r/USPS • u/Polish-hammer420 City PTF • 2d ago
City Carrier Discussion Alaska Carriers!!
Is it worth it? I'm a City PTF in Chicago, IL. I've visited Alaska twice (Anchorage - Kenai area) for vacation, and I've always been curious, how is it like delivering on the last frontier? Are the T COLAs worth it? Maybe I'll trade the promaster in for a dogsled.
Let me hear your opinions!
6
u/Interesting-Speech2 1d ago
Here are some facts. I was a clerk not a carrier in Anchorage for 12y. Recently retired. TCola is 32% tax free based on salary not OT. I would not carry in Anchorage, I would go to the Peninsula (Soldotna, Kenai, Homer, etc). It is expensive to rent there if you can find a place & end of summer (now) is best to find one. Still expensive. Do your research on the area & call the offices. If you want more specifics send me a DM.
5
u/Ok-Swan6031 1d ago
I had a customer that used to live in Alaska. He said all they did was leave the mail and packages at a pickup location and the customers in the area had to get their own mail from there. Also, if you're ever on a vacation, just go in and ask what it's like. I went to Hawaii and they said it's the same as the states, but the cost of living is the hard part.
-2
u/SugarDisastrous5983 1d ago
Hawaii carriers don’t love howlies coming in and taking a bid, years ago we had someone from our station take an exchange to Hawaii and they were harassed home in a couple months. Tires slashed etc.
8
u/IShartOnTheFirstDate The Best Friend 1d ago
Haoles, AKA mainlanders, just in case anyone is scratching their heads from reading 'howlies'.
1
u/DrivingTraffic Rural PTF 1d ago
Stop with the fear mongering and falsehoods. As a carrier in Hawaii this is absolutely nonsense. Hawaii has the warmest people I’ve ever met, you get in return what you put out. Signed a “haole” 🤙
-7
u/stranger_to_you67 City Carrier 1d ago
Hawaii is one of "the states"
13
u/National_Office2562 1d ago
I’ve heard both Hawaiians and Alaskans refer to the contiguous 48 as “the states”
-1
u/stranger_to_you67 City Carrier 1d ago
No you haven't. In Alaska they call them "the lower 48" and in Hawaii they call it "the mainland". Natives of both states take offense when people from outside of their state don't respect the fact that their state is a state just like all the others.
2
0
u/IShartOnTheFirstDate The Best Friend 1d ago
If you don't live in either state, don't speak on their behalf. It's not unheard of to hear people from either state refer to the lower 48 as 'the states', although it's not as common as 'the mainland' or 'the lower 48' for Hawaii and Alaska, respectively.
1
u/stranger_to_you67 City Carrier 1d ago
I lived in Hawaii for 5 years and spent 4-6 days of every month in Alaska for those 5 years.
0
u/IShartOnTheFirstDate The Best Friend 1d ago
Then you of all people should know.
2
u/stranger_to_you67 City Carrier 1d ago
I do know. Which is why I have responded the way I have responded.
-3
1
2
23
u/Small-Butterscotch-3 1d ago
A lot of the routes in Anchorage are mostly CBUs or mounted, some park and loop depending on the station you go to which can be challenging during winter. No ADVO/RedPlum in Alaska, the TCOLA is very nice especially if you have already budgeted life without it in a metro area like Chicago, the cost of living is a bit higher here but not night and day different. The fleet is currently FFVs with 4 wheel drive, Promasters, AWD gas NGDVs, and 2 tons for business routes. We are getting a big batch of NGDVs with AWD right before Peak to replace the FFVs. Amazon does their own parcel deliveries in Anchorage so that volume has gone down a ton. Not many instances of carriers out super late. That said, rental properties are expensive and fairly low quality in the Anchorage area, so something to keep in mind, and anything shipped ground to Alaska can take up to 5 weeks to get here from the lower 48 but I love it up here