5 Things to consider when buying Postal Uniforms

Postal Uniforms USA has been a licensed postal uniforms vendor for over 30 years. Over this period of time we’ve seen a lot of changes in our industry, and we’ve certainly seen the amount of Postal Uniform vendors dwindle. As of today there are less than 160 licensed postal uniform vendors active in the country. So what should you look for when trying to decide where to spend your postal uniform allowance? Here are some critical things you need to be aware of:

1.  Who is the manufacturer? Looking at postal uniform posts on various postal forums, many letter carriers, retail clerks or CCA’s will often times complain about uniform quality. These posts often times make me wonder why nobody ever talks about who’s uniforms they are actually wearing. While manufactures are required to produce postal shirts, jackets and pants to an identical look, some manufactures have different quality controls that get them to their finished product.

Look for high quality union made apparel. We only purchase from Union Line, and Elbeco. These two lines are produced in union shops, by unionized labor, and their Postal Uniforms are of the highest quality. So look at your current manufacturer, if you’re unhappy with the quality you probably aren’t wearing union made apparel.

2.  Postal Uniform pants, know your options. Now that your looking at who actually makes your postal uniform, you should be aware of options especially when it comes to pants. Working with postal employees for 30 years I can tell you that not everyone fit into standard issue postal uniform pants with ease. If you’re having trouble getting a good fit, you should know that the USPS offers a flex-fit option. The new Union Line and Elbeco pants offer a tremendous amount of comfort when compared to the traditional postal uniform pants. Just like a comfortable pair of pants or shorts you’d wear at home, many of our customers have found a tremendous amount of comfort in switching to the flex-fit pants.

3.  Know your Online Postal Uniform vendors return policy: Before you buy make sure you review the stores policy for returns. Many online postal uniform stores do not pay for return shipping. At Postal Uniforms USA, we always stand behind our shipments by offering free shipping on all returns.

4.  Who actually owns the postal uniform store your buying from? The internet can be a great place to help union made apparel shops succeed, however it can also provide “cover” for large companies pretending to be mom and pops. Did you know that Galls uniform operates 8+ postal uniform sites under different names?

We’ve only been selling online for six months, after 30 years of selling exclusively in our store. We were amazed to find that the first page of google is dominated by Galls, who has hidden the fact that they own every “store” on the first page of google. Look at the postal uniform vendor number on any website. You should know who you’re REALLY buying from.

5.  Read Reviews – Just like anything else you purchase online, you MUST read reviews. Try Google Plus, BBB, Yelp, and Facebook for reviews prior to purchasing.

Buying Postal Uniforms Online? Here's what you need to know.

If you’re reading this than you’ve probably already figured out that buying your postal uniforms online will most likely save you 20-35% when compared to visiting a local postal uniform store. Aside from price the other benefits of buying postal uniforms online are:

• Longer business hours
• Dedicated phone support
• Free shipping
• Larger selection of products and sizes
  
  
  
  
  

We’ve taken 1,000’s of calls since we launched our site, and here are the most commonly asked questions when letter carriers, and other USPS employees are getting ready to make their first purchase of postal uniforms online. The most common question we get is “How do I pay for my Uniforms”

How do I pay for my postal uniforms?

Great question. Simply put you have three options:

                 

Use Your Postal Debit Card (Citi Issued) – What’s great about our site is that you can use your postal issued uniform allowance card. This is by far our most popular payment option. Need to know your remaining balance on your card? Just grab your card and call. The number is on the back of the card.

Have a voucher? – No problem. We are the only site today that will allow you to fill up your online shopping cart and submit your order to be paid by voucher. Simply checkout and follow our simple instructions. 

Personal Card? – Have you already spent your allowance? In this case you can use any personal card to pay for your purchases.

Have any more questions? Feel free to call us anytime. 312-242-3336

USPS Postal Uniform Vouchers

Yes! You've finally received your first Postal Uniform Voucher from your Post Office Manager. The question is now what do you do? 

You've come to the right place for answers, and we are happy to help regardless of if you purchase your uniforms from us, or if you choose to go to a physical store.  In many parts of the country the nearest postal uniform store may be 100's of miles away from you. Assuming you don't want to spend an entire day driving to a uniform store, we suggest looking online to use your voucher. 

Depending on your position, you're most likely just received a voucher as a letter carrier or CCA. Postal uniform vouchers are $420 for CCA's &  up to $517 Letter Carriers. This voucher enables you to either walk into a postal uniform store, or save some voucher dollars and spend your voucher online. 

Maximizing your voucher/allowance dollars will be very important early on in your career, as such we recommend purchasing from a online postal uniform vendor as you will save anywhere from 15-30% when compared to walking into a physical uniform store selling postal gear. We've made some great suggestions for your first allowance in a recent blog post.

You will see that most websites selling uniforms require you to print out forms and fax them in along with a copy of your voucher. We found this method to be a pain in A$$, so the good folks at Postal Uniforms USA streamlined the process. 

With our website all you need to do is fill up your shopping cart, and checkout using our exclusive "Offline Checkout" feature. One of our helpful representatives will then email you asking for a picture of your voucher. That's it! It's so simple. 

We've done our best to take a 21'st century approach to postal uniforms, and we hope you appreciate our efforts. We figured that you'll have a hard enough time decieding what to purchase as far as your postal uniform gear, so the least we could do was make processing of your postal uniform voucher painless! 

As always we are here to help seven days a week if you have any questions. Just give us a call. 

Thank you.