United States Postal Service®

Quarterly Performance for Package Services
Service Variance
Mailpieces Delivered Between 04/01/2017 and 06/30/2017

Quarter III
FY2017

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 U.S. 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 beginning in FY 2017 Quarter 1. The application of the last mile profile was changed from stratification by the type of final processing operation that 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 U.S. 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 USPS Marketing Mail™ Flats with IMB® received by external reporters. USPS Marketing 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, External First-Class Mail® (EXFC) Measurement System 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 3, 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 U.S. 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 Destination Delivery Unit (DDU) Entry represented approximately 74 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.

A small volume, estimated at less than 1% of total volume in measurement across all commercial mail classes, had known data issues in the SASP system in FY 2017 Quarter 3. These issues included mail pieces mis-categorized between Full Service and Basic, missing mail scans, inaccurate facility reference data, inaccurate Start-the-Clock information, and inaccurate data exclusion.

Performance Highlights

National Package Services performance was 90.8 percent. In FY 2017 Quarter 3, 98.7 percent were delivered within the service standard plus three days.

In FY 2017 Quarter 3, 44 districts had scores above the target of 90.0. The Mid-Carolinas District led in performance with 96.0 percent and was followed by Central Plains with 95.9 percent. Capital Metro Area achieved the highest performance of the seven areas with an on-time score of 93.1 percent.

 

District Percent Within +1-Day Percent Within +2-Days Percent Within +3-Days
Capital Metro Area 97.1 98.6 99.2
Atlanta 96.0 97.9 98.8
Baltimore 96.8 98.2 98.7
Capital 96.1 97.9 98.7
Greater South Carolina 97.4 98.8 99.4
Greensboro 97.4 98.8 99.3
Mid-Carolinas 98.3 99.0 99.4
Northern Virginia 97.1 98.8 99.2
Richmond 98.1 99.1 99.4
Eastern Area 96.8 98.1 98.7
Appalachian 96.9 98.3 99.1
Central Pennsylvania 97.4 98.6 99.1
Kentuckiana 97.2 98.6 99.1
Northern Ohio 97.9 98.8 99.3
Ohio Valley 98.0 98.9 99.3
Philadelphia Metro 96.8 98.4 99.1
South Jersey 98.0 98.9 99.3
Tennessee 92.5 94.5 95.9
Western New York 98.4 99.1 99.5
Western Pennsylvania 98.1 99.1 99.4
Great Lakes Area 95.8 98.0 98.9
Central Illinois 96.6 98.4 99.0
Chicago 96.0 97.8 98.6
Detroit 92.6 95.9 97.5
Gateway 95.4 98.0 99.2
Greater Indiana 97.2 98.7 99.2
Greater Michigan 96.5 98.2 99.0
Lakeland 96.4 98.4 99.1
Northeast Area 93.4 96.5 97.7
Albany 96.8 98.4 99.1
Caribbean 79.9 88.1 92.4
Connecticut Valley 92.4 94.6 96.4
Greater Boston 96.1 98.1 98.9
Long Island 95.5 97.1 97.8
New York 88.5 95.2 97.2
Northern New England 95.4 97.7 98.6
Northern New Jersey 94.0 97.1 98.0
Triboro 92.7 96.2 97.3
Westchester 92.7 95.9 97.3
Pacific Area 96.1 98.0 98.8
Bay-Valley 96.8 98.8 99.3
Honolulu 66.3 73.1 78.0
Los Angeles 96.3 98.3 99.1
Sacramento 94.2 97.2 98.6
San Diego 96.7 98.4 99.0
San Francisco 97.0 98.7 99.3
Santa Ana 96.6 98.3 98.8
Sierra Coastal 96.4 97.9 98.7
Southern Area 95.8 97.7 98.5
Alabama 96.8 98.1 98.8
Arkansas 97.5 98.6 99.1
Dallas 92.8 95.8 97.2
Fort Worth 97.0 98.5 99.0
Gulf Atlantic 96.9 98.4 99.1
Houston 96.4 98.4 99.0
Louisiana 96.6 98.1 98.9
Mississippi 95.6 98.0 98.7
Oklahoma 97.8 98.9 99.4
Rio Grande 97.5 98.6 99.1
South Florida 91.2 95.1 96.9
Suncoast 96.5 97.9 98.5
Western Area 96.9 98.5 99.2
Alaska 91.3 93.7 95.4
Arizona 95.3 97.8 98.7
Central Plains 98.3 99.2 99.5
Colorado/Wyoming 95.2 97.7 98.8
Dakotas 95.4 97.7 98.5
Hawkeye 97.2 98.9 99.5
Mid-America 97.2 98.5 99.1
Nevada-Sierra 94.1 97.5 98.5
Northland 97.3 98.8 99.3
Portland 98.3 99.1 99.5
Salt Lake City 96.8 98.6 99.3
Seattle 98.1 99.2 99.6
Nation FY2017 Q3 96.0 97.9 98.7

Nation FY2016 Q3 (SPLY) 96.5 98.4 99.1

Nation FY2009 Annual 84.6 90.9 94.6
Nation FY2010 Annual 89.7 94.2 96.5
Nation FY2011 Annual 87.3 92.7 95.6
Nation FY2012 Annual 93.7 96.4 97.8
Nation FY2013 Annual 94.7 97.3 98.5
Nation FY2014 Annual 94.2 97.3 98.5
Nation FY2015 Annual 92.9 96.7 98.2
Nation FY2016 Annual 92.6 96.7 98.1
Nation FY2017 Q1 94.0 97.1 98.3
Nation FY2017 Q2 96.3 98.1 98.9