Electronic Technician Jobs With the U.S. Postal Service

• Nancy Ledgerwood
• January 14, 2022

There are over 2000 occupational codes in the Postal Service’s Position Directory. A number of these positions are in the maintenance field. I use to think of “maintenance” as just being the “cleaning crew”. But it is so much more than that. The USPS has area maintenance technicians, building equipment mechanics, thousands of custodians, electronics technicians, auto mechanics and technicians, and general maintenance mechanics just to name a few of the available maintenance positions.

Fortunately there are promotion opportunities in these departments. A person that works as an automotive mechanic for example could move up to a technician position. They could also be promoted to lead technician or a supervisory position if available and if they meet the qualifications for the promotion.

There are many opportunities for electronic technicians due to the considerable amount of electronic equipment that has to be in full working order 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In 1982, the Postal Service deployed its first flat sorting machine (FSM), the FSM 775. Previously, all flats had been processed manually. With four operators keying in part of the ZIP Code, the FSM 775 could sort about 6,200 flats per hour into 100 bins. The FSM 881, introduced ten years later in 1992, could sort about 10,000 flats per hour with four operators. These were the machines that I worked on at the Kansas City KS General Mail Facility, when I was a PTF clerk. The ET’s had to be available to keep these machines operational so the mail could keep moving and be ready for dispatch at 4:30 am. You can see why ET’s are so valuable to the postal service; the mail could come to a complete halt if the machines like the FSM and Delivery Bar Code Sorters were unable to operate.

I’ll cover a number of the maintenance positions in my column starting with electronic technician. The salary range for an Electronic Technician – PS 10 is $56,150 to $67,156.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Carry out all phases of maintenance, troubleshooting and testing of electronic circuitry used in equipment and systems requiring knowledge of solid-state electronics. Instructs and provides technical support on complex systems and on combinational (hardware/software) or intermittent problems.

• Performs the testing, diagnosis, maintenance and revision work requiring knowledge of solid-state electronics.
• Observes the various equipment and systems in operation and applies appropriate testing and diagnostic methods and procedures to ensure proper operation.
• Locates source of equipment and system failures, rectifies trouble in involved cases or provides instructions to be used by maintenance employees performing repair work.
• Makes or participates with contractor representative or electronic technician in installing or altering equipment and systems as required.
• Makes reports of equipment and system failures, which require corrective action by contractor and follows up to see that appropriate action, is taken.
• Makes preventive maintenance inspections to discover incipient malfunctions and to review the standards of maintenance.
• Recommends changes in preventive maintenance procedures and practices as found to be necessary.
• Programs scheme and/or scheme changes into memory units as requested by management.
• Furnishes pertinent data to superiors and contract employees on operation and testing problems.
• Participates in training programs: classroom, on-the-job, and correspondence, at postal facilities, trade schools and manufacturer’s plants as required. May assist in developing and implementing training programs. Instructs equal or lower level employees as required.
• Observes established safety regulations pertaining to the type of work involved.
• May drive vehicle or utilize other available mode of transportation to work site when necessary.
• Provides technical support to other electronic technicians to resolve complex, combinational (hardware/software) and/or intermittent failures.
• Performs such duties as may be assigned

If interested in any Maintenance position or any other position at the United States Postal Service visit our USPS Job Search Guide and follow the link at the end of the guide to the official USPS jobs site to find job vacancies in your area.

Good luck in your job hunting endeavors.