United States Postal Service®

Quarterly Performance for Single-Piece First-Class Mail® International
Service Variance
Mailpieces Delivered Between 10/01/2018 and 12/31/2018

Quarter I
FY2019

Overview

Single-Piece First-Class Mail International® Inbound and Outbound service performance is measured via the International Mail Measurement System (IMMS) operated by an outside entity. This system measures the length of time it takes for the domestic leg of transit for Single-Piece First-Class Mail International® letters and flats. Transit time for outbound mail begins when pieces are mailed from collection boxes or mail chutes, and ends when the pieces are sorted and ready to leave the designated international processing center in the United States. Similarly, transit time for inbound mail begins at arrival at the USPS® international processing center and ends with delivery to the intended recipient. It uses a rigorous external sampling system modeled after the External First-Class Mail® (EXFC) Measurement System. IMMS test mail letters and flats volumes are designed to be proportional to actual mail volumes by shape such that no weighting by shape is required in scoring calculations. Transit time is compared against First-Class Mail® service standards. The service performance of inbound Single-Piece First-Class Mail International® parcels is measured by the USPS®, and represents the census data of all inbound parcels processed by the USPS®. On January 27, 2013, outbound Single-Piece First-Class Mail International® parcels became a competitive product and these data are no longer included in the measurement.

The following service performance results combine the results for letter and flat performance from IMMS with the USPS® census data for inbound parcels to measure service performance for all inbound and outbound Single-Piece First-Class Mail International®. Since not all postal administrative districts have sufficient international volumes for statistically representative reporting, the U.S. Postal Service® reports international quarterly service performance at a postal administrative area level.

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

Service performance measurement for outbound flats was disrupted from October 13, 2018 to November 19, 2018 due to a change in how Intelligent MailŪ barcodes were handled. Fewer IMMS flats test pieces were available to be included in measurement during this period, meaning flats performance had less impact on overall IMMS results than foreseen in the sample design. Because International flats on-time performance is lower than letters performance on average, this resulted in higher overall on-time performance.

Performance Highlights

The national Single-Piece First-Class Mail International® Inbound/Outbound Combined performance was 61.8 percent on time in FY 2019 Quarter 1. Nationally, there was 94.4 percent of mail delivered within the service standard plus three days for Inbound/Outbound Combined.

In FY 2019 Quarter 1, Eastern Area had the highest Inbound/Outbound Combined performance, with 66.4 percent on time. Eastern Area had the highest performance among the seven areas for inbound, at 62.9 percent on time. Northeast Area had the highest outbound performance, with 77.8 percent on time in FY 2019 Quarter 1. All areas had at least 92.8 percent of mail delivered within the service standard plus three days for Inbound/Outbound combined.

 

Area Inbound Outbound Inbound/Outbound
Percent Within +1-Day Percent Within +2-Days Percent Within +3-Days Percent Within +1-Day Percent Within +2-Days Percent Within +3-Days Percent Within +1-Day Percent Within +2-Days Percent Within +3-Days
Capital Metro 78.4 88.6 93.7 86.7 91.8 94.8 80.9 89.5 94.0
Eastern 82.9 91.7 95.6 89.7 94.7 96.7 84.7 92.5 95.9
Great Lakes 77.9 87.8 92.9 80.8 87.7 92.6 78.3 87.8 92.8
Northeast 79.7 89.7 94.4 90.3 93.9 96.2 80.7 90.1 94.6
Pacific 77.0 87.9 93.5 86.0 93.9 96.8 78.0 88.5 93.8
Southern 77.9 88.7 93.8 89.3 94.2 97.1 80.4 89.9 94.5
Western 75.6 86.9 93.2 88.3 94.5 96.7 79.2 89.1 94.2
Nation FY2019 Q1 78.4 88.7 93.8 87.9 93.3 96.1 80.9 89.9 94.4

Nation FY2018 Q1 (SPLY) 91.0 95.4 97.7 93.1 96.8 98.2 91.5 95.8 97.8

Nation FY2009 Annual 96.2 98.5 99.2 97.1 98.7 99.4 96.7 98.6 99.3
Nation FY2010 Annual 96.9 98.6 99.3 95.7 97.8 98.8 96.3 98.2 99.0
Nation FY2011 Annual 96.7 98.7 99.4 97.3 98.8 99.4 97.0 98.7 99.4
Nation FY2012 Annual 97.3 98.9 99.5 97.4 98.8 99.4 97.4 98.8 99.4
Nation FY2013 Annual 96.4 98.5 99.3 95.4 97.7 98.8 96.0 98.2 99.1
Nation FY2014 Annual 94.9 97.9 99.0 95.3 97.7 98.8 95.1 97.8 98.9
Nation FY2015 Annual 91.3 96.2 98.2 95.0 97.6 98.7 92.7 96.8 98.4
Nation FY2016 Annual 93.3 97.1 98.6 94.1 97.0 98.3 93.6 97.1 98.5
Nation FY2017 Annual 94.8 97.7 98.9 94.4 97.0 98.2 94.7 97.5 98.7
Nation FY2018 Annual 92.7 96.4 98.1 93.9 97.0 98.3 93.0 96.5 98.2