WSH Credit

[UnknownUser]

What is actually going on with WSH credit? We had one day last week where we had 6 WSH coverages and box holder, so 7 coverages in one day. The total for the last 8 delivery days is around 18 coverages of some sort but mostly WSH. Very few WSS and a few box holders. When management comes around looking at everyone's stuff, they keep reminding carriers to not scan a WSS for a WSH. This is not just political. We've just been bombarded with advertising and a few political. A normal week might be a few in 5 days. Sometimes the city routes have it ran in dps and rurals don't get it ran. Sometimes some zip codes get it ran while the others don't. It seems like in the last 6 months they have mostly stopped running them for our city. I've asked carriers in other local cities and they aren't seeing this massive increase in trays of WSH. Anytime I'm off they'll stack whatever mail that's not political so we're being punished for k days or annual. My route is the largest in the office and I'm ready for it to be cut. I've been frozen for almost 12 months but I've got to wait till the spring count. Somehow the fall count of 2025, I lost 4 hours and was 2 minutes from a 47k. They squared up routes and swapped territories and I've been stuck. It has been nice to be a 46k for pay but I think I'm still overburdend because I lost lower volume from 105 boxes and switched territory for 100 boxes that get a higher volume so it's now taking me longer than ever to run my route.

I know there's a step 4 regarding the lack of credit. But if we aren't being properly credited, it is wage theft. What should my grievance question be so that my coworkers and myself can grieve to get included into the step 4? I saw another thread where R2 stated that they grieved and was awarded the option to actually enter a WSS scan. I don't think my District Rep will try to get us anything but one can wish.

 

[Rt2mailman]

What we did was grieve the fact that the plant was NOT doing their job and running wsh in DPS. We used "It’s every employee's job to protect USPS revenue" and the plant must either run machinable pieces in DPS or charge those mailers that send mailings that are "not machinable" properly. The fact is those pieces are machinable, just harder to run them so they don't because rural carriers will do it for free. Since we proved that we had items that were DPS'ed during our mini count and not the rest of the year, our plant had a problem. Now they run those pieces as "Flats" (good count for us) or just DPS them. If they don't, we enter them as a WSS box holder.

 

[jaymacgthree]

What we did was grieve the fact that the plant was NOT doing their job and running wsh in DPS. We used "It’s every employee's job to protect USPS revenue" and the plant must either run machinable pieces in DPS or charge those mailers that send mailings that are "not machinable" properly. The fact is those pieces are machinable, just harder to run them so they don't because rural carriers will do it for free. Since we proved that we had items that were DPS'ed during our mini count and not the rest of the year, our plant had a problem. Now they run those pieces as "Flats" (good count for us) or just DPS them. If they don't, we enter them as a WSS box holder.

It seems like if it was settled that way the NRLCA should just issue an MOU for that so nationwide we are all on the same page receiving the same credit.

 

[UnknownUser]

I'm not talking about anything that's not machinable or booklets. It's regular sized envelopes or mainly just addressed cards that are around 11"long x 5.5" tall. Management used to go around saying that "the mailers didn't pay for it to be ran" which is something that doesn't exist. They didn't have them in dps during the survey because "they are already counted".

 

[Rt2mailman]

I'm not talking about anything that's not machinable or booklets. It's regular sized envelopes or mainly just addressed cards that are around 11"long x 5.5" tall. Management used to go around saying that "the mailers didn't pay for it to be ran" which is something that doesn't exist. They didn't have them in dps during the survey because "they are already counted".

They are NOT counted, because they ARE MACHINABLE and were expected to be run in DPS. We asked for proof that they were counted and the USPS could NOT show us that they were.
If you look at your radar report for weeks after you deliver one of those hand size mailings they NEVER show up on it (full coverages are easy to spot on your radar report). Why? Because they were meant to be DPS'ed and had their postage paid as machinable. There is no mailer that would send out a piece and not pay the discounted machinable price for their postage if their mailing followed the non-machineable criteria. And guess what, they all are machinable, the plant just doesn't want to work that hard because rural carriers will do them for FREE. You can grieve that they aren't showing up on your radar reports, or that the plant is NOT protecting revenue, and prove both easily.

 

[UnknownUser]

Here's my statement. I'll let you know how it goes in a few weeks I suppose.

Over recent evaluation periods and daily operations, Management and processing plant operations have repeatedly failed to process standard, machinable letter and card coverages through automated Delivery Point Sequence (DPS) equipment. Instead of being sorted on automated machinery, these machinable coverages are routinely delivered to rural routes separate from DPS in manual trays or bundled from the hot case as Walk-Sequence Handling (WSH) coverages.

