Postal service hiring 1,000 workers in WA. Tri-Cities job fair can hook you up

The U.S. Postal Service will hold a job fair in the Tri-Cities as it seeks 1,000 new workers in Washington amid widespread complaints about mail delivery.

The Pasco event is 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Feb. 24, at the Pasco Post Office, 3500 W. Court St.

Other hiring fairs have been held in Everett and Tacoma.

Appointments are not necessary. Applicants must be 18 or over and able to pass drug screens and a criminal background check. There is an “urgent” need for mail handlers, clerks and mail carriers, it said.

Training is provided and positions are also available in Kennewick and Richland. About 300 postal workers serve the Tri-Cities, said Kim Frum, regional spokeswoman.

The USPS career site does not list jobs specific to the Tri-Cities. Generally, the postal service offers starting pay of $19-$20 an hour, as well as benefits, for carriers.

Delivery complaints

The hiring spree comes after Tri-Citians voiced frustration about slow and confusing local delivery, echoing national complaints about the postal service.

At Christmas, local residents told the Tri-City Herald they sometimes went days days without receiving mail and that deliveries didn’t always match up with alerts they received through the USPS informed delivery system.

Packages that were supposed to be “out for delivery” wouldn’t arrive for days.

Frum said the postal service is not immune from staffing and hiring challenges, even after the holidays receded and mail volumes leveled off.

“That includes in the Tri-Cities,” she said.

She said the postal service sometimes shifts employees across the state to match local workloads.

“The employees we have ‘borrowed’ are usually new to the area and don’t know the routes as well as the regular carriers. In some cases, not all deliveries may be made. But all mail in these instances is sent out the next day to complete delivery.”

Delivery delays

The postal service does not track local delivery statistics.

This week, it said deliveries across the nation averaged 2.5 days in mid-February. Between Jan. 1 and Feb. 10, about 91% of first-class mail was delivered on time, 94% of marketing materials were delivered on time and 86.2% of periodicals were delivered on time.

Timeliness is measured against USPS service standards of 1-5 days for first-class mail, 3-10 for marketing mail and 3-9 for periodicals.

The postal service reported a $1 billion loss on $21.4 billion in revenue in the first quarter of the 2023 federal fiscal year, which spanned Oct. 1-Dec. 31, 2022.

It handled more than 33.5 billion pieces of mail, including packages, which was down about 5% from the same quarter the prior year.

Mele Ball, president of the Pasco branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers, called working for the post office a “rewarding career” that serves her and her family well.

“I am proud to be a letter carrier, working for/with the USPS, that brings every citizen its birthday cards from loved ones, the medicines they need, the treasured packages they have ordered, plus much more,” she said.

Laptops will be available during the Feb. 24 job fair to help with on-site applications.

Go to usps.com/careers for job postings, which are updated on alternating Tuesdays.