• CSM-R - measures residential household customer satisfaction.
• CSM-B - measures business customer satisfaction.
• CSM-EVB - measures event-based customer satisfaction

     Customer satisfaction is measured independently by The Gallup Organization through a contract with the Vice President and Consumer Advocate.

     The CSM-R national results (see Table 2- 2) showed a sustained CSM-R score of 93 percent for Overall Performance ratings for the first three quarters of 2003. Postal quarter 4 showed 94 percent of all residential households rated Postal Service Overall Performance as "Excellent", "Very Good", or "Good", an all-time high.

     For CSM-B, National Accounts reported an increase in overall performance rating to 94 percent for postal quarters 3 and 4. These business customers have been identified as the Postal Service's largest customers. Approximately 250 companies are designated as National Accounts.

     Premier Accounts reported an overall performance rating of 93 percent for postal quarters 2, 3, and 4 of 2003. These are the second largest group of business customers. There are approximately 14,000 Premier Accounts.

     Preferred Accounts reported an overall performance rating of 91 percent for postal quarters 2, 3, and 4 of 2003. Preferred Accounts are all other business customers not identified as National or Premier Account companies or sites.

E. Mail Distribution

1. Automation Activities

     The Postal Service continues to focus on automating mail distribution operations to improve efficiency and reduce costs. The foundation of this effort is based on barcode technology, which includes generating barcoded mail, processing barcoded mail in automated operations, and adjusting the workforce as necessary to capture savings.

     In 2003, the Postal Service continued its campaign to improve automated processing of letter mail through deployment of additional hardware and software. New automation equipment is allowing postal operations to continue to drive productivity and reduce costs.

     During 2003, 90 delivery barcode sorterexpanded capability (DBCS-EC) machines were deployed, bringing the total number of DBCS-ECs to 94. The DBCS-EC machines can process a portion of letter mail that would otherwise require manual distribution. This equipment can handle a wider range of mail than previous barcode sorters, such as flimsy mailpieces and thick and heavy items.

     Letter mail address recognition rates continued to rise as additional hardware and software upgrades were deployed for existing multi-line optical character reader (MLOCR), Delivery Barcode Sorter Input/Output Subsystem (DIOSS), and remote computer reader (RCR) equipment. Improvements were deployed to 346 mail processing centers under the Letter Recognition Enhancement Program (LREP), which is an incentive-based program where the vendor is paid based on the incremental performance improvements. Improvements made this year under LREP raised the letter mail encode rate to about 90 percent while reducing the error rate by 1 percent. Future improvements are projected to yield an additional 4-6 percentage point increase in overall system encode rate by mid-2004.