Effective July 9, 2015, the Postal Service™ is revising section 541.4 of Handbook PO-603, Rural Carrier Duties and Responsibilities, to include additional compensation for DPS flats and a formal process for conducting quality reviews.

5 Inspection, Count, and Adjustment of Rural Routes
54 Compensation Adjustments
541 Requirements
541.4 Automation Processed Mail
541.41 Additional Compensation
[Revise the text of 541.41 to read as follows:]
a. If a carrier assigned a left-hand drive (LHD) employer-provided vehicle or required to use his/her privately-owned vehicle, is being compensated under DPS letter standards, and required to case all or a significant portion (125 pieces or more) of his/her DPS letter mail due to machine failure or other problems, additional compensation will be provided in accordance with the following formula:

• The average daily DPS letter volume from the latest mail count (when all DPS mail is received in a raw, unprocessed state or all DPS mail is improperly processed requiring casing), or
• The actual piece count (when 125 or more pieces require casing) multiplied by (x) 0.0365 minutes per piece equals (=) additional minutes payment.

b. If a carrier assigned a right-hand drive (RHD) employer-provided vehicle is being compensated under DPS letter standards, and is required to case all or a significant portion (125 pieces or more) of his/her DPS letter mail due to machine failure or other problems, additional compensation will be provided in accordance with the following formula:

• The average daily DPS letter volume from the latest mail count (when all DPS mail is received in a raw, unprocessed state or all DPS mail is improperly processed requiring casing), or
• The actual piece count (when 125 or more pieces require casing) multiplied by (x) 0.0465 minutes per piece equals (=) additional minutes payment.

Additional payment procedures will be the same as outlined in Article 9.2.N of the National Agreement between the USPS-NRLCA.

c. If a carrier on a route being compensated under the DPS flats standard is required to case all or a significant portion (55 or more pieces) of its DPS flats, due to circumstances that have left all or some portion of the DPS flats in an out of sequence condition, additional compensation will be provided in accordance with the following formula:

• The number of DPS flats received as indicated on the end-of-run (EOR) report (when all DPS flats are received in an out of sequence condition), or
• The actual piece count (when 55 or more flats require casing) multiplied (x) by 0.091 minutes per piece for those routes evaluated using the DPS flats standard or 0.0412 minutes per piece for those routes evaluated using the special DPS casing standard, equals (=) additional minutes paid.

Additional payment procedures will be the same as outlined in Article 9.2.N of the National Agreement between the USPS-NRLCA.

Note: Carriers should notify their manager immediately when they receive DPS letter or flat mail requiring casing. If a manager is not readily accessible, the carrier should note the number of DPS mailpieces they are required to case and report it to his or her manager at the first opportunity.

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[Add new items 541.44 and 541.45 to read as follows:]
541.44 Formal Review of DPS Flats Processing

If a route receiving DPS flats experiences a decrease in the quality of the DPS mail or there is a reduction of the DPS flats volume in relationship to the total flats volume of the route as compared to the latest mail count, the assigned carrier may make a written request for formal review of the DPS flats processing for the route.

If a DPS flats quantity review indicates a route is experiencing a decrease in the quantity of DPS flats volume in relationship to the total flat volume of the route, management will take corrective action to ensure that processing is returned to levels equivalent to those experienced during the previous mail count.

If corrective action has not resolved the problem within 30 calendar days of the carrier’s written request for a quantity review, or if the route fails to meet the 98% quality threshold for three (3) consecutive days within 30 calendar days of the carrier’s written request for a quality review, management will prepare Form 4003, Official Rural Route Description, affecting the appropriate base hour change. The Form 4003 will be processed to be effective on the first day of the pay period in which the DPS Flats Formal Review Request was received.

541.45 Adjustments

If, for any reason, management removes a route from the DPS flats sort scheme and the route will no longer receive DPS flats, Form 4003, Official Rural Route Description, will be prepared to appropriately adjust time allowances and processed to be effective on the first day of the pay period in which the automated processing is discontinued.

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We will incorporate these revisions into the next online update of Handbook PO-603, Rural Carrier Duties and Responsibilities, which is available on the Postal Service PolicyNet website.

Source: USPS.com