PS Form 1260 is the paper timecard postal employees use when the electronic badge reader is down, a badge won’t read, or a new hire doesn’t yet have credentials in the system. To fill it out correctly, you complete the header identifiers at the top, then log each clock ring on its own row with the date, ring type, operation code, and time expressed in hundredths of an hour. A supervisor signs it and enters the rings into the Time and Attendance Collection System (TACS).1USPS Office of Inspector General. Supervisor Timecard Administration
Before You Start
Make sure a 1260 is actually what you need. The form covers days when the electronic clock is offline, when your badge is lost, damaged, or not reading, when you’re a new employee without a permanent badge, and when you’re temporarily working at a facility where the local system doesn’t recognize you. Any hours that generate premium pay — additional straight time, overtime, or penalty overtime — must be backed by either an electronic clock ring or a signed 1260 on file.1USPS Office of Inspector General. Supervisor Timecard Administration
Copies are kept in the facility’s forms supply area, or your supervisor can hand you one. The stock number is PSN 7530-01-000-9268 and the current version is dated July 2012. It runs two pages: the timecard grid on the front and a minute-to-hundredths conversion table on the back.221st Century Postal Worker. PS Form 1260, July 2012
Header Fields
Fill in the top of the form before you touch the grid. The header ties your hours to the correct payroll account, and a typo here sends your time to the wrong employee or the wrong office.
- EIN: your eight-digit Employee Identification Number. This replaced the Social Security number on the current version.
- Name: last, first, middle initial.
- Pay Loc.: the pay location code for your assigned unit.
- Finance No.: the finance number of your installation. Ask your supervisor if you don’t have it memorized.
- Route: your route number, if you’re a letter carrier.
These fields run across the top of page one.221st Century Postal Worker. PS Form 1260, July 2012
Logging Your Clock Rings
The body of the form is a grid. Each clock ring gets its own row, with columns for the date, the ring type, the operation code, and the time. A standard day with a lunch break needs four rows.
Ring Types
The ring type column uses the same abbreviations the electronic system records:
- BT — Begin Tour, your start time.
- OL — Out to Lunch, when you leave for your unpaid meal break.
- IL — In from Lunch, when you return.
- ET — End Tour, your clock-out.
- MV — Move, used when you switch operation codes mid-shift.
Four rings cover a normal day: BT, OL, IL, ET. Add an MV row at each point where your operation code changes.221st Century Postal Worker. PS Form 1260, July 2012
Operation Code
The OPN-LU column captures the operation number and labor distribution code for the work performed — typically a four-digit code that routes your hours to the right budget area. Your supervisor or the schedule posted in your unit will have the correct number. Codes in the 7400 range are common for city delivery functions; the 7600 range shows up in mail processing supervision. Using the wrong code won’t change your paycheck, but it skews the facility’s productivity reports.
Comments
A comments field sits at the bottom of the grid. Use it to note why the entry is manual — “clock offline,” “badge not reading,” “no permanent badge yet.” That single line gives the supervisor context and leaves a cleaner audit trail behind the form.
Converting Minutes to Hundredths
This is the step where most 1260 errors happen. USPS records the hour in military time and the minutes as hundredths of an hour, not as raw minutes. Fifteen minutes is .25. Ten minutes is .17, not .10. So 8:15 a.m. becomes 08.25, and 4:40 p.m. becomes 16.67.3NALC Branch 38. Notice 30 – Time Conversion Table
Page two of the form prints a full table for every minute from 0 to 59.221st Century Postal Worker. PS Form 1260, July 2012 A few values worth keeping in your head:
- 5 minutes: .08
- 10 minutes: .17
- 15 minutes: .25
- 20 minutes: .33
- 30 minutes: .50
- 45 minutes: .75
Writing 08.15 for a quarter past eight is the classic mistake. It carries straight through into TACS and misstates your hours for the day.
You record clock rings the same way whether the hours will pay as straight time or overtime. The form itself doesn’t distinguish the two. TACS handles the overtime classification once the totals are in, based on your bargaining unit’s rules. Your job on the form is accuracy at each ring.
Handing It to Your Supervisor
Once the grid is complete, a supervisor reviews the entries, prints their name, and signs and dates the form. They then key the rings into TACS. When a ring is added manually there, the system flags it and requires the supervisor to confirm that a signed 1260 is on file locally.4National Association of Postal Supervisors. TACS Refresher Course Module 1 – Clock Ring Editor
The signed paper form stays at the facility. As of December 2022, USPS requires indefinite retention for all timekeeping-related PS Forms, so the original is filed rather than discarded after data entry.4National Association of Postal Supervisors. TACS Refresher Course Module 1 – Clock Ring Editor Before you hand it over, photocopy it or take a photo. If a pay discrepancy surfaces weeks later, that copy is your evidence of what you submitted.
If Your Pay Comes Up Short
When a 1260 is entered incorrectly or not entered at all, the fix is PS Form 2240, the Pay, Leave, or Other Hours Adjustment Request. It documents the discrepancy by pay period and week and needs signatures from you, an adjustment clerk, and an approving officer. If your check is substantially short, management can authorize an emergency salary payment through the bottom portion of the same form, generally capped at 65 percent of the estimated gross pay owed.5USPS. Postal Bulletin 22168 – Finance Attach your copy of the 1260 as supporting evidence.
Why Accuracy Matters
PS Form 1260 is a federal document. Knowingly recording false hours, or approving hours known to be fabricated, falls under 18 U.S.C. § 1001. The penalty is a fine, up to five years in prison, or both.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1001 – Statements or Entries Generally The Postal Service treats timecard fraud as grounds for removal, and the USPS Office of Inspector General audits timecard administration with unsupported 1260 entries as a specific red flag. Filling the form out honestly and precisely protects both you and the supervisor who signs it.