National news

Jan. 12, 2023

New Processing Equipment, Investments in Personnel Drive Successful USPS Holiday Performance

  • USPS accepted 11.7 billion mailpieces and packages between Nov. 26-Dec. 30
  • 2.5 day average delivery time for mail and packages across network

WASHINGTON — The United States Postal Service reported performance metrics for the 2022 holiday season as well as new delivery performance metrics for the first week of the second quarter for fiscal year 2023.

Between Nov. 26 and Dec. 30, the Postal Service accepted 11.7 billion mailpieces and packages into the network with an average delivery time of just 2.5 days.*

Preparations for the 2022 peak holiday season began two years ago as a part of the Postal Service’s 10-year Delivering for America Plan. These strategic investments and operational improvements included the installation of 249 new package sorting machines across its network since March 2021. These new machines expanded daily package processing capacity to 60 million. Additionally, USPS stabilized its permanent workforce by converting more than 100,000 workers to full time roles since the beginning of 2021(with more than 41,000 part time workers converted to full time since January 2022), and successfully hiring an additional 20,000 seasonal employees.

Strong Start To Second Fiscal Quarter

The Postal Service also released FY23 second quarter service performance scores covering Jan. 1 through Jan. 6. Data for the reporting period shows the average time to deliver a mailpiece or package across the postal network was just 2.6 days. Quarterly data included:

  • First-Class Mail: 89.4% of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a decrease of 1.6 percentage points from the fiscal first quarter.
  • Marketing Mail: 93.6% of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal first quarter.
  • Periodicals: 84.5% of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal first quarter.

USPS delivery was impacted in some local markets due to industry-wide transportation disruptions caused by winter storms across the Midwest and the East Coast in late December. The Postal Service continues to restore service in these markets as quickly and as safely as possible.

With the conclusion of the 2022 holiday peak season, the Postal Service continues its focus on improving service reliability for the American public and business customers through modernizing the outmoded and aging postal network across the nation.

*Volume data reflects mailpieces and packages accepted or received pre-mailing notification by the U.S. Postal Service.

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The United States Postal Service is an independent federal establishment, mandated to be self-financing and to serve every American community through the affordable, reliable and secure delivery of mail and packages to 167 million addresses six and often seven days a week. Overseen by a bipartisan Board of Governors, the Postal Service is implementing a 10-year transformation plan, Delivering for America, to modernize the postal network, restore long-term financial sustainability, dramatically improve service across all mail and shipping categories, and maintain the organization as one of America’s most valued and trusted brands.

The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

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