Quarterly Performance for Presort First-Class Mail®
Mailpieces Delivered Between 10/01/2018 and 12/31/2018

Overview

Beginning FY2019 Q1 Presort First-Class Mail® service performance is measured through the USPS internal measurement system which 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.

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 Presort First-Class Mail® delivered on the last processing date versus the percent 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

A system sampling issue occurred for delivery sampling in FY2019 Q1 and impacted the 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 Presort First-Class Mail® Overnight performance in FY2019 Quarter 1 was 94.7 percent on time, which is 0.7 points lower than the same period last year. National Two-Day performance was 92.8 percent on time, which is 1.2 points lower than the same period last year. National Three-To-Five-Day performance was 89.9 percent on time, which is 0.8 points lower when compared to the same period last year.

Eastern Area led the nation in Overnight service performance, with 95.4 percent on time. Pacific Area led the nation in Two-Day service performance, with 94.4 percent on time in FY2019 Quarter 1. Eastern Area and Western Area both led the nation in Three-To-Five-Day service performance, with 90.5 percent on time.

In FY2019 Quarter 1, seven districts met or exceeded the Overnight performance target of 96.80, three districts met or exceeded the Two-Day service performance target of 96.50, and no districts met or exceeded the Three-To-Five-Day service performance target of 95.25. Alaska and Western Pennsylvania led the nation in Overnight service performance with 97.4 percent on time. Alaska led in Two-Day service performance with 96.9 percent on time, and Sierra Coastal led the nation in Three-To-Five-Day service performance with 93.5 percent on time.