United States Postal Service®

Quarterly Performance for Package Services
Service Variance
Mailpieces Delivered Between 07/01/2018 and 09/30/2018

Quarter IV
FY2018

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 91 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 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.

Service performance measurement was suspended for mail originating from or destined to Caribbean District in FY 2018 Quarter 1 and FY 2018 Quarter 2 due to the devastating impacts of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Measurement resumed in FY 2018 Quarter 3.

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 2018 Quarter 4, 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 71 percent of Destination Entry Bound Printed Matter Parcels in the population, 98 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 89.9 percent, which is 0.4 points lower than the same period last year and 0.1 points lower than the annual target of 90.0 percent. In FY 2018 Quarter 4, 99.2 percent were delivered within the service standard plus three days, which is 0.2 points higher than the same period last year.

 In FY 2018 Quarter 4, 31 districts had scores at or above the target of 90.0. The Western Pennsylvania District led in performance with 95.9 percent on time. The Western Area and Pacific Area both achieved the highest performance of the seven areas, with an on-time score of 91.4 percent.

The national FY 2018 annual performance of Package Services was 89.2 percent on time, a 0.4 point decrease from the prior year. It represented the second highest annual score since measurement began.

 

District Percent Within +1-Day Percent Within +2-Days Percent Within +3-Days
Capital Metro Area 96.2 98.3 98.9
Atlanta 96.8 98.6 99.1
Baltimore 96.0 98.4 99.1
Capital 96.3 98.3 99.0
Greater South Carolina 92.2 95.9 96.6
Greensboro 96.5 98.6 99.3
Mid-Carolinas 96.5 98.3 98.8
Northern Virginia 98.5 99.3 99.6
Richmond 96.3 98.6 99.4
Eastern Area 97.0 98.8 99.4
Appalachian 97.2 99.0 99.5
Central Pennsylvania 95.3 98.3 99.3
Kentuckiana 96.3 98.8 99.5
Northern Ohio 97.6 99.1 99.5
Ohio Valley 96.9 98.6 99.3
Philadelphia Metro 96.9 98.9 99.5
South Jersey 97.7 99.0 99.4
Tennessee 97.0 98.7 99.3
Western New York 97.4 99.0 99.5
Western Pennsylvania 98.9 99.5 99.8
Great Lakes Area 95.7 98.5 99.3
Central Illinois 93.3 97.6 98.9
Chicago 95.5 97.4 98.3
Detroit 95.2 98.3 99.1
Gateway 95.9 98.6 99.4
Greater Indiana 96.8 98.7 99.3
Greater Michigan 97.1 98.8 99.4
Lakeland 95.8 98.7 99.4
Northeast Area 96.0 98.3 99.1
Albany 96.8 98.8 99.4
Caribbean 87.0 92.5 95.0
Connecticut Valley 96.5 98.6 99.3
Greater Boston 97.4 98.9 99.4
Long Island 95.9 98.7 99.4
New York 95.6 97.4 98.3
Northern New England 96.7 98.6 99.3
Northern New Jersey 94.7 97.8 98.9
Triboro 95.4 98.5 99.3
Westchester 95.2 97.5 98.8
Pacific Area 96.8 98.6 99.2
Bay-Valley 97.5 99.0 99.5
Honolulu 69.9 76.2 80.4
Los Angeles 96.4 98.7 99.4
Sacramento 95.4 97.9 98.8
San Diego 96.9 98.9 99.4
San Francisco 97.6 98.9 99.5
Santa Ana 96.5 98.5 99.2
Sierra Coastal 97.7 99.1 99.5
Southern Area 95.2 98.1 98.9
Alabama 95.3 98.1 98.9
Arkansas 96.4 98.9 99.4
Dallas 92.4 96.4 97.9
Fort Worth 95.4 98.3 99.3
Gulf Atlantic 96.2 98.5 99.2
Houston 94.4 97.5 98.3
Louisiana 96.2 98.5 99.2
Mississippi 96.3 98.5 99.3
Oklahoma 96.3 98.5 99.3
Rio Grande 96.7 98.9 99.5
South Florida 94.3 97.5 98.7
Suncoast 94.8 98.1 98.9
Western Area 97.2 98.9 99.4
Alaska 88.7 91.6 93.6
Arizona 96.6 98.7 99.3
Central Plains 96.5 98.8 99.4
Colorado/Wyoming 97.5 99.0 99.5
Dakotas 96.5 98.3 99.0
Hawkeye 96.2 99.0 99.5
Mid-America 96.9 98.7 99.3
Nevada-Sierra 95.3 97.4 98.3
Northland 97.6 99.1 99.6
Portland 98.2 99.2 99.6
Salt Lake City 97.0 98.9 99.4
Seattle 97.9 99.2 99.6
Nation FY2018 Q4 96.3 98.5 99.2

Nation FY2017 Q4 (SPLY) 96.0 98.2 99.0

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 Annual 95.5 97.8 98.7
Nation FY2018 Annual 95.4 97.8 98.7
Nation FY2018 Q1 94.6 97.4 98.6
Nation FY2018 Q2 94.4 97.0 98.2
Nation FY2018 Q3 96.5 98.3 99.0