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Notification of mail count.

magnolia72 et al -- "We do not have a 3M case in our office yet."

-- Why not?? Is the Assistant District Representative aware?

"I have no idea what to do during a DPS mail count but I intend on reading all I can because I am going to fight for what is rightfully mine!"

-- For now, ask if anyone in the office kept the 2018 NRLCA Mail Count Guide. If not, should be available in the archive section of "Magazine" at the NRLCA web site. JAN-FEB 2018 edition. Actually may be here at RI in the Resources section at the top of the page.

"Our tiny office out in the middle of BFE.."

-- Guessing that is a reference to an African nation?

"Tomorrow, we start the DPS review to see that we're at 85%."

-- All well and good, but it has to be at 98% for three days to qualify for a count.

[ DPS issues ]

"I did speak to the union about being cut the 2 hours and she said that the PO was no longer allowing 48K routes." and "jerrilann's" posting of "
The PO is not allowing overburdened routes, which includes both 47 and 48k's."

-- There was a posting on the "Are We Ever Going To See..." Thread: "Adjustments changed -- 46 overburdened.

-- Guess we wait for a redo of the contract to be sure.

"he's only there to cover for the PO. If I've heard him say it once, I've heard it 1000 times, he's got to save the PO $$"

-- Well, "magnolia72" get out the calculator to figure how much the previous regular saved the USPS by not having the route count. Probably have been doing a 48K while being paid as a 45K. Over several years, that should be a nice chunk of change. Better yet have your PM sent that info in an email to District!

" I have just been casing all the upside down letters and missorted letters."

-- During count, inverted letters get set aside then given ONE DPS credit for every 4 that were inverted. Of course there has to be 4 to get any credit. So basically rounded DOWN. You may want to do it to get every second possible, but truthfully hardly anyone did it at my last count -- just wasn't worth it. Of course things have changed -- drastically. Missorted items go back to the 3 M case. What was done with mis-sorts in the past? Take it to the appropriate route?

-- There MUST be an Office Pre-Count conference within 15 days of count. ( page 9 in the 2018 Mail Count Guide - if manglement asks ) If no Pre-Count conference, manglement CAN NOT ( legally ) change any office procedure. ( wink, wink )

-- Best to have a list of questions for manglement regarding count procedures drawn up prior to the meeting. And RECORD manglement's response. ( if any )

-- Don't forget 8127 / 1314-A documentation for the time of the pre-count meeting!

-- Per "Skierstmoritz's" posting, if the union conducts a Pre-Count conference for your area, by all means GO, especially if you have not participated in a count recently or ever. Maybe one possible hitch -- have to be a union member to attend! ( or used to be that way ) Also Mail Count Guides would be handed out at the meeting. The 2018 one should still be good as the new "standards" are not in effect - yet. Make that two possible hitches: some times the union doesn't conduct a Pre-Count conference for Special Counts. Give your ADR a call.

-- The easiest 2 minutes a day will be when you use the 3821 Clearance Slip. Do you get an "arrow" key? BIG debate whether is it an "accountable" item which would be listed on the 3821. Manglement had been saying it is NOT an accountable item, but lose one and see how accountable an unaccountable item becomes! Something to ask at the office Pre-Count meeting.

-- Until then, if you think of something, ask away at RI as most likely someone will have an answer and or reference.
 
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magnolia72 said:
Our office was informed this morning that we will be counting due to getting DPS, which I figured would happen. We were also informed that we would have ANOTHER ride along. That will make #4 for me this year. PM rode the route with me just last week and to his surprise (not), my route mileage was UNDEREVALUATED! Go figure. So now, he's having to ride AGAIN to try to make our routes more "cost effecient" for the PO. I suwannee, if he cuts my route to give to another route to make it "fair", that will truly be my breaking point. We don't have an auxillary route in our office, but after our last mail count fiasco, my route was deemed overburdened and 2 hours was cut off to bring another route up to par.
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?
 
magnolia72 said:
Tomorrow, we start the DPS review to see that we're at 85%. Will this be similar to a mail count? What are some things I should be watching for?
[/Q
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magnolia72 said:
We do not have a 3M case in our office yet. I have just been casing all the upside down letters and missorted letters. I have no idea what to do during a DPS mail count but I intend on reading all I can because I am going to fight for what is rightfully mine! Talking with a coworker this afternoon, I told her that's our best defense because it's more than obvious our PM isn't on our side, he's only there to cover for the PO. If I've heard him say it once, I've heard it 1000 times, he's got to save the PO $$. Our tiny office out in the middle of BFE will in no way make up for the PO's money woes. I'm not asking to be given anything other than what I've been working for, after all, this is my livelihood they're toying with.
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What is a 3M case?
 
nickiegirl62 -- "What is a 3M case? "

-- Is this spreading??

