United States Postal Service®

Quarterly Performance for Package Services
Mailpieces Delivered Between 07/01/2016 and 09/30/2016

Quarter IV
FY2016

Overview

Package Services includes Media Mail®/Library Mail, Bound Printed Matter Flats, and Bound Printed Matter Parcels. Package Services includes both single-piece and presort volumes, with approximately 89 percent of the total represented by presort.

Service performance for Media Mail®/Library Mail and Bound Printed Matter Parcels is measured using an internal USPS® system, the Product Tracking System (PTS). This system measures transit time from the time of mailing until the time of delivery to the intended recipient, on parcels for which a customer requested USPS Tracking™ service. The first en route scan serves as the proxy for the time of mailing for commercial and PC postage parcels that were not mailed over the counter. Transit time is compared to USPS® service standards to develop the measure of on-time service performance. The system measures service to and from virtually all 3- Digit ZIP Code™ areas for which Package Services volume originates or destinates.

Service performance for Bound Printed Matter Flats is measured using 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 to the entire volume of Full-Service Intelligent Mail® Bound Printed Matter Flats 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 Bound Printed Matter Flats mail that is 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.

Limitations

Data for the delivery factor of Bound Printed Matter Flats were comprised of Bound Printed Matter Flats and Standard Mail® flats with Intelligent Mail® barcodes received by external reporters. Standard Mail® flats were used to supplement the very limited Bound Printed Matter Flats data available during this period. Because even the combination of those two types of mail still resulted in too little volume, EXFC flats were also used to supplement the data for calculating the delivery factor. As a result of the use of this proxy data, which may differ significantly from the actual product, the delivery factor may not be representative of the gap between estimated delivery based on the final automated processing and actual delivery for Bound Printed Matter Flats to every district.

In FY16 Quarter 4, the service performance results for Package Services through PTS included the data available for retail parcels mailed end-to-end from over the counter and with USPS Tracking™ and End-To-End commercial and PC postage parcels with USPS Tracking™. The first en route scan was used as the start-the-clock for the performance measurement of End-To-End parcels that were not mailed over the counter, with no adjustments for any transit time between acceptance and the first en route scan. USPS® is in the process of developing an approach to account for the period from when the Postal Service™ receives the mail until the first en route scan of the mail. Results for Destination Entry Bound Printed Matter parcels were also included in the measurement. While DDU entry represented approximately 71 percent of Destination Entry Bound Printed Matter Parcels in the population, 97 percent of measured mail was DDU entry. The results may not be representative of all parcels because of the heavy volume of DDU-entry parcels in measurement compared with the overall.

Due to the limitations of the current systems, the overall Package Services results are presented without any weighting. That is, no attempt was made to use the measured pieces to represent the entire Package Services population. These results represent the service performance for all measured Package Services pieces during the quarter.

Performance Highlights

In FY16 Q4, national Package Services performance was 90.9, 6.0 points higher when compared to the same period last year and 0.9 above target. Nationally 99.2 percent of Package Services mail pieces were delivered within the service standard plus three days.

In FY16 Q4, 45 districts and five postal areas had scores above the target of 90.0. The Western Pennsylvania district led in performance with 95.1 percent and was followed by South Jersey with 94.6 percent. Capital Metro Area achieved the highest performance of the seven areas with an on-time score of 92.7 percent, 4.9 points higher when compared to the same period last year.

The national FY16 annual performance of Package Services was 82.5 percent on time, a 1.5 point decrease from the year before.

 

District Percent On Time
Capital Metro Area 92.7
Atlanta 93.1
Baltimore 93.4
Capital 91.7
Greater South Carolina 92.7
Greensboro 93.6
Mid-Carolinas 92.0
Northern Virginia 92.9
Richmond 90.1
Eastern Area 91.4
Appalachian 90.5
Central Pennsylvania 89.8
Kentuckiana 87.9
Northern Ohio 90.1
Ohio Valley 90.9
Philadelphia Metro 90.0
South Jersey 94.6
Tennessee 93.4
Western New York 90.3
Western Pennsylvania 95.1
Great Lakes Area 88.4
Central Illinois 88.3
Chicago 88.9
Detroit 88.4
Gateway 89.4
Greater Indiana 92.2
Greater Michigan 92.5
Lakeland 83.7
Northeast Area 89.5
Albany 89.1
Caribbean 83.1
Connecticut Valley 88.9
Greater Boston 87.8
Long Island 92.1
New York 92.9
Northern New England 88.8
Northern New Jersey 89.7
Triboro 92.9
Westchester 84.4
Pacific Area 92.0
Bay-Valley 93.9
Honolulu 62.4
Los Angeles 91.0
Sacramento 91.1
San Diego 91.4
San Francisco 92.9
Santa Ana 91.6
Sierra Coastal 92.9
Southern Area 90.6
Alabama 91.2
Arkansas 92.3
Dallas 88.9
Fort Worth 88.4
Gulf Atlantic 92.4
Houston 91.6
Louisiana 91.7
Mississippi 92.4
Oklahoma 91.2
Rio Grande 93.4
South Florida 84.0
Suncoast 90.9
Western Area 91.4
Alaska 83.0
Arizona 90.8
Central Plains 91.3
Colorado/Wyoming 90.9
Dakotas 88.8
Hawkeye 87.0
Mid-America 89.9
Nevada-Sierra 91.5
Northland 90.9
Portland 92.3
Salt Lake City 94.2
Seattle 93.6
Nation FY2016 Q4 90.9

Nation FY2015 Q4 (SPLY) 84.9

Nation FY2009 Annual 73.4
Nation FY2010 Annual 79.4
Nation FY2011 Annual 76.7
Nation FY2012 Annual 87.2
Nation FY2013 Annual 87.5
Nation FY2014 Annual 86.3
Nation FY2015 Annual 84.0
Nation FY2016 Annual 82.5
Nation FY2016 Q1 84.1
Nation FY2016 Q2 88.6
Nation FY2016 Q3 91.7

FY2016 Annual Target 90.0