RCA additional routes

[Dman6977]

Hi everyone. I am a RCA in South Carolina and was wondering if we get paid to learn additional routes in office and are allowed 3 days per route training. I know my route I was assigned to like the back of my hand because I ran it 6 days a week for 10 months. I asked a union rep and told my OIC that we are supposed to but she told me she asked our rep and was told we only get paid training on the route we was hired for and that I would have to follow a 4003 which a lot of times doesn't make sense. I know if I go to another office that I am given a 4003 but I am talking about in house only. Can someone please clarify this. Hopefully the rep I spoke with is correct. I like to ask questions with another rep before going to my rep.
Also are the days on liteblue for leave and sick time in days? I was told leave is in days on our hr digital paystubs. I have earned time for being the only assigned carrier on my route and at a rate of 4 hours per pay period. My coworkers said it's in days on our pay stubs at 8 hours a day. Someone please clarify.

 

[Unclewolverine]

No. I know 10 routes, not a cent extra.

 

[neciat]

You do, however, get paid the LARGER of the two ; evaluated vs. actual time for ANY route that you run the FIRST time. First time is considered CASED and CARRIED. So, just because you helped on a route or any route for that matter DOES NOT make the help you did the "first time". Just write first time on the 4240 when you do a new route and keep track to make sure you are paid correctly.

 

[Dman6977]

Does "first time" only apply to the 1st day you run a new route?

 

[ATCBigE]

Hi everyone. I am a RCA in South Carolina and was wondering if we get paid to learn additional routes in office and are allowed 3 days per route training. I know my route I was assigned to like the back of my hand because I ran it 6 days a week for 10 months. I asked a union rep and told my OIC that we are supposed to but she told me she asked our rep and was told we only get paid training on the route we was hired for and that I would have to follow a 4003 which a lot of times doesn't make sense. I know if I go to another office that I am given a 4003 but I am talking about in house only. Can someone please clarify this. Hopefully the rep I spoke with is correct. I like to ask questions with another rep before going to my rep.
Also are the days on liteblue for leave and sick time in days? I was told leave is in days on our hr digital paystubs. I have earned time for being the only assigned carrier on my route and at a rate of 4 hours per pay period. My coworkers said it's in days on our pay stubs at 8 hours a day. Someone please clarify.

HAHAHAHA!!!! Extra pay for learning other routes. Nope.

I work in 1 route office and I know over 20 routes. No extra money, which is BS. You can get upwards of 3 day training on new route, that's about it.

 

[Dumbassclerksyndrome]

Really depends on management. Seasoned carrier is what you are considered, but sometimes nice management may allow one day ride along.

 

[Dman6977]

Really depends on management. Seasoned carrier is what you are considered, but sometimes nice management may allow one day ride along.

Ok I was curious. A union rep said it's supposed to be up to 3 days training and you get paid from time you get there til time you get back.

 

[Dman6977]

HAHAHAHA!!!! Extra pay for learning other routes. Nope.

I work in 1 route office and I know over 20 routes. No extra money, which is BS. You can get upwards of 3 day training on new route, that's about it.

So 3 days training without pay....don't know why they call that training. All training is supposed to have payment. I got 2 different union rep with 2 different answers so I figured I would ask the people that go through this daily.

 

[ATCBigE]

So 3 days training without pay....don't know why they call that training. All training is supposed to have payment. I got 2 different union rep with 2 different answers so I figured I would ask the people that go through this daily.

Oh no you get paid for it. You need to note it on 4240 or green card.

 

[neciat]

Does "first time" only apply to the 1st day you run a new route?

Yes !! Also, any route(s) that you have not cased and carried for one year meet the criteria , too. So, if it has been one year or longer since you have cased and carried a particular route, that , too, is also first time.

Article 9.2.M.3

3. A leave replacement utilized on a route which he or
she is serving for the first time or has not served in
the past 12 months will be paid the greater of actual
hours worked or the evaluation of the route (up to 40
hours).

 

[Worve]

Oh no you get paid for it. You need to note it on 4240 or green card.

