TL; DR? No.
First of all, let me begin by saying that I *really wanted this job... until I got the job.
If you're looking to be treated like a piece of dookie for $19.86/hr, be my guest.
Position reviewed: Relief/On-Call Letter Carrier.
All new hires are "casual/on-call". NO ONE is hired full-time. NO ONE. You could get 1 call/week, you could 2 or 3 or more, it all depends on the work-load - but it's not consistent, even during a strike. Also, God forbid you have another job and can't answer the phone when they call, because they will call again, and again, and again. I have been told in no uncertain terms that if I'm not available, to not answer the phone; however, you'd think that answering the phone and saying you're not available (because you're working your other job, for example) is acceptable, but you'd be wrong. Dead wrong; and management will react like a scorned lover if you do this. Don't believe me? Apply for this job.
--> It took my high-school friend TEN YEARS to get hired full-time.
No one is your friend, **especially not management (supervisors). Trust no one, not even the Union steward; and while you're "sort of" protected by the union as a casual, you're not fully protected until you've completed 480 hours, and that could take ... six months, if not more.
During my second week, when I was shadowing, the carrier who was supposed to shadow me called in sick both days. Coincidentally he showed up the rest of the week. I think not. I was ins
The reviews here don't reflect the actual RSMC OCRE (on call relief) positions. Be sure to read the right reviews for a clear picture of how awful it is. I'm not sure how Canada Post gets away with it. Low pay, long hours, heavy parcel load, unmaintained sloppy routes to cover, slow to support, quick to discipline, stressful and overwhelming.
The OCRE position is a hoop that must be jumped through before obtaining a route or full employment.
RSMC OCRE's are expected to complete the sorting, tie out and delivery of mail and parcels when the route owner calls in sick or needs coverage. Not all route owners keep their route in good shape. Those are the routes you'll be working on and you'll only be compensated at 85% of the lowest route value. So if the route value is $21,000 - $25,000 you'll get paid at 85% of $21,000 (calculated at a daily route value... and good luck finding that out!). You will be slower than the route owner and any route issues will slow you down further (issues include boxes without numbers or hidden in grasses, keys that don't work well, locks you can't open, sorting mail issues like improperly addressed mail and directional errors etc.). The longer it takes you the less you get paid. Managers cover their own butts instead of listening to their employees and fixing the problem routes so their RSMC OCRE's can succeed. On my second call in after training I worked 12.5 hours on a route under extreme anxiety and felt like a complete failure not being able t
Points positifsSome extremely nice and hardworking and helpful people work alongside you.
Points négatifsMany, Pay inequity, Paid at 85% of lowest route value and work longer hours than route owner, Pay is unknown until paystub, Mail routes full of issues slow you down even more making your wage less and less for a harder route, "Too bad for you" management mindset, Quick to blame and discipline staff, Customers call you "Lazy" when they don't get their parcels to the door, Made to feel incompetent, A job where the common phrase is "Don't get overwhelmed" should tingle your spidy senses
It gets better as you gain experience and seniority.
It gets better as you gain experience and seniority. Unlike most work places, you are given the most difficult jobs when you start and the easier jobs as you gain experience and seniority.
Most likely you will start as an OCR (On call Relief) - No benefits. Since you have no seniority when you start you will only be called when there is work that more senior OCR decline. This means that you would only deliver large, heavy and overflow packages from various route owners. (paid by the packages delivered plus mileage). Occasionally you will be called to do a route (mail + ads + packages) for a specific area on the same day due to a route owner calling in sick on that day. A route is paid on a flat rate regardless of volume for that day. You will also only be paid 85% of what a route owner would get paid for their route. Be expected to get spotty work for at least the first 6 month. You will not be able to support yourself if you don’t have a second source of income.
