I Finished My Route. Now What?

Start with what you are actually doing next

You finished the route. Then the supervisor says, “I need you to do something else.” Before worrying about scanner buttons, identify the work. The words sound similar, but rural timekeeping treats them differently.

• Finished and going home → normal End-of-Shift.
• Casing newly received mail for the next delivery day → PMCASING after normal End-of-Shift duties are complete.
• Going back out with more work from the same route → second trip.
• Taking part of another route → auxiliary assistance.
• Serving the entire other route → another full route assignment.
• Serving an actual auxiliary route → an auxiliary route assignment, which is not the same thing as auxiliary assistance.

RETURN2DU starts End-of-Shift actual time

Use RETURN2DU after route delivery is complete and you have returned to the delivery unit and stopped the vehicle. That begins the RRECS End-of-Shift timing period.

This is where legitimate end-of-day work belongs: unloading and returning equipment, clearing accountables, handling mail you brought back, dealing with outgoing or pickup material, and other normal closing duties.

If you are done after that, CLOCKOUT ends the workday.

PMCASING is a boundary, not a pay code

PMCASING does not clock you out and it does not mean “pay me from here forward.” It tells RRECS that your normal End-of-Shift duties are finished and you are moving into work that is credited or compensated another way.

The RRECS Activity Guide says PMCASING is used after all other End-of-Shift duties are complete before casing mail for the next delivery day. It may also be used when management directs an additional trip after End-of-Shift duties are finished.

The physical work still happened on the day you performed it. PMCASING only changes how RRECS treats the time after that point; it does not erase the rest of your workday.

Do not hit PMCASING while you are still doing normal End-of-Shift work

If you RETURN2DU and immediately select PMCASING, then spend another fifteen minutes doing ordinary closing duties, you have told RRECS that End-of-Shift work ended before it really did.

A safer rule for a new carrier is simple: finish the work that belongs to the route you just completed first. Then use PMCASING only when you are actually changing into next-day casing, a second trip, or another separately accounted activity.

Same route after you finished: think second trip

Suppose you finish Route 10, return to the office, complete your End-of-Shift duties, and management hands you late Route 10 parcels and sends you back out. That is the classic second-trip situation.

Published RRECS second-trip guidance uses PMCASING to stop End-of-Shift time, then STARTLOADVEH and ENDLOADVEH for the additional loading. The second trip is still separately documented for compensation; PMCASING itself is not the payment.

1. RETURN2DU.
2. Finish legitimate End-of-Shift duties.
3. PMCASING.
4. STARTLOADVEH.
5. Load the additional trip.
6. ENDLOADVEH.
7. Make the second trip.
8. Return and CLOCKOUT when all work is complete.
9. Make sure the second trip is documented on the route/timekeeping record required by your office.

Different route, only part of it: auxiliary assistance

Suppose you finish Route 10 and management gives you two rows, a subdivision, or a hamper of parcels from Route 22. That is not a second trip on Route 10. You are providing auxiliary assistance to Route 22.

For RCAs and PTFs, the current National Agreement treats auxiliary-assistant work as actual-time compensation. The work should be identified with the route you actually helped rather than disappearing into the route you already finished.

PMCASING may mark the end of Route 10's RRECS End-of-Shift period when appropriate, but PMCASING is not what creates or pays the Route 22 assistance.

Different route, all of it: another full route assignment

If management actually assigns you the entire second route, that is different from helping with a piece of it. You served another route.

Under the current National Agreement, RCA compensation is based on the evaluation of the regular or auxiliary route served when total actual work does not exceed forty hours in the workweek. PTF compensation likewise uses route evaluation or mileage while total actual work remains at or below forty hours. When actual weekly hours exceed forty, the agreement moves compensation to actual hours, with overtime treatment for hours above forty.

That does not mean management can routinely stack any two routes together. The Order of Consideration cites the R-96 settlement: except in emergency situations, a leave replacement should not be scheduled for two full assignments, or one full assignment plus partial assignments, when their combined evaluations total twelve hours or more.

Auxiliary route and auxiliary assistance are not the same thing

An auxiliary route is an actual USPS route assignment. Auxiliary assistance means helping with part of somebody else's route.

The current agreement specifically distinguishes the two. PTFs serving an auxiliary route receive the route's daily evaluated hours while under the forty-hour weekly threshold; PTFs serving as auxiliary assistants are paid the actual hours of that assistance. RCAs likewise receive evaluated treatment for a regular or auxiliary route served while under forty actual hours, but actual-time treatment when serving as an auxiliary assistant.

This is why “I worked an aux” is not specific enough for pay questions. Ask whether you served an auxiliary route or provided auxiliary assistance.

What changes for a Regular carrier?

A regular carrier's assigned route is normally paid through the route's evaluated salary. Under the current temporary MOU, a regular rural carrier may volunteer to provide service on another rural route in the office after completing the assigned route. That additional work is paid at the overtime rate, and the MOU expires May 20, 2027.

For any help on another route, the important habit is the same: keep the assisted route and the actual time identifiable.

The five-question shortcut

• Am I still finishing today's route? → Stay in normal route/End-of-Shift workflow.
• Am I casing newly received mail for the next delivery day? → Finish End-of-Shift first, then PMCASING.
• Am I going back out with more work from the same route? → Think second trip.
• Am I taking only part of another route? → Think auxiliary assistance and actual time.
• Am I serving the entire other route? → Think second full route assignment, not auxiliary assistance.

What should I write down?

When the day gets complicated, keep enough information to reconstruct it later. This helps with both pay questions and route-data questions.

• Which route you completed first.
• The time you returned and completed normal End-of-Shift duties.
• What management directed you to do next.
• Whether the additional work was the same route or another route.
• If it was another route, whether you did the whole route or only part of it.
• Start and end time for auxiliary assistance.
• Any second-trip documentation required on the route record.
• The RRECS entries you used.

The one sentence to remember

PMCASING does not pay you. It tells RRECS that normal End-of-Shift time has ended because you are moving into work that must be credited or compensated another way.

When in doubt, identify the real-world work first. The correct scanner entry and pay treatment become much easier once you know whether you are casing tomorrow's mail, making a second trip, helping part of another route, or serving another full route.