I always looked at eval on a new route or one I haven’t done in over 12 months. Then filled out green card if over eval if under I filled 4240 out. Never got questioned why. half the time they don’t even know what routes or what I did that day anyways.

 

[gotstamps]

Yes !! Also, any route(s) that you have not cased and carried for one year meet the criteria , too. So, if it has been one year or longer since you have cased and carried a particular route, that , too, is also first time.

Article 9.2.M.3

3. A leave replacement utilized on a route which he or
she is serving for the first time or has not served in
the past 12 months will be paid the greater of actual
hours worked or the evaluation of the route (up to 40
hours).

The computer is set up to trigger if 1st time or over 12 months… or so I’ve been told.

 

[Dman6977]

Oh no you get paid for it. You need to note it on 4240 or green card.

Ok I am officially confused. Some tell me I get paid up to 3 days for learning new routes in my local office. Some tell me I don't get nothing but a 4003 and a pat on the back I know and understand that if I go outside my local office that I just get a 4003 and possibly a turn by turn scanner....I'm fine with that. The rep I call and confide in tells me I get up to 3 days paid training on the other 2 routes that I haven't run but she also says that a lot of supervisors will try not to do so. I much rather go somewhere and pick up routes if my supervisor doesn't want to pay for training. I am only responsible for covering the route I am assigned to when my regular needs time off. My year is coming up on the 23rd so for now I'm just trying to survive and do the right thing with hopes of career. However where I am assigned I won't have a chance for career unless a regular completely messed something up. I just don't understand why they don't want to jump at training me. I never have missed a package in the last 10 months at 6 days/ week and everyone on the route I worked thought I was kidding when I told them I had to step down from running the route because they were finally happy to have someone that didn't misplace mail. Sorry...that was a slight vent session. Thanks for all your feedback.

 

[EthelAnne]

The computer is set up to trigger if 1st time or over 12 months… or so I’ve been told.

I don't believe this is true. I would be absolutely shocked if it were true. Regardless, RCAs should make their supervisors aware that they are to be paid actual time for any route they have not run in 12 months (if they can't complete the route under the eval).

Ok I am officially confused. Some tell me I get paid up to 3 days for learning new routes in my local office. Some tell me I don't get nothing but a 4003 and a pat on the back I know and understand that if I go outside my local office that I just get a 4003 and possibly a turn by turn scanner....I'm fine with that. The rep I call and confide in tells me I get up to 3 days paid training on the other 2 routes that I haven't run but she also says that a lot of supervisors will try not to do so. I much rather go somewhere and pick up routes if my supervisor doesn't want to pay for training. I am only responsible for covering the route I am assigned to when my regular needs time off. My year is coming up on the 23rd so for now I'm just trying to survive and do the right thing with hopes of career. However where I am assigned I won't have a chance for career unless a regular completely messed something up. I just don't understand why they don't want to jump at training me. I never have missed a package in the last 10 months at 6 days/ week and everyone on the route I worked thought I was kidding when I told them I had to step down from running the route because they were finally happy to have someone that didn't misplace mail. Sorry...that was a slight vent session. Thanks for all your feedback.

It is USPS policy that a brand new RCA receives 24 hours of training on their primary route. After that, training is at the discretion of management. I've spent two weeks training an RCA on my route and I've spent two hours training one. It really varies, and management gets to decide if they want/need you to train on additional routes. An RCA cannot be required to learn more than three routes in an office, but the more you know, the more you work (in theory).

If you don't receive training on a new route (or if you have not run the route in 12 months) and you're asked to run it, you're contractually entitled to the actual time it takes you to run the route (or, if you are awesome, and run it under eval, you get the full evaluation).

Regarding leave, rural carriers earn leave in full days (8 hour increments), so what shows up on our pay stubs is days of leave, not hours (city carriers earn it by the hour).

