How to get paid for raw mail

The plant, for the past few days has seen fit to send trays of raw mail instead of DPS. Do we get paid differently to sort this mess and, if so, how?

Easy fix that always gets results.......Fill out the paperwork for a DPS review because of your percentage of raw mail vs total dps has risen. Mgt hates that, can’t disregard it, and trust me, rather than compensate you, the processing facility, will have your mail in PRISTINE condition, ( both quality and quantity )

sinister minister -- "The plant, for the past few days has seen fit to send trays of raw mail instead of DPS. Do we get paid differently to sort this mess and, if so, how?"

-- Yes, you get paid differently -- BUT -- only if you bring it to manglement's attention. (like putting a tray of raw mail on the supervisor's desk )

-- Drag out the PO-603, Section 541.41 - Additional compensation. ( for DPS problems ). The formula is included. Note: different minutes per piece rates for POV and LLV users.

-- As "Shafted" noted, ask for a Formal DPS Review. There are two: Quality and Quantity.

-- I believe you can only ask for one or the other for a Formal Review. Anyone??

-- And ask for it BEFORE NOON, as manglement has to get the ball rolling that day. After noon, then manglement work on it the next day.

-- Search for "review" in RI's KNOWLEDGEBASE Section. Forms included.

-- The July 2014 issue of the national magazine addressed DPS Letters Formal Review Process in the Question Box section. The issue should be available at the NRLCA site - inside - under "archive" in the Magazine section.

-- A successful ( from your point ) could add 2 to 3 hours to your route's evaluation, so if you are at 45 or 46 hours - tread carefully!

-- No idea if the following posts made it from the last migration:

August 2017 -- "maybe a little hidden positive?" in the "Just for fun" section

January 2017 -- "DPS review" in the General Discussion section

-- BTW -- both authors recommend requesting a QUANTITY review as QUALITY reviews are more easily corrected. ( never having done one, I'll bow to their recommendation )

-- good luck

A DPS review in this season of instance of days after XMAS to the first few days of the new year might not be merited. The processing plants are more than likely running thin on bodies this time of year like every craft in this season. A simple notification to management is all it should take for the few days involved to adjust your pay.They do the math for proper compensation.

As an old school REG I enjoy these days of RAW. Flashback to the days when it was all RAW and beating them at their game under current rules and times of then and today.

Asking for a DPS review would be best when the plant is "thin on bodies". It is not the rural carriers responsibility to "fix" the problems the plant has doing their job by doing it for them. They are paid to do THEIR jobs as we are paid to do ours. I have never seen any plant employees come to my office to help me when I was having a busy day, and we aren't paid to "help" them do THEIR jobs. DPS reviews are our tool to "help" plant managers DO THEIR JOB. Asking for a quantity review will force those managers to run all the mail through the DPS machines and not short cut it to rural carriers (they don't give extra raw mail to city carriers, that costs the USPS money) or maintain the machines in the same way they were during our last count. If you notice that your DPS mail has returned to its proper quality, you can always cancel the review.

But what should you do if you only get trays of raw mail here or there and mainly on days after the holiday? Asking for a review won't help because it will be fine the next day. Are we just supposed to suck it up?

If you ask for a DPS review every time it happens, your manager will find a way to make that problem "go away". When a rural carrier asks for a review, heads roll. The sectional district manager will talk to your district, plant and office managers. DPS will be cleaned up, and in my office any large amounts of raw that should have been in Dps are returned to the plant with a note to the plant manager to explain why this wasn't run. If your plant really can't keep up the quantity/quality of your DPS during your review, you could increase your route hours by 2-3 hours. I've done this twice, it is very satisfying to be working a low 45-k and be paid for a 48-k for several months until the next possible count, which is currently September.

