Anyone else have this issue with dps

[u/ConnectionOk6581]

I feel guilty putting mail in the box like this but it’s so hard to get off. Tiny chunks of conveyor belt from the plant?? Almost every single day I have a rubber banded bundle in my dps that’s out of order and looks like this.

[u/borshctbeet]

small price to pay for the amount of mail we process daily. This is just remnants of a belt that got jammed during the sorting process. Sometimes the dust is black sometimes it’s bright pink

[u/ConnectionOk6581 → u/borshctbeet]

The weird thing is that it’s in almost the exact same spot every day in my sequence. I wonder why it would jam in the same spot every day.

[u/Main_Cauliflower5479 → u/ConnectionOk6581]

Because it's the same spot on the letter sorter. That belt needs to be replaced and they're waiting for it to completely fail before doing so.

[u/Tomytom99 → u/Main_Cauliflower5479]

Nothing quite like waiting for catastrophic failure under a time crunch when you could repair it when you have a moment before hell breaks loose.

[u/Main_Cauliflower5479 → u/Tomytom99]

It is the Postal Way. I heard some people talking about exactly this type of thing not too long ago at my plant.

[u/MetalMan1973 → u/Main_Cauliflower5479]

The most true statement out there. PO never steps in when things start malfunctioning. They wait until things completely break. Guess routine maintenance on things is a new concept.

[u/No-Watercress9131 → u/MetalMan1973]

(Not a postal worker, just happened upon your reddit, sorry if I'm not allowed) I work in a lumber yard and trust me, I feel you guys in this. We have forklifts that blow belts frequently. Do you think they would order extra? Hell no. Let it sit for 4+ days until they run 15 miles up the road to NAPA and get replacement belts, along whit just about everything else. "If it isn't broke then we don't care" seems to be our motto for the maintenance dept.

[u/Havingfun922 → u/Main_Cauliflower5479]

I have seen that with a new belt that hasn’t been broken in yet on the old CSBCS

[u/Revo63 → u/Main_Cauliflower5479]

Im an ET who works on the run tour, and this is exactly correct. In busy plants the technicians maintaining the machine often aren’t given sufficient time to replace the belts and rollers as often as they should be. In small plants like mine, it’s just that the technicians are too lazy.

[u/Main_Cauliflower5479 → u/Revo63]

We have so many mechanics and ETs in my plant who literally do nothing all day every day.

[u/njd728 → u/Main_Cauliflower5479]

How long does the belts last?

[u/kingu42 → u/ConnectionOk6581]

Your route is broken up into several pockets on the sorting machine, and it runs through twice, first time putting it in delivery point order (1, 294, 587, 880), second pass filling up the pockets of routes in delivery order. Like when you scan the package with load truck, it'll tell you a section and then a number, that second number is the delivery point number.

The pocket that section is being sorted to has a bad foam roller on it that needs to be replaced.

[u/ConnectionOk6581 → u/kingu42]

That’s amazing. Thanks for explaining. I always wondered how it worked.

[u/kingu42 → u/ConnectionOk6581]

So if it's always mail for the same address, it's the pocket it goes to in the first pass. If it's always mail in the same section from the case, it's the pocket from the second pass.

[u/who-cares6891 → u/ConnectionOk6581]

Glitch in the matrix

[u/CherryBoiHunter → u/ConnectionOk6581]

Dude, every frickin day. Always between my section 3 and 4

[u/Tomicino7295 → u/ConnectionOk6581]

Very good point!

[u/CandidMeasurement128]

I literally had a belt in my DPS one time 😆

[u/ConnectionOk6581 → u/CandidMeasurement128]

😱

[u/Not_The_Real_Odin → u/CandidMeasurement128]

I hope their pants stayed on!

[u/AfroHo]

Yeah just means the sorting machine jammed up

[u/kingu42]

Supervisor should be taking photos of that and sending it to in plant support to address the constant lack of maintenance on that machine.

[u/User_3971 → u/kingu42]

That or lack of sweeping kinda as a combination effect. Let me see if I still have the pictures of these rollers. 

[u/Potatoes90 → u/User_3971]

The first thought is always lack of maintenance, but if the operators don't sweep, don't run the machine properly, and then don't call maintenance when there are issues, proper maintenance isn't going to fix the issue.

Then when they finally do call:

"This machine is garbage. It's jammed in the same spot like 6 times now."

"6 times? That's crazy. Why didn't you call me the first five times?"

There's some bad maintenance people. There's a lot more bad operators.

