May be forced to take DPS to the street

[lbpd16]

We had a talk yesterday about district complaining too many of us are over our eval time. Several of us are getting out past our required time so district seems to think that is the cause of the problem. It was hinted that we may soon be forced to take DPS to the street. While I agree that taking it gets me out alot earlier, I find that once on the street it takes longer because I have DPS to go through as well as a pile of flats, packages in tubs, and sometimes newspapers or other full coverage items.

I don't really think DPS on the street will save any time in the long run. But I could be wrong. Maybe the fine folks in district that havent carried mail in 20 years actually know what they are talking about. (wink wink)

 

[Shafted]

Mid dispatch a few times the first week they force it. It won’t be enforced after that I imagine.

 

[egg250]

I believe the issue, at least in my office, is the late mail truck. Start time is 7:30 and dispatch is 5:30. A route that is evaluated at 9 hours (daily) doesn't have much extra time to make up for a truck that is 2 1/2 hours late. I'm fairly new at this (I'll have a year in come Dec) but taking DPS to the street doesn't necessarily make things go faster. You get out of the office more quickly but it takes longer at each box. You are more prone to miss forwards, mis-sorted mail and make more mistakes. I find that only when the DPS is extremely heavy, is it beneficial (speedwise) to take it to the street. On a normal or somewhat heavy day, it is quicker and more accurate in the long run for me to case everything.

 

[btdtret]

Ibdp16 et al -- [ forced to take DPS to the streets ]

-- First of all, taking DPS is an art form that takes a while to develop a "system". And even longer if using a POV.

-- Don't forget Section 226 of the PO-603: At YOUR OPTION, you may choose to case DPS mail in accordance with Section 15 - Schedules.

-- It does not help if the DPS truck is late -- that is out of the carriers' hands, ( not that manglement really cares ), but point it out to manglement. If need by note late trucks on the 4240, an official document.

-- Step 4 ( J06R-4JC-C12087552 ) in part: Any management decision to require DPS letter mail to be taken directly to the street by regular or replacement carriers MUST be made on ROUTE-SPECIFIC conditions that require efficiency and scheduling remedies to be attempted FIRST. If these attempts to improve efficiencies fail to eliminate the operational concerns by providing a more consistent leaving and delivery time, manglement MAY require the rural carrier take DPS letter mail directly to the street.

-- Step 4 ( C06R-4C-C10372281 ) in part: ...the parties agree there are certain situations where rural carriers can be required to take DPS letters directly to the street. Such situations include, but are not limited to, significant delays to the customer's anticipated delivery window, not returning to the office to dispatch collection mail [ manglement's job is scheduling ], and exceeding the overall weekly route evaluation on a consistent basis [ this is from 2011, before the avalanche of parcel hit -- JMHO ]

-- Step 4 ( D-13 ) in part: The decision to require a carrier to take DPS letter mail directly to the street is made on a CASE-BY-CASE basis.

-- Step 4 ( C-14 ) in part: The carrier may be required to take DPS directly to the street if it is anticipated that they will be unable to meet the overall evaluation for the week; and during the Christmas period this would place the carrier in an overtime situation.-

-- Manglement used to make carriers take DPS to the streets at Christmas time because of the difficulty in making evaluation and or dispatch due to the increase in parcels.

-- Google "galligan letter". Click on hit "starting time, leaving time, and DPS to the street". page 2 has a couple of quotes from the "Galligan Letter;"

- The carrier may required to take DPS to directly to the street if it is anticipated that they will be unable to meet the overall evaluation of the route for the WEEK.
- The decision to carry DPS directly to the street should be made on a CASE-BY-CASE basis and MAY NOT MINIMIZE total actual work hours if the carrier normally cases the DPS mail and WILL NOT perform efficiently on the street.

-- Give your Assistant District Representative a heads up on any manglement plans / threat to have DPS letters taken directly to the streets.

-- Should manglement order you to take DPS to the street -- do it. But be sure to ask manglement the best way to set up your vehicle, how to handle mis-sent letters, holds, forwards, etc. Also advise manglement they may have to send an RCA out to get your collected mail to make dispatch. [ just look at the "PAC-MAN" display to determine where to send the RCA ]

-- Not that it matters one way or the other, but my contention has been -- if taking DPS to the street was such a good thing, rural carriers would have been doing it voluntarily for years, if not decades.