RRECS: Other Office & Personal

[C$$]

************************ EDIT 10 Jun 2022 *******************************

Some more details on this from the comprehensive guide.

Standards have a 3.23% buffer built in for "personal time." If you have an 8 hour route, that works out to roughly 15 minutes of personal time a day. However, some standards are impossibly tight even with the personal time added on.

There is no personal time included in End of Shift duties, because it is actual time and you are allowed a "short break."

************************* END EDIT ***************************************


I'm looking at the study comparison here. The next section is "Other Office & Personal."

Under the current Eval system:
We get 30 minutes a week (5 min a day) of "personal" time. Many people use this time as a short break

Under RRECS:
We get about 4.5 minutes a week. And this time is strictly defined:
0.491 min/day to fill out Form 4240
0.2643 min/day to move trays

This one is a weekly 25 minute kick-in-the-seat-of-the-pants loss for every route. I can't believe the union let "Personal Time" get turned into "Tray Storage Time."
See the edit above.

 

[btdtret]

C$$ et al -- Trying to be more of a "realist" rather than a "downer" regarding the RRECS ( wrecks ) program, but I certainly don't get a good feel as to what will happen to routes in general once it is implemented.

-- "It is difficult to predict exactly what will happen on individual routes as RRECS is rolled out." according to the outgoing president in the August 2018 edition of the national magazine. ( NSS )

-- Just look at the weekly "low hanging fruit":

- 20 minute stamp stock -- basically gone
- 30 minute LLV time -- reduced
- 30 minute personal time -- greatly reduced
- mail box credit -- reduced. And if not "serviced" no credit! ( "A new automated feature of RRECS, referred to as "coverage", determines which addresses on a route do not receive mail on any given day and adjusts the box time to reflect actual deliveries." Another "gem" from the August 2018 edition. Not addressed is the collection of outgoing mail from a mail box that does not have mail for the day. )
- 12 minutes per week per mile -- route mileage seems to have taken more losses than gains when the scanner is used. ( just a coincidence? )
- PS Form 3982 ( PARS Label ) -- Weekly Avg from Mail Count ( RRECS was supposed to do way with Mail Counts )
- Actual Time in End of Shift Activities -- who knows what will end up there?

- And 47 different "standards" for diving time!

-- The calculations on numerous other items provided by "C$$", appear to be reduced for the most part, unless one has high "activity" for an item.

-- The Q&A session on RRECS in which Dwyer and Mericle responded contained a lot of "under discussion", "We don't know", "being discussed", "We're talking to them about that.", "USPS maintaining and imputing data." ( I certainly would not have a warm, fuzzy feeling over that one! ),

-- Have yet to see or hear of how those "discussions" turned out. ( in honor of "DB" - Chirp! )

-- "Seasonal addresses will disappear." ( and apparently so will a lot of time for seasonal routes ).

-- ( In regards to mapping ). "This system [ RRECS ] will not be any different that the last system. If you don't read the PO603 you're not going to know what you are supposed to do". ( Dwyer ). And this is from a president who kept referring to 2- and 4-week counts in 2018, when Arbitrator Clarke accepted the NRLCA's proposal for 2- and 3-week counts for the 2010-2015 contract. ( I've read the PO-603 a few times and have yet to see any mention of mapping or RRECS. )

-- Getting into the "No corresponding Standard in RRECS" items:

- Sector Segment Letters ( 0.044 minutes ) / ( will become "raw" letters under RRECS? )
- Change of address ( 2.0 minutes ) / ( no one will be able to move or if they do move, mail will not be forwarded? )
- Non-Signature "Scan" Items ( 0.30 minutes )
- Letters, Flats, Collected ( 0.04 minutes ) / ( no more collecting mail for the mail box. Customers will have to bring it to a Blue collection box or to the post office? )
- Return Receipts ( L Route Only ) ( 0.25 minutes ) / ( no more "L" and "non'L routes -- just one big malcontent family? )

- Counter to X-President Dwyer's statement, there seems to be some differences between the two systems!

-- On the right-hand side of the 4241-M comparison sheet, there is the "dreaded" Weekly Avg from Carrier MDD input. ( that probably does not bode well with routes in hilly areas where "signals get lost or dropped" or the rest of the routes when the MDD battery "dies" )

-- "From a bird's eye view, RRECS is a simple system. ( no doubt the bird is really far away! ) It has three components: standards, a data capture system and business logic." ( from the August 2018 magazine. )

- "C$$" -- any comment on it being a "simple" system?
- "business logic" -- having joined the "disorganization" in the mid-1990's, the more the USPS has been tried ( forced ) to operate like a "normal" business and the more dependant it has become on mechanization, the worse it has gotten - in the delivery of mail and treatment of employees. ( JMHO )

-- One last quote from the August 2018 magazine ( for now ): "These practices should yield evaluations that fairly reflect the work being performed and time-off incentive potential that reflects the skill and efforts of rural carriers."

- Certainly seems to me that the skills and efforts utilized by rural carriers in the past that resulted in time-off ( aka working under evaluation ) was continually thrown back in carrier faces at contract and arbitration time. Both the USPS and NRLCA had a term for it: The "BUMP". Working under evaluation got one chastised by the NRLCA while working over evaluation, got one harrassed by the USPS if one got into 2080 or 2240 problems.

-- In closing, something to ponder: RRECS is going to be better than just going hourly? For those within a year or so of retirement, keep those fingers closed that RRECS implementation will take even longer!

 

[RR5]

I'm looking at the study comparison here. The next section is "Other Office & Personal."

Under the current Eval system:
We get 30 minutes a week (5 min a day) of "personal" time. Many people use this time as a short break

Under RRECS:
We get about 4.5 minutes a week. And this time is strictly defined:
0.491 min/day to fill out Form 4240
0.2643 min/day to move trays

This one is a weekly 25 minute kick-in-the-seat-of-the-pants loss for every route. I can't believe the union let "Personal Time" get turned into "Tray Storage Time." GRRR....

Or maybe break time will get included in the "actual end of shift duties." But I'm not counting on it

Maybe we'll get two 10 minute paid breaks daily like city and clerks do. Not! Not even time to go to the bathroom. Guess we do that on our own time too. Think I'll take a 20 mile deviation from route everyday to go to the bathroom. Wonder what the scanner will say to that?
Said it before, rrecs is the death of the rural craft. EVERYBODY loses on flats, small parcels, scan time, dps, box factor, vehicle time, personal time, collection, multiple accountables and parcels to same house, reload, stamp stock now actual, withdraw, boxes not delivered, and most will lose strap time ( mine 45 min weekly ) plus EVERYBODY will lose on data not inputted by carrier or manager, and EVERYBODY will lose on management corruption, and computer failures.
But there's still going be people on here with wishful thinking and hoping for the best that rrecs is going to pay us for everything we do. Not going to happen. It's going to be a nightmare, a bloodbath, and upper management will love it, and they'll still try to capture more savings anyway they can, because that's who they are. Thieves, liars, deceitful, only concerned for themselves and their bonuses. My hope is that this will fall apart due to the complexity of all the data that needs to be gathered. I know our association ain't going to do anything about it, they're collecting their nice salaries. Most will depart when this hits, and new officers will say it wasn't us.

 

[foxyfox]

Better believe me I will take that 5 minute crap when I get done delivering 5 5.5 hours on the road. I have already started taking 12 to 15 minutes in office after when I could rush and do it in 7 to 10.
This will actually help the dps to the street people more to do when you gotta deal with the fudges up dps upon return