Small Package Sorting System (SPSS) sorter spine
USPS Issues Primary Craft Determination: Mail Handlers to Perform Duties Associated with SPSS Operation
On June 2, 2015, the Union recieved the Postal Service’s determination of craft jurisdiction for employees operating the Small Parcel Sorter System (SPSS), which is currently deployed in five pilot test locations, and will be deployed shortly in twenty-six other facilities around the country. As set forth in the captioned letter, the Postal Service has determined that “the primary craft for all duties associated with the operation of the SPSS is the Mail Handler Craft.”
From PostalReporter:
Last month, the Office Of Inspector General announced that it is conducting an audit on USPS’s new “Small Package Sorting Systems.” The USPS OIG wrote:
The Postal Service relies on the Automated Package Processing System (APPS) and Automated Parcel and Bundle Sorter (APBS) to sort packages. But it is testing five new Small Package Sorting Systems (SPSS) machines that could provide additional processing support for the growing package volume.
We will evaluate whether the performance, functionality, and deployment of the SPSS meets the Postal Service’s expectations for this technology.
USPS expects its package volumes to continue growing at a rapid pace.
USPS explained that due to the significant growth of package volume in the network –it will put a tremendous strain on existing infrastructure. So, USPS is preparing now for current and future network needs.
USPS purchased the five (5) “SPSS” sorters for packages weighing 20 pounds or less in order to evaluate sorter usage in different processing environments .
Recently, USPS announced it is purchasing twenty-six (26) additional SPSS machines for deployment beginning in the summer (2015). USPS said it will utilize the 26 additional SPSS machines to support key locations where “significant package volume is being sorted manually due to capacity shortfalls.” USPS anticipates the added capacity will generate an opportunity to move package volumes from manual operations onto automation.
In short, cut and/or excess more postal job/postal employees.
Below are a few additional pictures of the “Small Package Sorting System”
Small package Sorting System (SPSS) sweep side view
Small Package Sorting System (SPSS) dumpers and incline belts
More jobs for the Npmhu. Glad I made the switch years ago.
In 1997 when I started a mailhandlers job was to transport the mail to and from the machines. To get the clerks empty equipment etc… Somewhere in the early 2000 the clerk craft made all clerks in automation level 5 and that’s when we started losing our jobs in automation. What is lost in the madness is the mail should be processed by a mail processing clerk not a mailhandler. Now the apwu has lost all these jobs and once lost its lost. But, if this machine is sorting 5 digits the work belongs to the clerks.
In fact all the D.C invisible trash should get is cold dried out pizza and always arrive too late.
Mail handlers awarded jurisdiction because of lower pay? Almost every mail handler I know made 100k last year because of all the OT.
I don’t know why the clerks are arguing this machine being ran by Mailhandlers. It is a “non-skilled” position. Hate to say it mailhandlers but in the Managements eyes, your craft are “non-skilled” meaning you don’t really need to know anything..ie schemes. Just like the semi-induction on the APPS and the new induction on the APBS. Right now on our APBS, it is “operated” by light duty clerks because they don’t need to key anymore and will soon be taken over by the mailhandlers ( which is the same as the semi-induct on the APPS ran by mailhandlers). All the person does on the semi-induct APPS/APBS is make sure the package is oriented in the right position so the camera will read it. It doesn’t take any skills!! Sorry clerks, your on your way out and the Union, well……..you make the call on what they are doing.
Violation of article 4. NEW jobs created by jobs lost by tecnological/mechanization belongs to the craft whose jobs were lost, i.e., clerk craft, if memory serves me right.
Mailhandlers keep getting the work because they keep their level at 4/5. APWU keeps fighting for level increases and Lead Clerk position, while giving up all the Jobs. In the future the clerks will be level 20’s, still with V-time, but only be 10 employees in the craft! Way to go APWU!!! Again, fighting the wrong battle.
I’m a mpe for the postal service and 2 many times I c the clerks have 2 pull off mail from the machines because mailhandlers don’t care or know what will run.
Mailhandlers should get the mail from the docks 2 the machine and back 2 the docks not running the machines
The invisible D.C. trash should never get the barbecues they really want. NEVER EVER!!