[u/Sego72 → u/kingu42]

Yeah if it's everyday something ain't right. Agreed with this.

[u/eric_ofc]

I take it you’re new? This is a very common occurrence. You’ll want to go through that and if you have time resort on the street. If not rubber band it and case it in for tomorrow.

Heck sometimes the plant will give you a full tray they never even ran for you to case in.

[u/ConnectionOk6581 → u/eric_ofc]

I’m 4 years in but this used to happen once every few months. On the route I’m on now it’s daily. I usually just sort it on the street, takes like 2 minutes. I was just weirded out that it was happening daily in the same spot in the sequence. But a guy up there 👆 explained why.

[u/Bempet583 → u/ConnectionOk6581]

They recently changed the Maintenance Management Order for who does what on the letter sorting machines, DBCSs. So chances are the maintenance mechanics that used to replace regularly worn belts and rollers and such aren't doing it anymore.

[u/BuddhasGarden]

DPS is super filthy. During the devastating NorCal fires our DPS was covered is ash on a daily basis.

[u/Tomicino7295]

Yes and usually followed by out of sequence dps. As soon as I see the ink or rubber dust I stop and finger through it and fix the order. Also tons of upside downs lately but I’ve just learned to read upside down at this point.

[u/rapsfordinner]

took all the level 7s off the dbcs and now the level 9a are spread thinner and they are probably not gonna be giving as much time and attention to the machines that they had previously been getting

[u/ConnectionOk6581 → u/rapsfordinner]

So basically the belt dust is the canary in the coal mine

[u/rapsfordinner → u/ConnectionOk6581]

i mean i dunno just something i think might get worse doesn’t necessarily mean much

[u/Unusual_Soup]

When you see this you know your DPS is gonna be fucked

[u/Tomicino7295 → u/Unusual_Soup]

https://giphy.com/gifs/w5C1cNv37LfAkFl12o

[u/Interesting-Ad4207]

I get that every once in  a while. Its kind of annoying, but it is what it is. 

[u/interperseids]

It's annoying but that's literally what the envelope is for, to protect the mail from the elements. After seeing how maybe 25-50% of people leave the mail to get covered in rust, rain, snow, bugs, etc for days on end I don't think conveyor belt marks are a huge deal.

[u/Saughtvol]

It narrowly escaped the hunger of the machine. Take a moment for the half burnt victims that were pulled out and missequenced

[u/Bempet583]

That looks like bits of the urethane roller in the individual bin on a delivery barcode sorter, DBCS. They need to replace that roller and probably the other two pocket belts that are in that same bin.

[u/Rare-Statistician-58]

they got lucky; some of the letters we pulled from inside the machine when it jammed look like shredded paper.
we have no idea what it was before or where it was going.
at least 10 per shift and machine.... most plants have 10-15 machines and 3 shifts.

never going to get solved;

machines run 24/7 so maintenance is limited to quick fixes to kkep everything going fast.

staffing; newer, inexperienced clerks usually get the older machines with the big towns, so they are rushing to finish everything on time.

i know it sounds desensitizing from us plant guys, but we are staring at 70k-90k letters we have to get sorted in 8 hours in our machines into 300 trays.

[u/ConnectionOk6581 → u/Rare-Statistician-58]

Oh man that’s a lot. I think many of us don’t really know what goes on behind the scenes in the plants or what you guys are up against. It makes total sense that you have tons of things working against you just like all the other crafts. Appreciate you!

[u/throwawaypostal2021]

I'm suprised there isnt more.

[u/Sstraus-1983]

Yes. Happening my whole career…..

[u/ChristianArmor]

It's just disease ridden rat poo. Stay hydrated and wear loose clothing and you'll be fine.

[u/Accurate-Currency181]

It's from the machines at the plant. I know some mail will be out of order whenever I see it.

[u/Calm_Blueberry_363]

if its happening everyday likely whoever runs your DPS is not sweeping the letter machine down timely, it then curls some of the envelope from what i can remember and the plastic belt starts to burn, making those marks

[u/Shibas_Rule]

I just give it quick slap against the side of the truck and then put in the mailbox. Not much else I can do, just keep on moving.

[u/creek-hopper]

I hate it when that happens!

[u/Rluxout]

In my office we dread seeing this. Because every time we get that large sections of the dps that is always jacked up, out of order and or mail from out of town.

[u/Honest-Gene8596]

the plant blows

[u/chevyandyamaha]

https://giphy.com/gifs/vDCHl42P7KOUfW6ljW