What is a Transitional post office employee?

Question

What is a Transitional post office employee?

Answer 1

There are TEs through out the Post Office. TE Carriers, TE Clerks etc.

A TE fills a position that is considered to be impacted by automated mail handling. Int he case of a Carrier, perhaps a Carrier retired, and DPS (Delivery Point Sequencing) is slated to come to that PO in 2 years. Rather than post the route for a career Carrier to bid on, and then subsequently have the route eliminated, a TE fills the route until such time as it is indeed eliminated.

For Clerks, a good example is when the REC (Remote Encoding Centers) were introduced. There were many of these facilities across the country. However, it was known that the ability of the Optical Character Readers to decipher handwritten address was going to improve. Initially all REC employees were TE's. It was known that these jobs were going to be eliminated by the improved automation.

It is possible to obtain a Career Position from TE status. But not every TE is offered the chance to take the test. So, once the term is up, you will be looking for work again.

Answer 2

A transitional employee, or TE, is a city carrier at the very bottom.  As far as I know you do not have to take the exam to be a TE as with a TRC, Temporary Rural Carrier.  After a year you will be required to take a 1 week break and if they choose the post office can bring you back as a TE for another year or decide that they no longer need you.  I was a TRC for 2 years, after I took the test I was moved up to an RCA, Rural Carrier Associate.  Basically the same concept with TE's.