Both the mailhandlers and clerk craft should be combined and has a result the unions would be stronger.
Is that even an SPSS? Unless they have Ultron on each console there is no way the machine will be able to sort accurately the bundle like 5 digit Carrier rout or 3 digit or memory item pieces
Clerks…….be a DOPA and give to COPA……boy what a con. oh by the way I saw a picture of union manager Liz “sold 117/119 down the river” Powell with Danny Glover telling everyone how bad evil po mismanagement is…………I find that funny since she made sure she got her three (3) kids into po mismanagement at Bethpage, NY LD&C by selling the senior clerks at the Melville, NY PD&C down the river. a true judas if I ever saw one. is diamondstein ever going to tell the clerks the truth about democrat sen diane feinstein and husband richard blum and their no bid postal real estate contract that has netted them over $1 billion dollars selling 55 postal buildings…………clerks it is not Staples who is the enemy……..its the crony capitalist demonrats. I guess its ok for them to mine all our uranium and send it to russia…..just ask bill and hilderbeast about that con job and how they made $150 million in 5 years. being dumb as dirt can hurt you.
Isn’t it amazing how once upon a time the Clerk craft dominated the USPS and now they’re brilliant minds of scheme knowledge no longer rules due to automation? The NPMHU skillfully negotiated itself to be the dominant craft going forward. In case most refuse to see this, “Every other link in the delivery chain from collections to delivery, belongs to the Mail Handler Craft”.
Awesome Job NPMHU National CAD!
In Unionism,
The Judge
So true ,both Union”””are all about them. They will sell us all out if they could
i key on the Spbs and here in mid island facility the clerks do all the work. It is so true they award jobs to the Mail handlers and they don’t do the job only on overtime management is so dumb. I am so glad I’m almost out of here. If they offer an early out I’m gone
It does not involve keying you have only won the afcs machines in the opening unit. The reconfiguration made them like the dbcs machines. All new jobs will go to mail andlers.
Technology happened. The Mail Handler craft has changed for the better. USPS depends on all crafts to be productive and retain/generate revenue.
A level 4 mailhandler makes the same as a level 6 clerk. We have different pay scales than clerk union. I was a clerk for 24.5 years before I was excessed and forced into Mailhandler craft.
Any job without a scheme Should be Mailhandler job!
Hate to break it to u but clerks are bring phased out with technology. As long as people order things online, mail handlers will remain.
And your pay scale is just a number.
Oh, here we go again. The USPS management wrongly assigns work to the lower paid craft, even though the clerks will grieve this and win. Whatever happened to having Mail Handlers unloading trucks by hand in the old days? When did they become mail technicians?
The clerks are not going to win that grievace. There is no keying involved. There is no scheme knowledge required. All the Postal Service has to demonstrate is that it assign the machine to the most cost effective craft. By salary that would be mail handlers.
We have come a long way since that time in the past you are refering to. We continue to show are flexibility as we transition with changes in technology. Teamwork is and will be the key the the success of the USPS.
Give up your V time and see what happens. Until then any mail handler that wants it pulls in 6 figures where I am. Comes in handy with the finish line so close.
When Mgmt figured out that mailhandlers could push buttons and stand around a console AND sweat and bleed to get the mail out! The old days of wiping the clerk’s tushies is long gone. If you were more part of the solution and not the whiny problem, you wouldn’t be losing work!
Where to begin…
Do the clerk craft ever get any new jobs? I assume you mean “does” the clerk craft get any new jobs. The answer is yes. APBS, AFCS 200, PASS system, Address Management, Call Center jobs, Lead Clerk, etc…
We give our money to COPA: You do realize that COPA is a political action fund, right? COPA has absolutely nothing to do with negotiations, bargaining, or job jurisdiction.
I’ll give credit for trying, though.
You make it sound like you are better than mail handlers. Your whole whopping $1000 a year is squat. And a level five mail handler makes $41 less a year. Do we forget that both crafts take the same test to get in? It doesn’t take a genius to run this machine.
What technology do you need to face a peice of mail so the labels face up so it can read it if that is so technical it requires a clerk that’s funny
Do the clerk craft ever get any new jobs? We give our money to COPA, Mailhandlers union get them jobs.