Postal routes are not created equally. Some routes are more difficult than others and pay will vary from route to route. If you are doing a route for the first time be expected to take a significant amount of extra time to find the Community Mailboxes or to understand where and how to deliver to business, apartment, condo complexes or retirement homes. You will also have to sort the ads that day (most route owner will sort the day before). In addition, since you are at the lowest seniority, you are likely doing a lon
My experiences for the Letter carrier (On-call temporary relief) hiring process: Initially applied online to Canada post career website with resume and personal info, waited about 1 month before getting email response from HR with bunch of preliminary questions, such about attended recent job fair, oncall unsteady work hours acceptable or not (eg. 6am to 6pm, mon~fri). Also have to Pay $12 for uncertified provincial driver abstract, and ready to present reference letter from friend/neighbor coworker/boss who is not be a relative and known for more than 2 years
The got invited onsite interview about 2 weeks after the initial email. Interview questions: what skills value at customer service position? (eg. communication, professionalism); what to do if water spill?
After interview, got fingerprint taken and address security check form on site, then waited 2 more weeks before having to take a physical test on site.
Physical test: measusring heart beat & blod pressure, lifting box of about 30kg to 2 levels of higher shelves, extended bend-down 5 minutes, runnning 3 rounds of 14 laps of back-and-forth across the room and some small stairs while carrying heavy backpack ,sorting 3-box of letters test...etc.
Then got notified by HR of passing the physical test in the same day, filled out more personal info and tax forms, with offer letter that is conditional of passing the 15 weekdays (7am to 3pm) of on-site driver training and tests, which is scheduled about 2 weeks later. But th
Points positifsHelpful teammates, emphasis on safety first, some supervisors are chill and relaxing to deal with no too much work pressure
Points négatifsLong wait, lack of job security and benefits for newcomers, heavily senority based, big corporate breacracy inefficency
As an On-Call Relief Mail Service courier, I never know if or when I'll be working on any given day. But when I do get to work, I really enjoy it!
The main tasks of a Mail Service courier (MSC) are parcel delivery (residential and commercial), commercial pick-ups (daily and on-demand), and Retail Post Office (RPO) and Street Letter Box (SLB) clearances.
On a typical day, I get a call from the Transportation Staffing Supervisor and am offered one or more routes to cover. I accept a route and am told when it starts. I go to the Calgary Mail Processing Plant (CMPP), clock in, gather all of my things (Truck logbook, Portable Data Terminal, keys, windshield washer fluid, Delivery Notice Cards, and special instructions) and proceed to my assigned vehicle. I do a walk around of the vehicle and note the mileage and any damages in the truck logbook; checking the gas gauge to see if I need to stop at a gas station at some point in the day. I review my Parcel Manifest to set up my delivery route. Once I've checked that I can see what I need to in my rear view mirrors and adjusted them, I set out to my first address for parcel delivery. Some days I'll simply do deliveries. On other routes, after I've done my parcel deliveries, I'll proceed to my first assigned commercial pick-up and follow a set route based on pick-up times until they're completed. At 17:00, it's time to perform the RPO and SLB clearances. Once those are completed, I'll drive back to the CMPP and drop off parcels a
Points positifsFun, challenging job that get me working outside.
Points négatifsI only know I'll be working if I get a call on any given day, so it's hard to plan my personal life around that.
Pros: Canada Post provide great compensation to employees
Cons:
1. Just because you are hired does not mean you will be working.
Most employees with seniority less than 1.5 years are most likely benched (In GTA), which means that you will not be making any money.
2. You have to stay as a temporary employee for at least 4 ~ 5 years before you become a part-time employee. Temporary employees do not have any benefit, vacation pay, nor sick leave. You cannot even take vacation without pay without approval from your supervisors, even if you book the vacation a month ahead.
3. People think Canada Post employees automatically receive 7 weeks of vacation as soon as they are hired. Canada Post employees are entitled to have 4 weeks of vacation (~20 hrs paid/week) if they gain part-time status (again... it will take around 4~5 years).
4. Management staffs are uneducated. Most management employees, including supervisors, superintendent, and managers are fresh off the street, without any corporate knowledge. Usually they are just high school graduates and rarely college graduates.