-- Page 10 of the 2018 NRLCA Mail Count Guide: Pre-Count Conference Items for Discussion. Item 26.a. Proper credit for missequenced, missorted, missent "MMM" [ aka 3M ] mail. ( such mail pieces found in the DPS get taken to the 3M Case where the clerks are supposed to re-route the items to the proper in-house route or stage them to be sent to the proper office on the dispatch truck. during count, such trips to the 3M Case should be "timed"events by the person counting the mail for your route. ) ( to make it easier on the counter, several of us would go at one time. ) ( making things easier for the person counting your route and probably 3 to 5 routes around you tends to reap "rewards" when discussing / arguing for credit on an item or items - but not always )

-- Do a word search for "missequenced", "missorted", and "missent" in the Mail Count Guide.
 
callofthewild et al -- "Isn't it for every 4th upside down letter you get a (1) raw letter count?"

-- Close!

-- Pages 16 and 17 of the 2018 Mail Count Guide:

Inverted DPS letters: 1 additional DPS letter is credited in Column 3 DPS Letters for every 4 DPS Letters received inverted. Appropriate credit will be added to the DPS total by rounding DOWN to the nearest whole number.

-- Not that it matters, but 1 raw letter is worth more than 1 DPS letter. ( The USPS is not known for being generous! )

-- If the processing plants hold true to form, DPS will be in PRISTINE condition! And that means inverted mail pieces will be few and far between so it can be more of a hassle keeping track of inverted mail pieces than one actually gets credit for. For instance: you pull out 7 inverted pieces for the entire day. Contratulations with the rounding DOWN, you get credit for 1 additional DPS letter!! Your call.
 
btdtret said:
callofthewild et al -- "Isn't it for every 4th upside down letter you get a (1) raw letter count?"

-- Close!

-- Pages 16 and 17 of the 2018 Mail Count Guide:

Inverted DPS letters: 1 additional DPS letter is credited in Column 3 DPS Letters for every 4 DPS Letters received inverted. Appropriate credit will be added to the DPS total by rounding DOWN to the nearest whole number.

-- Not that it matters, but 1 raw letter is worth more than 1 DPS letter. ( The USPS is not known for being generous! )

-- If the processing plants hold true to form, DPS will be in PRISTINE condition! And that means inverted mail pieces will be few and far between so it can be more of a hassle keeping track of inverted mail pieces than one actually gets credit for. For instance: you pull out 7 inverted pieces for the entire day. Contratulations with the rounding DOWN, you get credit for 1 additional DPS letter!! Your call.
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Which means you need 172 upside down pieces to gain ONE minute of time; current credit is 43 / ppm...correct me if I'm wrong...
 
Mailcount is also a time for fresh starts.

Past practice has no say. You now get to choose what you do going forward.
 
All -- to add to "PastOThirty's" posting about pulling mail pieces out of the DPS.

-- You may have to remind manglement and or the person overseeing your route during count that items pulled out of the DPS ARE NOT deducted from the DPS End Of Run sheet. But are ADDED to other columns.

-- Speaking of the End Or Run (EOR ) sheet. There could be more than one!! That is what the clerks told us when we had the letter sorting machines in our office. Just make sure you have the LAST one! The carriers and manglement at my last post office agreed to a "standard" of 421 mail pieces in a DPS tray. ( something to bring up at the office Pre-Count meeting ) Of course, it could vary depending on the contents, such as post cards vs Val-Pac or Money Mailer envelops. Moving on.. if the EOR indicates, say 1653, pieces of DPS and you are looking at 5+ trays ( 2100+ ) ask for another EOR.

-- Probably the same would apply to DPS Flats ( never dealt with them ).

-- Arbitrator Wells increased the letter standard to 6 1/8 inches. So get familiar with the "Count Ruler" for a lack of a better term. The ruler has several notches and opening for measuring mail pieces to determine their classification. When dealing with mail pieces near the 6 1/8 inch mark, be sure the mail piece is absolutely flat.

