The Postal Service, like all government organizations, offers excellent employee benefit programs. For many people this alone will make a career with the Postal Service attractive enough to leave their present jobs. For those unemployed or underemployed, the permanent career position and pay is enticing enough. The benefit package is an extra bonus.

Vacation Time

Your leave time will be assigned on the basis of your length of service. Please look at the chart below.

Days leave per year	Length of Service
13 days	less than 3 years
20 days	3-15 years
26 days	15 years or over

Life Insurance
Term life insurance with an equal amount of accidental health and dismemberment insurance. Your life insurance amount will rise with your base rate.

Health Insurance
Postal Service will pay 75% of your group premium rate, leaving you with only 25% of this premium taken out of your paycheck.

Cash For Suggestions
You can earn cash incentives by placing money or time saving ideas in a suggestion box.

Training & Career Development

Liberal Retirement Program
No minimum or maximum age limits.

• 10% Deferential Pay For Evening Work
• Opportunity For Advancement
• Nine Paid Holidays Per Year

Postal clerks usually work in clean, well-ventilated, and well-lit buildings. However, other conditions vary according to work assignments and the type of labor saving machinery available. In small post offices, mail handlers use hand trucks to move heavy mail sacks from one part of the building to another and clerks may sort mail by hand. In large post offices and mail processing centers, chutes and conveyors move the mail, and much of the sorting is done by machines. Despite the use of automated equipment, the work of mail handlers and postal clerks can be physically demanding. These workers are usually on their feet, reaching for sacks and trays of mail or placing packages and bundles into sacks and trays.

Mail handlers and distribution clerks may become bored with the routine of moving and sorting mail. Many work at night or on weekends because most large post offices process mail around the clock, and the largest volume of mail is sorted during the evening and night shifts.

Window clerks, on the other hand, have a greater variety of duties, frequent contact with the public, and rarely have to work at night. However, they may have to deal with upset customers, and they are held accountable for the assigned stock of stamps and for postal funds.

Most carriers begin work early in the morning, in some cases as early as 4 a.m. if they have routes in the business district. A carrier's schedule has its advantages, however: Carriers who begin work early in the morning are through by early afternoon, and they spend most of the day on their own, relatively free from direct supervision.

Carriers spend most of their time outdoors, and deliver mail in all kinds of weather. Even those who drive often must walk when making deliveries and must lift heavy sacks of parcel post items when loading their vehicles. In addition, carriers always must be cautious of potential hazards on their routes.