Most of them lack ethics and morals. This is because Canada Post has strong military background system, where it is norm to abuse employees. Bullying at work does not always mean that it shall involve physical abusement. In Canada Post, most supervisors lack management skills, and since they are very unethical and uneducated, they tend to abuse their power. Since they have the title "Super
Depending on your position your day will start off usually around 8 am (I am term or "on call" so my day is 8-4) if you were lucky enough to get a call in the first place.
More than a few times I've come in, sat in the lunch room for 3 hours and was sent home with 3 hours pay due to "no work" which I do not believe to be true, there was always something to do if you looked hard enough.. also, you are assigned to work based on your seniority (your hire date) so if you're new like me, don't expect to work much.
If you were called in and got to work, your job consisted of gathering the mail from several different locations around the depot, sorting the mail into a case, then you had to sort flyers which, depending on your route and volume of flyers that day, could take anywhere from 15 minutes to 1.5 hours. After that, you are responsible for gathering little packets and large parcels. Typical volume will be around 35-40 packets and parcels per day, however some unlucky folk like myself have been on routes with more than 130 packages total. This is not something I would wish on my worst enemy as a day like that leads to a lot of new people quitting.
Let's talk about Management. Your supervisors, if you can call them that, basically walk around shouting at the top of their lungs, loving the sound of their own voices, chastising you for things you haven't even done yet or never will do.
Every day I have reported to Canada Post I have seen at minimum one or two inte
Points positifsexcercise, working outdoor
Points négatifsterrible management, working outdoors
Supervisors experience cultural challenges that are NOT normal in any other work environment. If you're coming from the outside, progressive world, you will struggle. Management practices and day-to-day operational processes are archaic, inefficient, counterproductive, and lead to low employee morale and poor customer service. Your energy will be drained just trying to adjust and navigate.
Blunt rudeness, disrespect, nepotism and harassment toward Supervisors and amongst employees are experienced on a regular basis. You'll either be observing it or directly involved. You'll be told not to take it personally and to let it roll off you. One of the most common pieces of advice offered from all sides is to trust no one and keep your back to the wall. You will constantly question if you can, and should, put yourself through it. You'll be pushed to constantly feel like you need to defend yourself.
Management likes to blame the toxic environment on past military management styles but fails to look at their current practices that go hand-in-hand with the toxicity. This organization's culture has a direct, measurable impact on their frontline leaders' performance and the Supervisor turn-over rate is very high. It's simply not a sustainable role.
You'll be told that your workload will be over-structured, and you'll never be able to get everything done in a day, but will be negatively evaluated when you don't complete it all. Most times you will accomplish monumental amounts of
Canada Post can be a great place depending on what you want out of life
Like any other industry there are positives and negatives with this job. What I did was general labor, at times strenuous and depending on the department relaxed and slow. Letter carrying can be quite a challenge, but if you like to be challenged go for it. It can be enjoyable but it can also be overwhelming.
The key to working at Canada Post in any of the plants is to work smart, so as not to cause any repetitive type strain injuries or any injury for that matter. In other words, do not over exert yourself and do try to get assistance lifting anything heavy and take your time. You will learn ways in which you can minimize strains while working there, but you may be seen as lazy by some. The important thing is to protect your health and well being. Do your part, an honest days work, but find ways to minimize the strain.
There is room for advancement as supervisors are always needed and from there you can climb the ladder and get into other areas of administration. Supervisors though, are caught in the middle between a unionized workforce and trying to give upper management the numbers they want.
One of the nicer things about Canada post is a half decent pay rate and ok benefits. The pay is good for unskilled labor even though the current starting rate is lower that those who have been there longer. The benefits are also 1/2 decent. It is nice to have paid sick time and vacation as well as health coverages such as dental and prescription. Some of these coverages could be b
Points positifsunionized, ok pay, some 1/2 decent benefits, some paid sick days, opportunities for advancement
Points négatifsmonotonous, can be hard, heavy and hard on the body
Physically demanding workplace specially during the winter season.
