Last week Dead Tree Edition reported on the US Postal Service’s plans to hire 125,000 non-career employees in FY 2016. The USPS says it needs to hire that many “to maintain the appropriate levels”.

Why? because many of the new non-career employees end up quitting. The document referred to in the Dead Tree article says that the attrition rate for non-career employees doubled last fiscal year, to nearly 40%.

The attrition rate was highest among City Carrier Assistants, the non-career, lower paid position created by the last (arbitrated) city carrier contract. CCAs have an attrition rate of 54.24%, meaning that on average, most don’t last a year before quitting.

Attrition rates in other crafts’ non-career complement were somewhat lower, but still reflect a net loss of roughly one in three non-career employees last year: Rural Part-time (RCA) = 30.10%, Postal Support Employees (PSE) = 36.60%, Mail Handler Assistant (MHA)= 29.86%, and Casuals =68.4%.

The USPS admits that “Recruiting for City Carrier Assistants (CCAs) is a challenge in some regions due the physical nature of the position and extreme outdoor environments, as well as local economic conditions.” Which raises the question: if it’s hard to recruit CCAs, and most that are hired end up quitting, is the non-career strategy really viable in the long run?

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