Quarterly Performance for Single-Piece First-Class Mail® International
Service Variance
Mailpieces Delivered Between 07/01/2015 and 09/30/2015

Overview

Service performance for inbound and outbound Single-Piece First-Class Mail® International domestic transit is measured through the International Mail Measurement System (IMMS) operated by a third party vendor. IMMS utilizes only letter-shaped mail pieces, which is the predominant shape for both outbound and inbound Single-Piece First-Class Mail® International. IMMS uses an external sampling system modeled after and closely integrated with the External First-Class (EXFC) measurement system used for domestic Single-Piece First-Class Mail®. Transit time is compared against First-Class Mail® service standards.

The processing of Single-Piece First-Class Mail® International flats and parcels -- during either outbound transit from domestic origin to designated International Service Centers (ISC) or inbound transit from designated ISC to the domestic delivery address -- is the same as for domestic Single-Piece First-Class Mail® flats and parcels. The USPS® service standards are also the same. Accordingly, the performance for domestic Single-Piece First-Class Mail® flats (using the data from EXFC) and performance for domestic Single-Piece parcels (as measured End-To-End on parcels for which customers have purchased USPS Tracking™) serve as proxies for the service performance of outbound and inbound Single-Piece First-Class Mail® International flats and inbound Single-Piece First-Class Mail® International parcels. On January 27, 2013, outbound Single-Piece First-Class Mail® International parcels became a competitive product and are no longer included in the score calculation.

The following service performance results combine the results for letter performance from IMMS with the proxy data to measure service performance for all inbound and outbound Single-Piece First-Class Mail® International. Since not all postal administrative districts have sufficient international volumes for statistically representative reporting, the Postal Service™ reports international quarterly service performance at a postal administrative area level.

Performance Highlights

On January 5, the Postal Service™ began to implement Phase 2 of its plan to rationalize the processing network. This change revised the service standards for Single-Piece First-Class Mail® to eliminate the Overnight service standard which had previously been applied to pieces originating and destinating within the same Sectional Center Facility area. Starting January 5, 2015, Single-Piece First-Class Mail has a service standard between two and five days, with the majority falling into either two or three days.

The national Single-Piece First-Class Mail® International Inbound/Outbound Combined performance was 83.1 percent on time in FY15 Q4. Nationally, there was 98.5 percent of mail delivered within the service standard plus three days for Inbound/Outbound Combined. Eastern Area had the highest Inbound/Outbound Combined performance in FY15 Q4, with 86.0 percent on time. Capital Metro Area had the highest performance among the seven areas for inbound, at 83.2 percent on time. Northeast Area had the highest outbound performance this quarter, with 94.3 percent on time in FY15 Q4. All areas had at least 97.9 percent of mail delivered within the service standard plus three days for inbound/outbound combined in FY15 Q4.