I’m Carlos Abin and I’m a data collection technician, or DCT, with the Postal Service’s statistical programs department, which is part of finance, under pricing and costing.
I’ve been in statistical programs for 31 of my 39 years with the Postal Service. I am domiciled to the Red Bank Post Office but work and travel throughout New Jersey District.
I’m one of 20 DCTs in the district, and it’s my job to collect information about parcels, letters and flats in the mailstream.
The data contributes to the development of proposed price changes and budget preparation. The data is also used in studies that support management’s decision-making when it comes to transportation and mail flow operations.
I’m typically on duty from 3 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. or 4 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. My work is mostly done at Post Offices, but I also work at mail handling facilities.
I will get to an office in the morning when the first trucks with parcels arrive.
I bring my work laptop, a scale, a scanner and a measuring tape to record information such as mailpiece weight, class and dimensions.
The Origin-Destination Information System, or ODIS, test is one of the tests that I do. The program asks for the weight of the piece of mail and its measurements. I check to make sure the price is correct for the weight, especially if there is priority postage or it is metered mail. The program shows if the parcel was overpaid or underpaid.
A lot of times, there are permit imprints on the parcels. The permits won’t tell the price, but I can get it from other information on the piece if it’s USPS Ground Advantage or Priority Mail. The program goes through every type of indicia that we are sampling.
Post Offices usually have more than one truck of mail arriving. I sample all of them, but I don’t have time to scan every parcel. We have charts that guide us. If a truck has 500 parcels, based on the chart, I will sample every third, fifth or 10th parcel. This data also helps measure Post Office workloads and productivity.
I’ve been certified as a subject matter expert, so I train new DCTs until they feel comfortable going out and testing by themselves.
When I train people for this job, they ask what the worst part of it is. I tell them time, especially if they have a family because you have to get up early. But I like it a lot.
This is a very independent job. There are very good jobs in the Postal Service, and this is one of them.
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