Despite requiring carriers to perform manual labor, casing, sequencing or handling these items as a separate coverage. Management enforces instructions prohibiting carriers from entering these mailings on the Mobile Delivery Device (MDD) under coverage/WSS scans, falsely asserting that they are "already counted" or that "mailers didn't pay for DPS."

It is every employee's responsibility to protect USPS revenue. A significant operational double standard exists regarding these mailings:
Machinable Automation Rates: Mailers who pay discounted postage rates for machinable letter mail do so under the requirement that their mail pieces conform to automated processing standards. When the processing plant bypasses DBCS automation and routes these pieces to carrier cases in raw trays, or to the hot case, the facility shifts processing labor directly onto rural carriers while bypassing system logging.

If mailings are deemed unmachinable or if the plant refuses to run them on automation, the Postal Service must properly charge those mailers non-machinable surcharges to reflect manual handling costs. Management cannot accept mail at discounted automation rates, bypass automated sorting, and then force rural carriers to perform manual casing for free.

Under RRECS, a route’s DPS standard is based on mail actually sorted into delivery sequence by automated equipment. Management violates Article 19 by treating manual casing work as "automated" volume while withholding manual casing credit.

Because these mailings bypass DBCS machinery, they do not appear on RADAR reports. Combining this automation bypass with Management's ban on MDD coverage scans creates zero record of the physical volume handled, artificially depressing route evaluations and resulting in uncompensated labor.

To preserve the integrity of the evaluated system and ensure carriers are paid for all work performed, Management must ensure machinable coverages are processed in DPS, allow carriers to log coverage entries on the MDD, or properly credit these WSH mailings during Mini Mail Surveys to capture proper physical handling credit under RRECS. Furthermore, Management must ensure year-round compliance and consistency to maintain evaluation stability for rural carriers.

 

[neciat]

If you all recall, the very first RRECS Guide had this regarding WSS / WSH letters ;

b. Walk‐Sequenced Letters are credited with a different standard (S011) of 0.0364
minutes per piece or 27.5 letters per minute. The weekly average number of
WSS Letters is determined over a 52‐week period. Each time a rural carrier
receives a WSS Letter mailing, they will enter it into the MDD using a designated
key sequence. Each “set” of WSS/WSH letters will be calculated at the total
number of active boxes on the route and included in the calculation of the
weekly average. For example: If a route with 600 deliveries receives a set of
WSS Letters once a month from a certain mailer, over the course of the 52
weeks, they would receive 12 sets on average or 7200 pieces for the 52 weeks.
7200 divided by 52 gives us a weekly average of 138 pieces per week and would
add approximate 5 minutes per week to the evaluation.

While the most recent RRECS Guide has this ;

b. Walk‐Sequenced Letters are credited with a different standard (S011) of 0.0364
minutes per piece or 27.5 letters per minute. The weekly average number of
WSS Letters is determined over a 52‐week period. Each time a rural carrier
receives a WSS Letter mailing, they will enter it into the MDD using a designated
key sequence. Each “set” of WSS letters will be calculated at the total number
of active boxes on the route and included in the calculation of the weekly
average. For example: If a route with 600 deliveries receives a set of WSS
Letters once a month from a certain mailer, over the course of the 52 weeks,
they would receive 12 sets on average or 7200 pieces for the 52 weeks. 7200
divided by 52 gives us a weekly average of 138 pieces per week and would add
approximate 5 minutes per week to the evaluation.

You notice the absence of the WSH endorsement. Now, that WSH endorsement was originally cited for a purpose and a reason. Why was that endorsement removed from subsequent versions of The Guide ?
Did the PO tell the NRLCA that these mailings , both letters and flats , are already counted / included in volume totals ? I suspect the answer is yes. And instead of asking the PO to validate that claim at that time, The NRLCA just said , "Oh, okay. We'll "fix" The Guide." It wasn't until years later the union decided to contest the claim. I would think that initially the engineers looked into what was documented / recorded as received into any given office and what was not and that is why the original language contained the WSS / WSH endorsements for the carrier to enter because those two mailings are not documented anywhere.

 

[Rt2mailman]

It seems like if it was settled that way the NRLCA should just issue an MOU for that so nationwide we are all on the same page receiving the same credit.

Management didn't want it to go up to even the second step so it was settled locally.