WEBVTT - How Do Mail Carriers Get Their Routes?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how stuff works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vogelbam Here. Neither snow nor rain, nor heat nor

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<v Speaker 1>gloom of night keeps your loyal mailman from making their

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<v Speaker 1>daily rounds in their powder blue shirt, gray shorts, and

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<v Speaker 1>occasionally awesome safari hat. But how exactly did your trustee

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<v Speaker 1>mail carrier get assigned the specific route? And how long

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<v Speaker 1>are they stuck with it? The US Postal Service was

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<v Speaker 1>established by the Constitution, and the first Postmaster General was

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<v Speaker 1>named by George Washington. In nine The new country was

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<v Speaker 1>served by seventy five post offices, delivering to four million people.

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<v Speaker 1>According to Sue Brennan at the United States Postal Service,

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<v Speaker 1>your mail carrier's current route is one of more than

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<v Speaker 1>seventy four thousand rural postal routes and nearly a hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and forty five thousand city routes across the nation. The

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<v Speaker 1>longest single route in America is in Magnum, Oklahoma, where

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<v Speaker 1>a well traveled world carrier drives a hundred and eighty

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<v Speaker 1>three miles that's two kios every day to serve two

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<v Speaker 1>undering forty eight customers. The shortest route is in Athens, Georgia,

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<v Speaker 1>where a city carrier walks nine d and fifty feet

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<v Speaker 1>that's two hundred nine ms to make two hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>eighty one deliveries. We spoke with Brian Renfrow. He's a

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<v Speaker 1>second generation letter carrier from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, currently serving as

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<v Speaker 1>the executive vice president of the National Association of Letter Carriers,

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<v Speaker 1>a labor union representing America's two hundred thousand city postal workers.

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<v Speaker 1>Renfrow explained to us the process by which an individual

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<v Speaker 1>postal route is designed and assigned for starters. Renfrow says

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<v Speaker 1>rural carriers and city carriers have different systems for determining

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<v Speaker 1>the size of a route. A rural carrier's route is

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<v Speaker 1>much more consistent, and they are paid for the amount

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<v Speaker 1>of time it takes them to complete the route. For

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<v Speaker 1>city carriers, the guiding principle of route design is for

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<v Speaker 1>a carrier to complete the route in as close to

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<v Speaker 1>eight hours as possible. As you can imagine, an eight

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<v Speaker 1>hour route looks a lot different depending on your location.

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<v Speaker 1>In a dense urban center full of high rise apartments,

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<v Speaker 1>it might take a postal worker eight hours to serve

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<v Speaker 1>us a couple of blocks out in the suburbs. Another

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<v Speaker 1>postal worker might walk and drive miles delivering two single

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<v Speaker 1>family homes. The size and dimensions of each route are

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<v Speaker 1>calculated using a combination of computer based mapping software and

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<v Speaker 1>old fashioned on the ground experience. Renfrew said. The postal

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<v Speaker 1>service has a computer program that maps the exact location

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<v Speaker 1>of every delivery point, not just this house is here,

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<v Speaker 1>but where the mailbox is. And this program uses a

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<v Speaker 1>number of algorithms to try to generate the most efficient

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<v Speaker 1>way to travel the route based on the time value

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<v Speaker 1>that's assigned to each street. The computer's timing of the

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<v Speaker 1>route is just a starting point, though after that it's

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<v Speaker 1>the postal manager's job to account for reality, which includes

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<v Speaker 1>all the variables that can impact the time it takes

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<v Speaker 1>to complete a route. There are seasonal fluctuations in mail volume.

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<v Speaker 1>There's inclement weather, there's road construction and new home construction,

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<v Speaker 1>and the very human differences between one carrier and the next,

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<v Speaker 1>Renfrew said. Some letter carriers are tall, some are short,

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<v Speaker 1>some are young, some are older, some are faster, some

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<v Speaker 1>are slower. There are all sorts of variables that play

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<v Speaker 1>into it. There's no set time to deliver mail at

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<v Speaker 1>a particular house, the postal carrier has to spend a

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<v Speaker 1>few hours sorting the mail into trays before heading out

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<v Speaker 1>on their route. The trays correspond to the order of

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<v Speaker 1>the route. If the house is ahead of you on

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<v Speaker 1>the route happened to be heavier on mail than usual

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<v Speaker 1>on any given day, the letters may get to your

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<v Speaker 1>box later than on another day, even if the weather

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<v Speaker 1>is good and there's no road construction or other delays.

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<v Speaker 1>Keeping the roots as close to eight hours as possible

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<v Speaker 1>requires regular adjustments. Postal managers will conduct six day root

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<v Speaker 1>inspections to accurately time each part of the letter carrier's day,

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<v Speaker 1>from the daily morning sorting to the on the street

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<v Speaker 1>delivery to hanging up their bag at night. If a

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<v Speaker 1>carrier's day is stretching closer to eight and a half hours,

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<v Speaker 1>the postal manager will slice off a portion of that

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<v Speaker 1>route and divvy it up among nearby carriers with lighter loads.

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<v Speaker 1>That explains why you might see a new face on

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<v Speaker 1>your route every couple of years. Otherwise, the assigning of

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<v Speaker 1>roots at any given post office is done by seniority.

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<v Speaker 1>When a route is vacated, the carrier quits or retires,

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<v Speaker 1>or a new one is created, all the carriers in

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<v Speaker 1>the office get too bid on the route, the carrier

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<v Speaker 1>with the most seniority wins. If you've had the same

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<v Speaker 1>letter carrier for a long time, that probably means you're

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<v Speaker 1>part of a desirable route, or those cookies you gave

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<v Speaker 1>them on National Postal Worker Day July one are really

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<v Speaker 1>paying off. In addition to the long term root adjustments

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<v Speaker 1>that are made every few months or years, the Postal

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<v Speaker 1>Service also makes short term root fixes. When letter carriers

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<v Speaker 1>show up to work every morning, they look at the

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<v Speaker 1>day's mail volume and make an estimate of how long

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<v Speaker 1>it will take to complete their assigned route. Maybe it's

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<v Speaker 1>a snow day or a day after a government holiday,

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<v Speaker 1>so the delivery volume is doubled. If they know it's

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<v Speaker 1>going to take more than eight hours, they can either

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<v Speaker 1>volunteer for overtime. Overtime sign ups are every three months,

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<v Speaker 1>or the supervisor can assign a portion of the route

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<v Speaker 1>to other carriers for the day. Renfrew notes that though

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<v Speaker 1>this may sound simple in practice, it can get complicated fast.

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<v Speaker 1>Individual post offices in big cities like New York, Los Angeles,

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<v Speaker 1>or Boston might have to hundred to three hundred letter

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<v Speaker 1>carriers to manage, each with hundreds of ever changing customers

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<v Speaker 1>to deliver to. Today's episode was written by Dave Ruse

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<v Speaker 1>and produced by Tyler Clay. Brain Stuff is a production

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<v Speaker 1>of iHeartMedia's How Stuff Works. For more on this and

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<v Speaker 1>lots of other topics that deliver, visit our home planet,

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<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com. And for more podcasts for

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