In the more than two centuries since USPS® began, it has grown and changed with America. Discovering the history of the Postal Service is a journey into the history of transportation, economics, industrialization, communications, and government.

Today, the Postal Service™ delivers hundreds of millions of messages each day to more than 141 million homes and businesses.

In accordance to section 1006 of title 39, United States Code, Postal Service employees serve under excepted appointments. They do not acquire competitive status or reinstatement eligibility for competitive service jobs. However, by law, they have special noncompetitive appointment eligibility for competitive service jobs.

APPOINTMENT ELIGIBILITY

An agency may give a noncompetitive appointment to an employee of the Postal Career Service who meets all the following conditions:

• The employee's Postal Service appointment has no time limit; and
• Immediately before appointment in the competitive service, the employee served in the Postal Career Service for at least 3 months on a substantially full-time basis or for at least 520 hours if employed less than full time; and
• The employee meets the qualification standard for the position; and
• The employee will be appointed to the competitive service with no break in service from Postal Service employment. An individual who has a break in service of 1 day or more or who takes a temporary appointment in an agency loses appointment eligibility under this authority.

OTHER ELIGIBILITY

Prior to July 1, 1971, Post Office positions were in the competitive service. Employees of the Post Office prior to that date may have served under competitive appointment and may have reinstatement eligibility. Some employees may meet the criteria for both noncompetitive appointment and reinstatement. The hiring agency decides which appointment authority to use.

TENURE AND STATUS UPON APPOINTMENT IN THE COMPETITIVE SERVICE

A person appointed under this authority receives a career-conditional appointment unless he/she has completed the service requirement for career tenure. Substantially continuous service, under a nontemporary appointment in the Postal Career Service immediately preceding appointment is creditable toward acquiring career tenure.

PROBATIONARY PERIOD

A person appointed under this authority must serve a new probationary period. However, service in the Postal Service immediately preceding appointment is creditable toward the completion of the probationary period.

POSTAL RATE COMMISSION

Employees of the Postal Rate Commission also have noncompetitive appointment eligibility for competitive service jobs (section 1006, title 39, United States Code). They must have served in the Postal Rate Commission Career Service for at least 1 year on a substantially continuous basis under an appointment leading to completion of the probationary period in the Postal Rate Commission. Otherwise, the appointment eligibility is the same as for Postal Service employees.

A person appointed under this authority is not required to serve a probationary period in the competitive service.

Ever since Benjamin Franklin was named the first Postmaster General in 1775, the US postal system has been keeping America connected.

At USPS, we value our employees, because we know it's our people who provide customer satisfaction, drive innovation, and ensure our continued success.

If you're ready to join a dynamic, thriving organization with a sense of history and a drive toward the future, we’re ready to hear from you! Visit us at www.usps.gov.

AS OF: 7/28/2006

APPOINTMENT OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES can be printed as it appears on your browser.

It also can be printed as an exact replica of the official publication (EI-29 Appointment of Postal Employees.pdf). Download the file by clicking on the .pdf file name and follow print help instructions below.

PRINT TIPS:

To Print your browser File:

*Prints file as it appears on your browser.
Most web browsers support an option to print the document that is displayed on the screen. Simply choose the option to print the document (usually located under the file option) and then choose the option to print. How the document prints is dependent on the printer you are using.

If you are on a local area network (LAN) then you may need to select a printer before you can print. An option to do this is normally available in the same area that you choose to print a document.

You will also need to make sure that the printer is powered on, is on-line, and has paper available.

To Print an *Adobe Acrobat/PDF files:

*Prints exact replica of official publication.
The Adobe Acrobat reader is a freeware product available from Adobe at http://access.adobe.com. There are versions of the Adobe Acrobat reader for several computer platforms. Click here http://access.adobe.com/ to connect to the Adobe Acrobat site. Once there you can obtain the reader for your computer platform. Follow the instructions on the Adobe site to install the reader on your system. Once you have installed the reader you can view or print files that end in .PDF.

Some browsers will allow you to configure a "helper" application that will load the Adobe Acrobat reader whenever you click on a file that ends in .PDF. Please refer to the instructions that came with your web browser on how to set up or install a "helper" application. The Adobe site also contains instructions on how to do this.

The Windows file manager will also allow you to specify an association so that whenever Windows needs to display a file that ends in .PDF it will load the Adobe Acrobat reader.