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Retail / Sales & Service
Automated Postal Centers
The USPS began deploying Automated Postal Centers (APCs) in February 2004, and plans to install them throughout the country. APCs are designed to reduce lines at windows and provide customers an alternate way to send mail and purchase services. They provide many of the services currently available at full-service windows, including:
A USPS document [PDF] provides the APWU with a list of APC sites and associated revenue as of Aug. 25, 2005.
[read more]
Bulk Mail Acceptance Duties
Sales and service clerks are entitled to higher-level pay when they perform bulk mail acceptance duties, and they must receive training. An article in the March/April 2006 edition of The American Postal Worker magazine outlines the issue.
Bulk Mail Acceptance Duties
Documenting Work for Upgrades
In the event you find it necessary to file a grievance seeking to upgrade a duty assignment because of bulk mail acceptance duties, you will need specific documentation to support your case. If your office does not qualify for a full-time Level 6 position, clerks performing bulk mail work are entitled to Level 6 pay for hours they spend performing the work. Documentation will be needed to support grievances seeking higher-level pay. [read more]
Lobby Director Program
The Lobby Director Program [PDF] may be utilized in locations where lobby traffic is extremely high in order to reduce the customers’ time in line. The guidelines recognize this exclusively as a function of the Clerk Craft.
Mystery Shopper Evaluations
An undated letter [PDF] from USPS headquarters indicates that Mystery Shopper Evaluations cannot be used to justify disciplinary action. Local projects similar to the Mystery Shopper program cannot be used to justify disciplinary action either. The letter was sent to all Area Labor Relations Managers at the request of the APWU.
Employees must follow the instructions of their supervisors, however, and may be subject to discipline based on the independent personal observations of their supervisor. They cannot be issued discipline based on the hearsay evaluation of a mystery shopper or similar third party.
Position Descriptions
The Position Descriptions and the Qualification Standards [PDF] for Lead Sales & Service Associates, Sales & Service Associates and Sales, Service & Distribution Associates are provided.
Questions and Answers
About the Sales and Services Associate Exam
This series of Questions and Answers about the Sales and Services Associate (SSA) Exam [PDF] dated Sept. 17, 2003, lists agreements between the union and management at the national level. The APWU and USPS are bound by the terms of this document at the local level.
WOS Time Factors
(12/19/07) The Postal Service uses Window Operations Surveys (WOS) to analyze staffing in retail units. In October 2007 management established new time factors [Excel file] for use in evaluating the number of workers needed for an operation.
Self Service Postal Centers
A July 15, 2004, letter [PDF] from management outlines USPS plans for stamp vending machines as Automated Postal Centers (APCs) are deployed. The letter reviews the previous correspondence between the union and management on the subject, and provides lists of vending machines that will be eliminated, by model number and location.
ABOUT THE CLERK DIVISION
Jim McCarthy, Director
Pat Williams, Asst. Director “A”
Mike Morris, Asst. Director “B”
Rob Strunk, Asst. Director “C”
Telephone: 202-842-4220
Fax: 202-842-8517
The Clerk Division is the largest division of the American Postal Workers Union and represents the interests of the largest craft in the U.S. Postal Service...