I worked five years as a dual appointment as an RCA in the early 1990’s, running DPS and flats nights. You wouldn’t believe the reasons for shitty DPS. 9 times out of ten its because of mgts bad decisions, and shortcuts. Sometimes because of lack of machine maintenance, jams etc. DPS reviews definitely get attention haha, and not the positive type for the mgt overseeing the tour haha. It’s the equivalent of being called out, and shamed by your boss. And FYI, your presort carrier route flats that “aren’t”, are getting deliberately broken open and run on the flat sorting machines because some sneaky ass boss wants to make his run time numbers. I ran those machines too. If some supervisor deliberately did that, and had cages pushed over to the flat sorter that were presort, the second he walked away, I would deliberately idle the machine, and retag the cages that were not supposed to be run, and have a mail handler haul them away to where they are SUPPOSED to go haha. It actually made run time worse, than better because of the idle time. It was never an issue after a few tries, because basically he knew I called him out at this little game, and him even admitting we had words about it was equivalent to him being caught doing the naughty boss routine. You give these losers enough rope, and they usually hang themselves.

They have been dumping trays of letter mail on the flat sorting machine APARENTLY because they are folded over and jam in the DPS machine.
This rises my Raw Mail percentage way above what it was during the last count.
Which review, Quality or Quantity, covers the percentage of Raw Letter Mail to DPS Letter Mail ?

Go for quantity

DPS reviews do not care if letters are folded over and jam machines. If they jam machines now they should have jammed machines during your last count also, but most likely didn't. A quantity Dps review (quality reviews are easy for them to fix during a 2 week review) requires the plant to run the same or higher % of DPS to raw letters as they did during your last count for a 2 week period. All raw letters are counted (pull outs from Dps, 3-m mail (mis-sent,mis-sequenced, mis-sorted), letter size from your hot case, regular letter case, letter size in your parcels/flats, etc) everyday for 2 weeks by your pm/supervisor. Each day is compared to your previous count %, if .01 % lower than your last count it's a failure.
Many plants only work hard at their job during mail counts, and as you have noticed, slack off the rest of the time. After you become known to ask for DPS reviews, your DPS will never, or rarely be disappointing. Managers always try and discourage carriers from asking for a review, because it is extra work for them and they make the list of "problem offices " for their district and sectional (Easten, Western,etc. of the country) district. My manager has become an excellent fighter for perfectly clean DPS for this reason, besides when a carrier wins in a review, all DPS mail received during the last count is converted to "sector segmented " mail which adds 2-3 hours to that route's evsluation. The only time a DPS failed review could be "hurtful" to a carrier is when it causes a route to be placed in "overburdened" status and requires that route to be cut back to a 43-k. Even in those cases the carrier can cancel the review at the 1st or last day and receive no repercussions. Ask for a quantity review, (your manager has 24 hours to get everything in place ,if you ask before 12pm) and sit back and enjoy the turmoil while eating popcorn, it's great fun.

Just to affirm what has been said. I have filed multiple times. It definitely puts them on the radar. Before my monthly mailing gets sent to the plant now, at least two managers are emailed that it is arriving.
I have been on the path to a failed review. I would end up overburdened if I followed through. I simply cancelled the review.

Along this line of discussion, I've had boxholder flats that come in tubs, loose and completely out of order. What would take 30 minutes to case, now takes 3hrs (because they're addressed). Is there any action a person can take on this type of situation?

That plant manager has determined it is better for you to spend that extra time and his flat sorting machine look like it is "of value", as mentioned above by Shafted in his post. It can by corrected by his employees, but not likely. Technically you are receiving what you are paid for because that type of full coverage is "just a flat". The only option for correction would be through your manager, by him calling "foul" on the flat machine manager. The "ifs" involved are if your manager would do it, if the machine manager cared, and if the one handling the flats follows that order. All of these are rare to line up to your advantage, but it is worth a try. Ask for 8127 time for the extra minutes to sort the out of order flats as opposed to the in order, it may work.

Do you have to file a grievance to have the DPS review. I'm not having a problem at this time but I certainly want to know for the future.

@Cliff Clavin - No, you do not. Just make the request.

DPS Reviews | Ruralinfo.net Knowledgebase

The next time you have any problems with your DPS, just ask for the form to request a DPS review. Just say, "I'm going to have to request a review if the plant can't get their act together".They usually say "I can't get that form", that's when you tell them to ask their district manager for one. There will be so much commotion in your office it will make you laugh.

Is that on the generic “rural carrier request to:” form? Print up your own

There is an official form, but i can't find the # right now.