Quarterly Performance for Package Services
Service Variance
Mailpieces Delivered Between 10/01/2016 and 12/31/2016

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 90 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 and Reporting System (PTR). 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 methodology for estimating performance for Bound Printed Matter Flats was modified slightly for Quarter 1 FY 2017. The application of the last mile profile was changed from stratification by the type of final processing operation which occurred to stratification by the number of days remaining to meet service standard after final processing occurred. This methodology change was made to improve the accuracy of the performance estimates as the new methodology better accounts for the relationship between time spent in last mile and time spent in processing.

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 FY 2017 Quarter 1, the service performance results for Package Services through PTR 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 67 percent of Destination Entry Bound Printed Matter Parcels in the population, 96 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

National Package Services performance was 86.2, 2.1 points higher when compared to the same period last year. In FY 2017 Quarter 1, 98.3 percent of Package Services mail pieces were delivered within the service standard plus three days.

In FY 2017 Quarter 1, 11 districts had scores at or above the target of 90.0. The Western Pennsylvania district led in performance with 94.4 percent and was followed by Portland with 92.8 percent. Eastern Area achieved the highest performance of the seven areas with an on-time score of 88.9 percent.