USPS Tips for getting faster as an RCA on a Rural Route

Here are my tips for getting faster on a mail route. I would love to get some feedback and hear your tips too!

[awefense]

Thanks for doing these videos. It has been some time since I've watched. I started as a PTF 5 months ago. I landed a 43 H route 3 months ago. It was rated for 7.2 hours. We got our eval results today and my route was bumped up to a 42K route. It has been a struggle but I feel like I am finally getting the hang of this. Just don't quit!

[WesMott]

The tip about organizing instead of tossing things around when searching for a specific parcel is key. I don't even sort the back half of the routes before leaving the office. I just pile them in b/c the LLV is going to make sure they're all scrambled anyway. When I reach the halfway point. I move the small stuff up front (on and under the tray), and the large stuff is sorted just behind the door. Seems to be helping me after 3 weeks as a noob.

[MrMindless]

For newer rcas just scan the packages and write down the sequence number this way you don’t need to think about the address you know what number comes next.. case your sprs with your hot case stuff… don’t case your dps but stagger the mail while pulling down this was you have your sprs in with your dps so on the road you are just grabbing and going and you don’t have to think about the smaller packages that fit in mailboxes.. everything else just comes in time without you even noticing.. it really seems like a lot of people don’t have super long routes I’m in upstate nyc and the routes can be extremely long due to the boxes being so far apart.. if you are new do not worry about how long it takes you to get back, it takes time.. mondays are usually insane for us and let me tell you nobody is casing 8 or 9 trays of dps lmfao

[stanleyshostak]

Great video. I’ve been an RCA for ten years. There are always new things to learn, I deal with different routes in different ways. For example I like to take the DPS and alternate address up and the next one down (in the DPS tray). Then bring the tray to the street.
However my normal route has a lot of addresses with dashes ie 123-1 main St. those do not get sorted well by the DPS machine. Therefore I case that route.

[stanleyshostak]

Oh and another trick I have learned. When trying a new technique stick with it for a couple of weeks. Wh n you are covering a route for an entire week that is a good time to try out a new method too.
When you deliver a few days in a row you find your own mistakes and learn from them.

[Bruhlosophy]

Thank you for the video. 1 thing I do that other carriers have loved when they try is to: pull flats down into your dps. Instead of casing in and then pulling down hundreds and hundreds of letters of dps with your flats, flip your dps and have your pulled down flats next to you as you do so so that you can stick the next flat in with the Dps as you flip it.
To further explain case in and pull down only, the far less amount of flats rather than casing in a large amount of dps and then pulling it all back down. Stick the flat behind the corresponding addresses into the flipped dps letters in the dps trays. Less work, less handling less overall time.

[catbroad]

I just became an RCA, and I gotta tell ya, I am SLOWWW at casing, AND on the street. It doesn't help that I'm straddling a sedan with a center console (which I know slows me down even more), and it's frustrating being the last one out and the last one back in. I'm gonna use these tips and hopefully I can get out of the office by 10:00 on a normal day lol.

[victorfelipe]

Thanks. My kids work as rural carriers

[craiglist]

Thanks for putting this together! it has a lot of good content.

[egigstertroll]

paralysis by analysis lol. i have to think to myself just trust the dps and follow it. Don't over think it grab it and go. But i love how one office has one sheet of paper that gives you a park point and below shows the loop and the numbers of the loop. So when I am new on it it's easy.

Park 20 Euclid Ave
loop 1 (20-21)
loop 2 (22-23)

Park s John St
loop 1 etc

john 30, 32, 35 dismount

makes it easy and faster to learn too and it's concise. My main office doesn't give that so when new to a route I use the dps to judge a parking point and sometimes it's not so convenient. Sometimes a parking point can save a mess ton of time.

I got into trouble in the past by getting too crazy deliverying packages loops ahead. I learned to keep the package deliveries to the loop and if i can deliver it in my satchel do it. If i do a u turn by driving around block and i know an address i have a package for i will deliver it. But I have killed myself in time thinking i was saving time by deliverying packages up to 3 loops ahead and being like "now only dps!!! all down hill from here!!!"

Then if i make a mistake i can try to make the mistake useful and deliver the packages on my way back to the office.

