Quarterly Performance for Standard Mail®
Service Variance
Mailpieces Delivered Between 10/01/2014 and 12/31/2014

Overview

For Standard Mail® letters and non-Saturation flats, the service performance measurement system of the Postal Service™ uses documented arrival time at a designated postal facility to start the measurement clock, and an Intelligent Mail® barcode (IMb™) scan by an external, third-party reporter to stop-the-clock. Mail piece tracking from IMb™ in-process scans is used in conjunction with the external data to extrapolate results for the population of Standard Mail® using Full-Service Intelligent Mail®. Data collected by the Postal Service™ are provided to an independent, external contractor to calculate service measurement and compile the necessary reports. The system used for this reporting is called the Intelligent Mail® Accuracy and Performance System (iMAPS).

 The external contractor determines service performance based on the elapsed time between the start-the-clock event recorded by the Postal Service™ and the stop-the-clock event recorded by anonymous households and small businesses that report delivery information directly to the contractor. The service measure consists of two parts: (1) how long mail pieces take to get through processing, and (2) how long mail takes from the last processing scan to delivery. The second portion is used as a delivery factor differential to determine the percent of all Standard Mail® delivered on the last processing date versus the percent delivered after the last processing date. Service performance is measured by comparing the transit time to USPS® service standards to determine the percent of mail delivered on time.

 The Service Performance Measurement (SPM) application of the Full-Service Seamless Acceptance and Service Performance system (SASP) serves as the data source for iMAPS. SPM captures data from all Full-Service Intelligent Mail® and applies business rules for service measurement before sending data to iMAPS.

 The service performance measure for DDU-entry Saturation flats involves the identification of major weekly Saturation mailings within delivery units. Delivery of these mailings is captured with a scan made by carriers at the completion of delivery of all pieces on the route. Service performance is measured by comparing the delivery date to the end date of the mailer requested in-home window to determine the percent delivered on time. Data from anonymous households reporting the receipt of these Saturation mailings are used to validate the accuracy of the carrier scans.

 The service performance measurement system for Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) – Retail™ uses the documented arrival time of a mailing at a retail unit to start the clock, using the point-of-sale scan when mail is handed to the Postal Service™, and an Intelligent Mail® parcel barcode (IMpb™) scan by a USPS® carrier to stop the clock.  The delivery of bundles of EDDM-Retail™ pieces is captured with a scan made by carriers at the delivery unit upon distribution for delivery. Service performance is measured by comparing the total transit time of mailpiece bundles to the service standard to determine the percent delivered on time.

 Results for DDU-entry Saturation flats and EDDM-Retail™ are combined with other destination entry Standard Mail in the Destination Entry scores in this report.

 The service performance measure for Standard Mail® parcels with USPS Tracking™ is planned to serve as a proxy for measuring service performance for Standard Mail® parcels.

 Limitations

Due to limited automated processing for Standard Mail® flats, the service performance results may not be representative of all Standard Mail® flats performance. While Destination Delivery Unit (DDU) entered Saturation flats and EDDM – Retail™ flats have been included this quarter, significant gaps in the coverage of non-Saturation/non- EDDM – Retail™ DDU-entry mail still remain and are thus these data are excluded from the measurement.

Results for Standard Mail® parcels, which represent less than 0.1 percent of all Standard Mail®, are not included in the overall Standard Mail® results because service performance data was not available.

The delivery factor for Standard Mail® letters was created using Standard Mail® letters with Intelligent Mail® barcodes received by external reporters. Data for the delivery factor of Standard Mail® flats were based on a combination of Standard Mail® flats and Bound Printed Matter Flats with Intelligent Mail® barcodes as well as EXFC test flats received by external reporters. The EXFC and Bound Printed Matter Flats data were used to supplement the limited Standard Mail® flats data available during this period.

Performance Highlights

National Destination Entry mail achieved performance of 88.3 percent on time in Q1, up 2.0 percentage points compared to the same period last year, with 99.1 percent delivered within the service standard plus three days. The Appalachian district led the nation in Destination Entry performance with 96.7 percent on time. Twenty districts achieved an on time performance at or above the performance target of 91.0 for Destination Entry mail.

 End-to-End National performance was 64.8 percent on time, an increase of 3.3 points from the same period of last year. In Q1, 93.0 percent of standard mail was delivered within the service standard plus three days. The Alaska district had the highest End-To-End entry score of 82.1 percent on time.