Rural letter carrier
Formerly, residents of rural areas had to either travel to a distant post office to pick up their mail, or else pay for delivery by a private carrier.
Postmaster General John Wanamaker first suggested rural free deliver (RFD) of mail in the United States in his annual report for fiscal year 1891.
[1] The Post Office Department first experimented with the idea of rural mail delivery on October 1, 1891 to determine the viability of RFD.
The first routes to receive RFD during its experimental phase were in Jefferson County, West Virginia, near Charles Town, Halltown and Uvilla.
Parcel post service allowed the distribution of national newspapers and magazines, and was responsible for millions of dollars of sales in mail-order merchandise to customers in rural areas.
The National Rural Letter Carriers' Association[5] was formed in 1903 at a cost of fifty cents per year in dues to its members.
Since its inception, it has had an effective legislative program in the United States Congress to promote and protect the interests of rural carriers.
Only NRLCA can represent members of the rural carrier craft in the grievance procedure, including providing protection in disciplinary actions.
The NRLCA provides a monthly publication, The National Rural Letter Carrier, to keep its members informed on postal and legislative matters of vital interest.
ID badges are issued for security control of access to postal premises and operations and to identify individuals as USPS employees.
[8] For each day servicing a route using a privately owned vehicle, the USPS pays an "Equipment Maintenance Allowance" (EMA) in accordance with the applicable schedule.
[10] In 1962, the NRLCA and Post Office negotiated their first contract under Executive Order 10988, and within it, the Heavy Duty Agreement, or Evaluated Pay System was instituted.
Adjustments to the annual salary may be made periodically as route situations change, such as the addition or deletion of territory or mileage.
Rural carriers cannot earn overtime pay except for short period during the Christmas season, unless they sign the RDWL to work their assigned day off for the week.
[citation needed] On July 3, 2012, the postal service & NRLCA agreed to create the Rural Route Evaluated Compensation System (RRECS).
Mapping captures the line of travel for each route, plus the distances of mailstops, mailboxes and direct door delivery stops associated with each customer address.
[12] On March 20, 2023, the NRLCA was notified that because of system issues, the PS Forms 4241-A could not be generated, causing a delay in RRECS implementation until at least April 8.
Senators, consisting of Democrats Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Ed Markey & John Fetterman and Independent Bernie Sanders, sent a letter to United States Postmaster General Louis DeJoy saying RRECS should not be used until the system’s serious flaws are rectified.
