Just started as a PSE, please help

Work Discussion

Just started as a PSE at a relatively small station in a city with just under 28,000 residents . There is currently 2 clerks , one lead and the other regular, 1 supervisor and 1 postmaster. I was juts hired in as the 3rd PSE. My start time every day is 4:30am Wednesday through Monday only one day off. Mondays are absolute hell but usually one of the other clerks comes in and helps after awhile . Im trying to adjust to doing the whole load everyday by myself , some days im on time and other days it’s so much mail I can’t keep up even if I move at 110% I work usually just under 8 hours almost everyday except Sunday because Sunday is Amazon only. Sundays I only work for about 2 hours max maybe, super easy basically a day off if you don’t mind waking up early. I have window training class coming up here at the end of the month and I just wanna know a few things.

  1. What’s it like working as a PSE once you’re fully window trained ?

Some days I can’t imagine coming in at 4am throwing all the parcels and doing everything a PSE does and then putting on a uniform and working with the public for the next 4 hours after working 7. And After a 2 hour lunch break ….

  1. Will my start time ever change to something more sustainable ?

The 2 clerks I mentioned kinda work the same hours I do but they rotate. one of them will come in at 5:30 and the 2nd will come at 8am (that’s more like it ) and then they rotate every other day while I’m the only constant that always comes in at the same time. We are supposedly getting a new PSE next month so let me know if that will change anything .

  1. If I don’t plan on working here for more than a year or 2, is this job even worth it?

I’m planning on moving out of state hopefully next year , originally I thought I could transfer this job to another state but I learned PSE’s specifically can’t transfer out of state , so that’s really negged me out . I was hoping I didn’t have to go job searching in a completely different state cuz we all know how easy that is🙄.

  1. Will I ever get 2 days off given the time frame I’ve given for how long I see myself working for usps? (I’m sure it’s a laughable question but I genuinely want the truth. )

  2. Can I take a 3-4 day vacation after 90 days?

I wanna plan a little trip around summer time when it’s slow , something like 4 days 3 nights . Is this something that can be accommodated with an extensive 30-60 days notice ? Or will I have to call our sick and line it up with my day off?

Overall , they seem happy with my performance so far , probably because they are super desperate for PSE’s and my supervisor even mentioned to the lead clerk that he possibly might train me to be an assistant but I doubt it.

Thank you for your time and feedback .

Posted Mar 6, 2026, 5:33 PM UTC

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