My husband has a memory like an Elephant and he swears he can remember Twice Daily Delivery from the postman. I Googled it after reading about the Postal Service considering doing away with Saturday delivery. There it was in black and white, the USPS had twice daily delivery until it was discontinued in 1950!Lots of things have changed in my lifetime, and I see big leaps over the last few years with the Internet playing a huge roll in how we use the Post Office. We not only pay our bills online but most of us use email, Facebook or My Space to keep in touch with family. Years ago you could count on a letter from both Grandma's and Aunt Joy arriving in the little black mailbox on our front porch. Yep, that's right...it was attached to the brick underneath the porch light and the mailman walked the route with a big leather bag full of letters and even packages. Wonder how much they made in 1950 for that job? According to WikiAnswers.com, the typical carrier now has a starting pay rate of $19.00/ hour, and about $23.15/ hour after 3 years. That's roughly $53,000 a year. City letter carriers are paid HOURLY, Rural Carriers ARE NOT Hourly. They make considerably less than city carriers, and usually have much longer routes, do not get USPS vehicles, must purchase their own right-hand-drive vehicle (and pay for maintenance and fuel), and do not get USPS uniforms. They are paid by a quarterly evaluation of the amount of mail on their route, or what's called a "piece count." Their mail is counted every day for one week, an average is established for the month, and a formula is used to determine their pay.
City carriers are the much more desirable position. They are hourly, the maximum pay rate is currently $27.31 per hour, and time and a half OT is paid for anything over 8 hours per day, or 40 hours per week. The pay and benefits are excellent, considering no formal experience or education is required. The medical insurance is probably the best you can get since it's US Government issued.
Temps, or TE's (transitional employees) start at around 18.61/hour and do not get benefits, and have no guarantee of permanent employment.
*By the way, the picture on this post is from 1910, not the 50's!
Hmm, they make more than teachers in some districts! I guess it is dogs fs. kids. haha!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Lorilee
yep, i used to know my mailman (never a woman).
ReplyDeletei knew my butcher and the man (never a woman) who was the checker at A & P.
things have definitely changed...some for the better; some maybe not so much.
So interesting, all of the things you detailed for us today. Yep, times are changing. I totally expect our small town post office will be eliminated with the cuts that may come by the end of the year. It is very sad - I know the faces well, and would sure miss them.
ReplyDeleteCute little guy! Thats so interesting...I didn't know that..that was the year I was born. Things are a changing aren't they! Come say hi :D
ReplyDeletei have a blollging friend from northern tennessee>>>>>this is how you get to jhonson, you go to boone north carolina and then through the mountains to highway{i forget} she is 67 alone goes by the name of missy and seems to be as hillbilly as you can get>>>are you anything like that, or are you just plain normaalllll??????
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading this. My post today also has to do with the post office. My grandfather was the postmaster in Lewisville, Arkansas, for as long as I knew him until he retired. Great trip down memory lane.
ReplyDeleteYou know what? I remember that too!
ReplyDeletePretty soon we'll be lucky to get mail once a week.
Hey - - - if that cuts down on the unsolicited junk mail, I'm all for it! Hehehehehehe
This is my first visit to your blog. Yes, I do remember mail delivery twice a day! The good ol' days when people actually wrote letters and pen pals were in. I loved it.....
ReplyDeleteJerri
Joy.. I used to know my mailman.. now it's a different driver every other day.. sort like getting stuck with the short stick all the time. Some days it come very early and other days late.. so a twice a day delivery is out of the question for me.
ReplyDeletewith love,
Olivia