wolfhound -- "If regular refuses to sign off on this count…what happens?"
-- If the regular refuses to sign off on the count, he / she better have some documentation and a memo to forward to District as to why not.
-- What happens -- basically nothing! Manglement may note "carrier refused to sign" on the form.
-- If the carrier had 10 years as a regular, by not signing, may miss out on the High Option.
-- Might get a sheet of paper back in a month or two from District with one or more boxes checked.
-- My last count as one during the last two weeks of a September. As a record keeper, I had 10+ years of info when certainly flats ( wraps ), newspapers, ads, etc came during which week of the month. As I noted in my memo and enclosed documentation to District, many of the flats, newspapers, and ads just happened to show up during the week before the start of count and also the week after count ended. District's response several weeks later was a mimeograph page with the box for "Availability of Mail" checked.