Automated Package Parcel Sorter (APPS)

In a June 2, 2004 , letter [PDF] to the APWU and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, the USPS awarded work on the Automated Package Parcel Sorter (APPS) to the Mail Handler Craft.

The APWU filed a dispute [PDF] with the National Dispute Resolution Committee (RI 399).

Locals affected by the USPS decision should initiate a dispute before their Local Dispute Resolution Committee in accordance with guidelines [PDF] from the union’s national headquarters.

Automated Package Parcel Sorter (APPS) machines will replace many Small Parcel Bundle Sorters in large offices. The USPS has purchased 74 APPS machines from Lockheed Martin, with an option to buy 50 more.

The USPS has provided the APWU with a deployment schedule dated Nov. 2, 2004, [PDF] and an APPS Methods Guide [PDF], dated August 2004. (Deployment schedules dated August 2004, [PDF] and June 25, 2004, [PDF] are now obsolete.)

The deployment of these machines will affect the staffing levels of SPBS clerks. Each APPS machine can eliminate two or three Small Parcel Bundler Sorter (SPBS) machines, and has a throughput of 18,000 pieces per hour.

Staffing in Associate Offices may also be affected, due to the consolidation of parcel distribution, similar to what occurred with flats when FSM 100 machines were introduced. Some SPBS machines may be redeployed into some offices that did not previously have them.

[back to top]