Quarterly Performance for Single-Piece First-Class Mail® International
Mailpieces Delivered Between 07/01/2016 and 09/30/2016

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

The national Single-Piece First-Class Mail® International Inbound/Outbound Combined performance was 88.0 percent in FY16 Q4, a 4.9 point improvement over the same period last year. Nationally, 98.9 percent of mail was delivered within the service standard plus three days for Inbound/Outbound Combined. Eastern Area had the highest Inbound/Outbound Combined performance in FY16 Q4 at 90.2 percent. Capital Metro had the highest performance among the seven areas for Inbound, at 89.0 percent. Eastern Area had the highest Outbound performance this quarter, at 94.2 percent. All areas had at least 98.7 percent of mail delivered within the service standard plus three days for Inbound/Outbound Combined in FY16 Q4. The inbound performance across all areas saw significant improvement when compared to the same period last year. Each area had at least a 4.9 point increase, while Southern Area had an 11.5 point increase, the largest of any area performance. Six of the seven areas improved for Outbound performance, with Southern Area performance increasing the most by 4.5 points. Northeast Area outbound performance was the only area to see a decrease of 1.1 points as compared to the same period last year.

FY16 annual scores increased compared to FY15, Inbound performance improved by 5.9 points, Outbound performance improved by 0.9 points, and Inbound/Outbound Combined performance improved by 3.8 points.