TL;DR - Good job if you want a job that you can retire to but it is physically demanding because you see a lot of letter carriers in the company for 15-30 years with knee problems
Good job if you're settled and want to be set up for the rest of your life. Just keep in mind that it is physically demanding. You're expected to walk 20,000 to 30,000 steps depending on your route. It is very hard, confusing and stressful to newer letter carriers.
Everything will get better as soon as you get your own route (which may take years). Getting your own route is a difficult task. You have to become a term(temporary) letter carrier($19/hour) for at least a year which means you don't have set amount of hours and be on-call. And also, they expect you to finish 8 hours worth of work for a full-timer doing the route for years within 8 hours as well. Expect to be on term for at least 8 months.
After being on-call, you will be full-time letter carrier($21/hour) which means you have 40 hrs a week with a decent wage but 1/3 of it will be taken from you because of CPP, union dues, benefits, and taxes. Being a full-time letter carrier is not much different from terms because everything is based on seniority. You are not able to get the route that you want unless you have at least 5 years of seniority.
Typical day as a letter carrier(temporary worker)
1. get a call around 6 am to where and when you're coming in
2. Come in, given a route you've never done and expected to be finished without help
Points positifsUnionized, Stable, Above minimum pay, Good for people who wants to settle
Points négatifsStarting will be terrible, Supervisors are hard to talk to Physically Demanding, Can't be anything more than a letter carrier (so no higher position for higher pay), Corporate, Letter Carriers, and the Union are always arguing
Questions et réponses au sujet de l'entreprise Canada Post
Vos supérieurs sont-ils facilement abordables chez Canada Post?
Posée le 26 mars 2017
I find it very discouraging in the fact that there is very little job advancement opportunities in the smaller communities for rural route drivers.
Réponse du 17 févr. 2021
Take a step back and actually look at the route...how many days of mail are you asking them to deliver...should you be giving themsome extra help...should you be telling them they will be paid for overtime...should you be telling them to come back at the end of their shift because you will not pay them overtime. You are management your job is to manage not sit back and complain when things are not done. Support and manage that is your job!
Réponse du 16 janv. 2021
À quelle fréquence bénéficiiez-vous d'une augmentation de salaire chez Canada Post?
Posée le 7 nov. 2022
Yearly
Réponse du 3 juin 2023
Every year
Réponse du 1 juin 2023
Comment se déroule le processus de promotion chez Canada Post?
Posée le 9 nov. 2022
You must apply and interview for any available jobs , there is no promotion available
Réponse du 1 juin 2023
Nonexistent
Réponse du 24 mai 2023
Quels sont les avantages proposés par Canada Post?
Posée le 9 févr. 2021
All benefits
Réponse du 1 juin 2023
Dental medical massage
Réponse du 23 mai 2023
Why did you leave your job at Canada Post?
Posée le 26 mars 2017
The management at this job made me suicidal with aggressive and dishonest behavior and abusive attitudes. I tried to make complaints through the official channels and ended up being prevented from working for over 4 months while they string me along. When returning to work I received a review journaling all the abuse I had dealt with, but with me as the guilty party. I can't count the times that it made me sick how they treat people here. They don't pay you enough for the behaviour of your superiors, no matter how much they smile and pretend to be your friends.
Réponse du 24 févr. 2020
I retired after 28 years. Loved my job, for the most part. But woud like to return as a term employee, however Canada Post, contrary to other government jobs,( and yes, I am well aware that as a corporation they have the right to do things contrary to other government departments,) I do not qualify as I am receuvibg a pension from them. They would rather train someone (only 4 hours paid by the way) then leave them to run a one person Post Office by the seat of their pants! Doesn't sound like good management practices to me. It WAS a great company in its time but it is top heavy now and serves its CEO and board members first and its customers last.
