Put the phrase "U.S. Postal Service now hiring" into a Google search online and you come up with what seems like good news if you're looking for a job in this tough economic climate.
A sponsored link on the results page proclaims: "USPS Jobs, Now Hiring." Click on that and a new page, featuring a smiling woman with a bundle of mail in her hands, describes the jobs as having "full federal benefits" and "paid training."
"No experience necessary!" it goes on to say for jobs as window clerks, mail carriers and other positions. "Operators standing by."
But the operators are not with the postal service. And open job positions, according to the U.S. Postal Service, currently are a rarity.
"We're offering voluntary, early retirement to about 160,000 employees," said Gerald McKiernan, a spokesman for the postal service.
Although some jobs might become available, McKiernan hadn't heard of any lately.
"It would be clearly inconsistent for us to be offering voluntary retirement on one hand and hiring on the other," he said.
The Federal Trade Commission announced this month that it had brought civil charges against Tyler Long, registered owner of the site.
Long's company, Access Business Services in Norcross, Ga., offers a training course for about $130 that is supposed to prepare people for a USPS employment exam.
The FTC charged in U.S. District Court in Atlanta that Long's operation has "advertised falsely that postal jobs paying an average of $20 per hour or $57,000 per year are available," according to an agency statement.
The FTC also charged that advertisements for Long's companies were "deceiving consumers into buying materials they thought would help them get federal postal jobs."
In July, a restraining order was issued by the federal court prohibiting Long from advertising that postal jobs were available, or that he and his companies are "connected with, affiliated with or endorsed by the United States Postal Service."
In a written statement, Robert Gerardo, chief financial officer of Access Business Services, said: "The company is continuing to negotiate with the FTC in an attempt to resolve all of the FTC's complaints and remains optimistic that it will be able to do so."
The company declined to comment further while the court action is ongoing.
