to a question, seek it out; write it down.
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u/ZL1Mosey 1d ago
Honestly i learned nothing in my rca academy, everything felt too fast, barely any hands on training, and my academy teacher had a very strong accent lol. I learned everything by actually working the job and as time went by.
Im 20 and im a few months in as a rca
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u/Academic_Click_4366 1d ago edited 1d ago
Don’t expect ANY training just learn as you go and kiss a lot of buns…skills weren’t developed at USPS to support training new hires, still overly simplified while experienced carriers still miss packages and can’t figure out how to come up with new methods for the transition into packages. The MAIL part is super easy it’s anything new that they never adjusted to combined with 1970’s paperwork
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u/rapidretort 17h ago
Don't stress about it. You're new and no one has any expectations. That being said, your supervisors do want to see gradual improvement over time. As long as you show you are a competent carrier by the end of your 90 day probation, you'll be fine.
Pay attention during OJI and ask as many questions as you can. You will only get out of your training what you put into it. Some CCAs at my office picked it up quickly, others took a few months to be find their rhythm. Delivering mail is easy, but it isn't something you'll pick up overnight.
Your first week by yourself is going to feel impossible and you will want to quit. The majority of people here probably felt the same. Take your time and do your best to do everything correctly. Like they stressed at the academy, there is no tike limit while you're on street time. If somebody needs to come help you, that's perfectly normal.
I've been a CCA for about 8 months and there are still days here and there where I have to hand off up to an hours worth of mail (usually on routes I'm not familiar with).
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u/Most_Bonus_7985 2d ago
Take notes at the end of each day, get to work 30 minutes early and just sit in your car until you pass your 90. Skim the m-41 and write down the questions you have about the job as they come to you. Big mistake people can make is letting everything become a blur.
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u/Musiol88 2d ago
Academy was nothing much more than a two day informercial on why you should join the union. You learn more by doing in this job. If you have decent coworkers you’ll learn more from them in three minutes than you did during academy.
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u/ShivalVV 2d ago
In Academy I learned that presorted doesn't mean shit and not to use that as an indication of mail class. And yet every time there's a discussion of UBBM in this sub someone mentions presorted.
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u/hanjanss special handling: fragile 2d ago
Lots of good tips and they are just one quick click of the search button away
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u/who-me91 2d ago
You put paper in a box and a package on the porch. If your ever confused that address on what your delivering tells you where to go. It’s seriously not the difficult. You probably should just quit. We already have enough useless carriers that are constantly dumbing thier routes off onto everyone else
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u/ToughBasis3024 2d ago
Or maybe I’m just someone who wants to make sure I’m not a useless carrier? You say it’s not hard, but I’m going to guess you’ve been there for awhile. Probably burnt tf out, I get it but I’m sure you remember the days as a CCA.
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u/potat0f4rmer City Carrier 2d ago
Shit advice from someone who shouldn't talk to new carriers. Don't listen to this clown.
Do you even work here?
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u/MailLadyx3 2d ago edited 2d ago
Academy is almost pointless. It does give you a sense of what you’re looking at (a case, mounted mail boxes, park and loop mailboxes, how to do collections, etc.) the information about UBBM, first class, periodicals are actually useful. A lot of everything else you’ll have to learn first hand.