I can see NOBODY wants to be a rural carrier any more. All want time clock, city rules, the chance to offload as much of your day's work as you can sell the delivery supervisor. We have some level of freedom now, at least many of us still manage our mail and sometimes beat our times. Instead of fighting for a fairer evaluation, whether that be in or out of RRECS, seems all are too tired, want to cave in, become city carriers. So y'all can slow down to minimum standard, can't really be disciplined and get to go home at 8 hours on the nose, leaving the rest of your route or work to someone else, who cares. I've worked both in multiple offices, and for me, no thanks. As I mentioned before, I'm a dinosaur, and island, outdated, old school.
Mail count
- Thread starter She mails rural
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I keep forgetting that a majority of my experience is in the private sector, where part of my job managed this kinda stuff, and with a single database, with security levels, it was effective and efficient. In government, rarely does anything used in the private side work, as government has a different mindset, different reporting relationships, and different objectives.
They just think they'd rather be city side (hourly), been there done that and so glad I changed....
Agree. Completely. Also been there done that. I have watched the daily battles, stress, push, harassment, limitless technicalities with clock rings and stationary events etc and I want no part of the continual monitoring by the minute they receive.
There should be the ability for those carriers who's work has exceeded their evaluations to be re-evaluated so they're fairly compensated for the work they do. We all are under, or over, each day or week when we're FAIRLY evaluated. Our current system is not all that bad, though some modifications would be necessary (parcel times mainly). I'm not confident in RRECS that we will all generally be good with it.
With fair evaluations -- really fair, not skewed to our or PO benefit -- my guess is nobody would be aching to be hourly city.
WestCoastRural
Well-known member
Under the current evaluation system we don’t deliver parcels to the front door. We deliver to the mailboxes. It’s not written in the count guide that we are required to deliver to the front door that I am aware of.
It’s written in the PO 603, we are required to take it to the front door. That’s a direct order from management. Shouldn’t we be compensated for extra work?
The primary modifications I'd make to the current system:
For parcel delivery to the door, and accurate reflection of the number of parcels we deliver. This can still be done averaging over a couple of weeks. It's really fairly simple to measure to the door and take averages over time.
Modify WHEN we could count, instead of national counts or opt outs, I'd perhaps require a count if a route is over or under two hours (hour and half, whatever) each day for an average 90 days consecutive. This protects both carrier and management from the routes being more fair. I would also allow a carrier ONLY to initiate a count once in every 18 months. Period. If the carrier wants a count every year and a half, it's a count. No management input.
I'm open to other ideas. I think this covers the two main issues carriers face today working without being paid. We rural carriers are OK NOT being paid for a day or three but being UNDER evaluated the same number of days. Evaluation and salary are good, as long as the average is a REAL average that treats all fairly. If parcel counts go up or down, there's not much time a carrier has to work for free, or get paid for not working, until they can count.
Clearly I'm in dreamland, will never happen, but seems like a quick and equitable fix without even messing with RRECS. We carriers generate our own data, credible and accurate, and that's what our routes are based upon.
WestCoastRural
Well-known member
I agree that measuring over two weeks would give an acceptable average. It also means we have to abandon our parcel measurements and adopt the city’s measurement to ensure fairness. Two weeks of route inspection per route is unacceptable due to lack of resources and time. They would do one day inspection and measure the distance from vehicle to front door and back. Use this day average as the standard.
If the PO took this path and by default all routes would go up to their true valuations. As a result, I believed RRECS is in such a limbo. There’s no rush to implement anything that would benefit the rural carriers since we doing it for free. This is where the union failed us in defining what a rural route is. If you ask a hundred carriers you will get a hundred different answers.
Windindaface
Well-known member
2 week counts are not accurate. Selective counts are BS. They spent the $s for RRECS. Money that could have been better spent on 2 National counts for 1 month 2 times a year. Include December and some other random month in the year. It's now a Covid Christmas all year long with parcels.
From what I have witnessed as a long time L runner that I bid and won. As the only L in those times of yearly National counts, only I was given the option to opt out. All others were counted. As the rest of runs became L's and National counts those runs were only counted 1 time to verify L status. After that those runs were also given the option of opt outs. All opted out. The only run counted in my office was the AUX.
They can't tuck and hide the mail for a month for all routes. A 2 week count at the end of the month is fine and dandy for some. But for many it costs us dollars.
JS... in the first two weeks of any chosen month many offices get entire coverage for gas, electric, credit card, cable bills and perhaps water/ sewage. The majority of those bills paid we pick up as outgoing prior to count. I delivered gas and electric bills today to my 700+ customers.
From what I have witnessed as a long time L runner that I bid and won. As the only L in those times of yearly National counts, only I was given the option to opt out. All others were counted. As the rest of runs became L's and National counts those runs were only counted 1 time to verify L status. After that those runs were also given the option of opt outs. All opted out. The only run counted in my office was the AUX.
They can't tuck and hide the mail for a month for all routes. A 2 week count at the end of the month is fine and dandy for some. But for many it costs us dollars.
JS... in the first two weeks of any chosen month many offices get entire coverage for gas, electric, credit card, cable bills and perhaps water/ sewage. The majority of those bills paid we pick up as outgoing prior to count. I delivered gas and electric bills today to my 700+ customers.
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Additional comment, to clarify:
All counts proposed above would be for 30 days. The only exception could be parcel door measurement which could be accomplished in a slightly shorter time, as that's not a "count" but a "measurement." 30 days to cover the differences for each of us on the first or last of the month.
I've reread this a dozen times, and although it won't ever happen (far too fair to all, would give carriers far too much control which would petrify management) it would keep both carrier and management honest. I've been a route counter a few times and it's not difficult or time consuming. The added cost to the PO would come back to them by eliminating most overtime by sizing the routes accurately.
Old Fart et al -- " All counts proposed above would be for 30 days."
-- With a handle like that, you should remember back when national mail counts alternated between 24 and 12 days in Septembers in the 1990's.
-- Even earlier than that, rural carriers actually counted their own mail. So much for a "trust' factor between manglement and carriers.
-- Then things began to change. First came Wells switch to FEB-MAR time frame for counts.
-- Then alternating 2- and 3-week counts ( proposed by the NRLCA and accepted by Clarke ) instead of 2- and 4- week counts.
-- Most would agree that 4-week counts in September were best for rural carriers.
-- With a handle like that, you should remember back when national mail counts alternated between 24 and 12 days in Septembers in the 1990's.
-- Even earlier than that, rural carriers actually counted their own mail. So much for a "trust' factor between manglement and carriers.
-- Then things began to change. First came Wells switch to FEB-MAR time frame for counts.
-- Then alternating 2- and 3-week counts ( proposed by the NRLCA and accepted by Clarke ) instead of 2- and 4- week counts.
-- Most would agree that 4-week counts in September were best for rural carriers.
