Quarterly Performance for Package Services
Service Variance
Mailpieces Delivered Between 10/01/2018 and 12/31/2018

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.

Beginning FY2019 Q1, service performance for Bound Printed Matter Flats is measured through the USPS internal measurement system. The system uses documented arrival time at a designated postal facility to start the clock, and an Intelligent Mail® barcode (IMB®) scan by postal personnel at delivery for randomly selected delivery points to stop the clock. Mail piece tracking from IMB® in-process scans is used in conjunction with the sampling data to extrapolate results for the entire volume of measurement eligible Full Service Intelligent Mail. The transit time from the start-the-clock through final automated processing is the Processing Duration leg, and the transit time from final automated processing until delivery is the Last Mile. Total transit time was calculated for the mail and compared with the appropriate service standard for the product to determine the service performance.

Bound Printed Matter Flat Scores prior to FY2019 Q1 were calculated and compiled by an independent external contractor. The system used for this reporting was called the Intelligent Mail® Accuracy and Performance System (iMAPS). The external contractor determined 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 consisted 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 was used as a delivery factor differential to determine the percent of all Periodicals delivered on the last processing date versus the per cent delivered after the last processing date. Service performance was measured by comparing the transit time to USPS® service standards to determine the percent of mail delivered on time.

Limitations

In FY2019 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. Results for Destination Entry Bound Printed Matter parcels were also included in the measurement. While Destination Delivery Unit (DDU) Entry represented approximately 70 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 system sampling issue occurred for delivery sampling in FY2019 Q1 and impacted the Bound printer Matter flats data. Seven districts were impacted on October 9th. To address the sampling anomaly, a proxy methodology was used to replace missing or scarce data for impacted dates with historical data from the impacted districts.

Performance Highlights

National Package Services performance was 84.1 percent, which is 5.9 points lower than the annual target of 90.0 percent. In FY2019 Quarter 1, 97.9 percent were delivered within the service standard plus three days, which is 0.7 points lower than the same period last year.

In FY2019 Quarter 1, five districts had scores at or above the target of 90.0. The Western Pennsylvania District led in performance with 92.9 percent on time. The Capital Metro Area achieved the highest performance of the seven areas, with an on-time score of 87.9 percent.