HTH

 

[gotstamps]

It is USPS policy that a brand new RCA receives 24 hours of training on their primary route. After that, training is at the discretion of management. I've spent two weeks training an RCA on my route and I've spent two hours training one. It really varies, and management gets to decide if they want/need you to train on additional routes. An RCA cannot be required to learn more than three routes in an office, but the more you know, the more you work (in theory).

There is no rule that RCAs cannot be required to learn more than 3 routes. The rule you might be thinking of is that an RCA cannot be trained on a 4th route unless the rest of the RCAs have been trained on 3 routes.

If you don't receive training on a new route (or if you have not run the route in 12 months) and you're asked to run it, you're contractually entitled to the actual time it takes you to run the route (or, if you are awesome, and run it under eval, you get the full evaluation).

True.

Regarding leave, rural carriers earn leave in full days (8 hour increments), so what shows up on our pay stubs is days of leave, not hours (city carriers earn it by the hour).

Rural Carriers DO NOT earn leave in full days. We earn in “hours” but it is listed on our paystubs in Days & partial days.

 

[Unclewolverine]

The way you worded your question made it seem that you were asking if there is a bump in base pay for knowing more routes.

If there is no hope of becoming regular in reasonable time in your office then you should definitely volunteer in other offices, maybe you can identify one you could transfer to where you could move up faster.

 

[Dman6977]

I don't believe this is true. I would be absolutely shocked if it were true. Regardless, RCAs should make their supervisors aware that they are to be paid actual time for any route they have not run in 12 months (if they can't complete the route under the eval).

It is USPS policy that a brand new RCA receives 24 hours of training on their primary route. After that, training is at the discretion of management. I've spent two weeks training an RCA on my route and I've spent two hours training one. It really varies, and management gets to decide if they want/need you to train on additional routes. An RCA cannot be required to learn more than three routes in an office, but the more you know, the more you work (in theory).

If you don't receive training on a new route (or if you have not run the route in 12 months) and you're asked to run it, you're contractually entitled to the actual time it takes you to run the route (or, if you are awesome, and run it under eval, you get the full evaluation).

Regarding leave, rural carriers earn leave in full days (8 hour increments), so what shows up on our pay stubs is days of leave, not hours (city carriers earn it by the hour).

HTH

Thanks for the info. Yeah I understand how I am to be paid if I run a route. My only question was based on a Union rep telling me we get paid for training on in-house routes up to 3 days....as long as we have never trained or split or run the route before.........then my supervisor was saying no I don't get paid for additional routes but only the one hired for. I am not gonna waste my time training myself on a local route with no future and no training pay so I will go to another location and pickup. The larger post offices are down at least 7 carriers near me so I will go where I have more opportunity....at least until we get an actual postmaster and not a clerk not knowing the carrier rights. I actually decided not to work a couple of days and wanted to find out from my fellow carriers what I should do while I have time to investigate. Thanks for the knowledge and be safe out there please.

 

[Dman6977]

There is no rule that RCAs cannot be required to learn more than 3 routes. The rule you might be thinking of is that an RCA cannot be trained on a 4th route unless the rest of the RCAs have been trained on 3 routes.

True.

Rural Carriers DO NOT earn leave in full days. We earn in “hours” but it is listed on our paystubs in Days & partial days.

I am only trained for one route and there are only 2 more so I asked a rep and was told I should get trained for 3 days per route since I never run nor trained neither route.

 

[Dman6977]

The way you worded your question made it seem that you were asking if there is a bump in base pay for knowing more routes.

If there is no hope of becoming regular in reasonable time in your office then you should definitely volunteer in other offices, maybe you can identify one you could transfer to where you could move up faster.

Thanks wolverine....naw...I was just curious about getting paid to train other routes since I only know one

 

[Dman6977]

Thanks wolverine....naw...I was just curious about getting paid to train other routes since I only know one

I actually lucked out and worked straight out of class everyday (except a couple I took off for business) due to my regular carrier being hurt and disabled then retired so I worked from beginning of March thru January 3rd and I just had my leave and sick show up on my stub. I was so busy before that I didn't have time or anything else to do so I just ran my route.