Post offices in Santa Monica and across Los Angeles are moving quickly to take on new hires in time for the busy holiday season. But despite the increased urgency as letter and package shipments increase in December, much of the hiring is part of a wider need to increase staffing long term.
As part of the recruitment drive, the U.S. Post Office (USPS) scheduled several job fairs all over the County including an upcoming hiring event in Pacific Palisades on Tuesday, Nov. 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Earlier this fall, the USPS announced an LA-area hiring campaign to fill more than 300 open positions; a large number of those are right here in Santa Monica. The Santa Monica Post Office is looking to immediately take on 225 new employees including 75 permanent positions and 150 seasonal jobs.
The holiday hiring blitz — the USPS set a goal of onboarding more than 28,000 employees nationwide — comes amid an effort to not only shore up delivery services around Christmas and other winter holidays, but is also part of a 10-year plan that Trump-era appointee Postmaster General Louis DeJoy instituted in early 2021 with a goal of achieving financial sustainability.
As part of that plan, some 41,000 part-time employees have been converted to full time status since January of this year. The plan also includes the addition of 137 new package sorting machines, which will work toward the goal of expanding daily package processing capacity to 60 million.
Anyone interested in working for the Post Office in Santa Monica or elsewhere can apply online or during the hiring event in the Palisades; events are scheduled in or near post offices with the highest need. A USPS HR specialist will be on hand to answer any questions.
“They’re rotating the offices they’re having them in,” USPS information officer Natashi Garvins said. “There’s a particular need in those offices, and so this is a boost to try to target that specific area for people in those areas, because they’re hardest to field.” Garvins said the Post Office preferred applicants who live relatively close to the offices they would be based out of, which is why they are rotating locations for job fairs in areas of greatest need.
Garvins said the most in-demand position is letter carriers. If you do apply and qualify for a seasonal position, you could be at work in just a week or two. The hiring process for permanent part-time and full-time positions takes just a bit longer, Garvins described, at two to three weeks. Seasonal positions wind down by the end of the calendar year.
“With the seasonal employees, the hiring process is a lot faster because we eliminate some of the things we require for employees that are training for a long term basis,” Garvins said.
Prospective employees should be “work-minded,” Garvins said. For those seeking permanent positions, the USPS provides a generous benefits package, she continued, and opportunities for advancement.
The USPS sees a huge volume of letters, packages and periodicals during the holiday season.
Last year, between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve 2021, the USPS reported processing more than 13.2 billion letters, cards, flats and packages for delivery — 500 million more than during the holiday season in 2020.
The latest USPS performance update dated Nov. 3 declares “strong performance through October,” with 94.2 percent of marketing mail arriving on time, followed by 92.4 percent of First-Class Mail delivered on time and 86.6 percent of periodicals delivered on time.
emily@smdp.com
Editor's note: This story was updated to clarify that DeJoy, a major Trump campaign donor, was appointed during the Trump Presidency. He was officially appointed by the USPS Board of Governors.
