United States Postal Service®

Quarterly Performance for Standard Mail®
Mailpieces Delivered Between 07/01/2015 and 09/30/2015

Quarter IV
FY2015

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 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 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 91.0 percent on time in Q4, 1.9 points lower when compared to the same period last year, and 99.2 percent delivered within service standard plus three days. The Appalachian District led the nation in Destination Entry performance with 96.8 percent on time. Forty 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 59.3 percent on time, 7.6 points lower when compared to the same period last year. In Q4, 89.6 percent of End-to-End Standard Mail was delivered within the service standard plus three days. The Alaska District had the highest End-To-End entry score with 88.5 percent on time.

 

District Destination Entry End-to-End
Percent On Time Percent On Time
Capital Metro Area 91.7 54.9
Atlanta 92.1 54.4
Baltimore 91.4 53.6
Capital 91.2 58.8
Greater South Carolina 91.9 59.5
Greensboro 89.2 56.9
Mid-Carolinas 93.7 57.4
Northern Virginia 94.4 50.6
Richmond 90.3 49.2
Eastern Area 94.5 60.1
Appalachian 96.8 49.5
Central Pennsylvania 94.8 52.2
Kentuckiana 94.8 61.7
Northern Ohio 93.5 65.8
Ohio Valley 93.1 59.6
Philadelphia Metro 93.8 51.8
South Jersey 95.7 55.9
Tennessee 93.4 63.3
Western New York 94.1 53.1
Western Pennsylvania 96.2 76.0
Great Lakes Area 91.8 57.1
Central Illinois 93.7 53.5
Chicago 88.9 55.3
Detroit 87.7 57.7
Gateway 93.9 61.7
Greater Indiana 89.5 56.4
Greater Michigan 93.1 53.6
Lakeland 93.7 57.7
Northeast Area 88.6 46.5
Albany 86.4 49.3
Caribbean 80.0 68.7
Connecticut Valley 92.2 54.8
Greater Boston 88.5 50.1
Long Island 91.2 36.7
New York 85.5 42.1
Northern New England 92.0 45.5
Northern New Jersey 89.9 40.6
Triboro 73.2 42.8
Westchester 90.6 46.5
Pacific Area 89.8 62.3
Bay-Valley 88.6 58.1
Honolulu 95.2 73.7
Los Angeles 84.1 57.0
Sacramento 89.5 63.9
San Diego 91.0 59.2
San Francisco 90.8 58.6
Santa Ana 90.6 63.7
Sierra Coastal 93.5 68.5
Southern Area 89.9 62.5
Alabama 92.4 58.1
Arkansas 89.5 61.2
Dallas 91.2 55.4
Fort Worth 89.4 61.4
Gulf Atlantic 90.9 62.7
Houston 78.5 60.8
Louisiana 90.5 64.4
Mississippi 91.5 63.6
Oklahoma 94.1 64.7
Rio Grande 92.8 56.3
South Florida 90.5 69.7
Suncoast 91.9 67.3
Western Area 90.6 64.7
Alaska 95.6 88.5
Arizona 94.1 57.7
Central Plains 89.1 62.3
Colorado/Wyoming 81.2 60.6
Dakotas 94.7 56.6
Hawkeye 92.0 67.6
Mid-America 92.4 70.4
Nevada-Sierra 89.6 64.3
Northland 88.1 61.0
Portland 94.2 66.0
Salt Lake City 92.7 60.2
Seattle 91.4 75.5
Nation FY2015 Q4 91.0 59.3

Nation FY2014 Q4 (SPLY) 92.9 66.9

Nation FY2009 Annual 86.4 70.7
Nation FY2010 Annual 83.4 59.0
Nation FY2011 Annual 70.3 38.4
Nation FY2012 Annual 82.0 56.5
Nation FY2013 Annual 88.8 63.3
Nation FY2014 Annual 89.9 63.5
Nation FY2015 Annual 89.1 59.6
Nation FY2015 Q1 88.3 64.8
Nation FY2015 Q2 85.7 54.5
Nation FY2015 Q3 91.3 59.3

FY2015 Annual Target 91.0 91.0