-- For those having to count in September, now is the time to start documenting when the mail trucks arrive - USPS, UPS, FedEx, is DHL still here? As well as the amount of pallets / containers / parcels received. Should have been documenting when the usual flats arrived such as Money Pages, Home & Decor, Mint Magazine, BB&B, and what ever local papers have been received. If those and others were normally received during the last two weeks of the month, but for some "unknown" reason they arrive the week before or the week after count, use that as a reason for not signing off on the count data. I did that on my last count and all I got back was a sheet from District with the "receipt of mail" box checked. Just another "postal" coincidence.

-- The above applies to end of the month and first of the month bills too.

-- At the Pre-Count conference, ask if manglement will agree to a "standard" for Riffling Time. Granted it should be ACTUAL TIME, but over the years, we found that it tends to keep the counter away from the casing area too long when doing individual routes. That was when we had DPS machines in the office, so the counter would go to the machine area to watch the riffling process.

-- If you normally have to get your own DPS trays instead of having the clerks bring them to you, you get EXTRA time if the DPS trays are not together. In that situation that becomes a "Search and Rescue" operation of looking through multiple General Purpose Containers ( GPC's) to find your DPS trays.

-- If you discover a large amount of mail pieces out of order or inverted during riffling, bring it to the attention of the counter and manglement. Same if a tray or two DPS show up on a "late" truck. Extra credit involved for casing such mail. ( more than likely it will not happen as DPS become pristine for the two weeks of count )

-- Gosh, seems to be turning into a "What to do during count" essay!

-- Darn - another one! Timed Events -- trips to the 3M case, to return mis-thrown parcels, to get DPS, to take "mark-ups" to the "alphabet" trays ( NSN, ANK, etc ), "Hot Case" is called by the clerks used to require a "stop watch" but most counters use a timer on a cell phone. Be sure to use the same or a the timer function on a watch. If there is a ( large ) difference between the two - ask why.

-- Loading the vehicle. That will be interesting especially if someone uses the "loading" feature on the scanner. 15-minutes used to be the max time allowed, but that was "BA" ( before Amazon )! Make it some thing to be addressed at the Pre-Count meeting. Time yourself when loading. ( not to say a counter's device may stop ( malfunction ) for a while during the process. )

-- Not saying the USPS would do anything to "influence" a count, but.....
 
PastOThirty said:
The only time dps is deducted aside from honest counter increments or tallying of increments, is a misplaced but correctly labeled tray. Any mail that is pulled out is raw.
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any mail, any... mail is counted as raw, but not upside down dps sorry they are worthless, unless,,,,, they are out of order....pick your battles.. and be prepared to fight.. start now with your education...
 
Since we are on the topic of DPS and mentioning the vague rules about it. Does anyone know of a written version/guide book on how we are to handle it?

I'm just saying when it first appeared in my office 20+ago no one had a clue how to deal with the DPS. It is allegedly 98% accurate so many of us would drive to the next addy seen in the DPS. Only to find 5 more letters for the previous location. Upon return to office and observed at MMM case we were told this is wrong. Wrong? You are not paying me to look at the next few letters in DPS while I am serving a location.

I will bet the DPS review will be pristine. Same for the count.

After the count you will get the BJ'S/Costco card mailing in your DPS and everyone of those will be upside down.
 
Windindaface said:
Since we are on the topic of DPS and mentioning the vague rules about it. Does anyone know of a written version/guide book on how we are to handle it?

I'm just saying when it first appeared in my office 20+ago no one had a clue how to deal with the DPS. It is allegedly 98% accurate so many of us would drive to the next addy seen in the DPS. Only to find 5 more letters for the previous location. Upon return to office and observed at MMM case we were told this is wrong. Wrong? You are not paying me to look at the next few letters in DPS while I am serving a location.

I will bet the DPS review will be pristine. Same for the count.

After the count you will get the BJ'S/Costco card mailing in your DPS and everyone of those will be upside down.
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raw in my office
 
I am trying to remember all the oddball things I got credit for under R time the last time I got counted. Please let us all unite to help Nickiegirl62 get a good mail count.

I will start...........you get one minute a day for conversations with your PM or Clerk concerning postal things per day, this is a real thing and my PM is the one that told me about it.
 
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