This might be a contested point---but it's quicker to walk then to dismount. If you are ready to drop mail by the time you get to the mailbox that is faster then 1) putting on seat belot 2) starting the truck 3) straightening the wheel 3) looking and 4) going--then 5) parking 6) curbing 7 ) braking 8) unseatbelting 9) taking mail 10) exiting and locking 11) rinse and repeat--if you walk good pace and finger the mail and ready you can definitely walk a route faster than to dismount it

I did a route that had good space between houses so i was like ok I will dismount this
1) i would do two houses to my right
2) two houses to my left (pretty much fingering off the bottom on the other side)

3) drive 4 houses up and rinse and repeat.

thinking i am only driving once up the street and done.

the next day I walked it and was dumbfounded at how much faster it was despite the distance.

[Pollix]

I get thrown to offices that are within a 100 mile radius of my house (nice for e-expense reports, but it's a lotta hours). One thing I do no matter what office I'm in, I will mark the insides of mailboxes that are missing numbers, or write directions of where to turn before intersections. It helps me and any other RCA who run these routes

[Wendyjo]

Thank you so much for making these videos!

[Ka_Gg]

As a new person, I hear people say casing DPS takes longer, but how much longer does it really take? I just couldn't imagine it taking more than 5 mins extra. When you are on the route, you still have to finger through it anyway and it's another tray that's in your way.

Im still very new and honestly the casing of DPS isn't the time killer. It's the 75 million packages. I delivered several years ago as very part time help and there was a fraction of the packages there are now. Getting in and out of your vehicle all the time to drop off packages is what kills time. Can't get into any rhythm.

And I don't care what anyone says about the Line Of Travel. That thing sucks! It needs to be more specific. A lot of times it's like "go down this road and retrace". It will say the mileage, but let's be real, when you turn on a road, , nobody looks at the mileage.

I guess I'm ranting now. I just don't see how my route would get done normally at evaluated time. Even when riding with my regular, we got done just on time and that was with a lighter load.

[haijiang]

I'm a new CCA, you are great trainer. Always smile 🤗

[mattbortz]

Sometimes its easy to get overwhelmed while trying to remember 3-4 things at once, or what mail or package is coming up next. You have to learn how to shut that down, and get passed that.
The best thing to make yourself faster on the route (which is frowned upon) is getting the mail ready before you get to the box. You can't always get it all, but that will make you 10x faster. Limit your time at each box

[Duskyify]

Casing all dps/flats and Criss crossing mail when pulling down is for me. I might be in the office longer on the street I fly. With extreme cold or hot temps and no proper heat or cooling system in the old vehicles no way in hell do I want to be on the street longer than I need to. The front vents rarely work for heat, we have recorded temps inside a vehicle in motion at 104 degrees F. It's either a icebox or a oven.

[sarahjessica]

Thanks so much for making this video. I'm a CCA and want this job SO BADLY. It's tough having a different route every single day.. my boss said I need to be faster if he's going to keep me past my 90 days :( Doing my best but this video gave me some good ideas. Thanks!

[Tkw]

I just became an rca during the end of November. Now I’m finally getting a chance to be on route and deliver mail and I take FOREVER! I get anxiety from how many packages are in the llv. And I mark every one of them, organize them in the vehicle and in order of route to the best of my memory. But I still end up missing. I manage to case my Dps and flats in 3 hrs and take about an 1hr to 1hr 30mins to mark and organize my parcels.

I haven’t been back to the office before 6 this whole past week and they even sent me help.



I’m lucky and have a smaller workload than some of the other rcas. But it’s so frustrating being slow. Also the amount of packages is less than christmas but not much less.

I wish the new trucks would get here so I wouldn’t spend so much time trying to move things around. Or trying to start the vehicle. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I know I can get better. It’s just frustrating right now.

[artisteric]

I’m on a 8.5 hour K route. I put up all my presort and raw and sometimes my dps. When it’s hot out and my brain slows down I’d rather case dps in the office for quicker and safer times on the road. Often I’ll just take it out to the street and flip flop some once in a while. I like to mix it up from time to time so it doesn’t get too redundant. I mark my bigs in the case with a card and stack
them in order towards the front of the truck so I rarely have to go open the back of the llv. Regardless of what I case, I always pull down criss cross. I don’t bundle. I can do the route in about 6.5 hours from clock in to clock out

[BoilingKoolaid]

I feel like one of my biggest time wasters is flipping through the mail at the boxes. We aren’t allowed to case DPS because they want us out of the office faster. I get my packages marked with sequence and section numbers and case the flats. I’ll use rubber bands to make DPS bundles but when I grab a bundle I still have to flip through at each box to get the letters for that box.

I would like to try going through and alternating the DPS with one up and one down so I could know how many to put without flipping through. The roads are really bad though and I think the bouncing and sliding would just make them fall flat and defeat the purpose.