Quarterly Performance for Single-Piece First-Class Mail® International
Mailpieces Delivered Between 07/01/2019 and 09/30/2019

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.

Limitations

Service performance measurement for outbound flats was disrupted from October 13, 2018 to November 19, 2018 due to a change in how Intelligent Mail® 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 73.8 percent on time in FY 2019 Quarter 4, an improvement of 1.8 points compared to the previous quarter. Nationally, there was 96.9 percent of mail delivered within the service standard plus three days for Inbound/Outbound Combined. Inbound performance saw a significant improvement compared to the previous quarter, increasing by 4.3 points.

In FY 2019 Quarter 4, Eastern Area had the highest Inbound/Outbound Combined performance, with 78.1 percent on time. Eastern Area had the highest performance among the seven areas for inbound, at 76.8 percent on time. Northeast Area had the highest outbound performance, with 83.5 percent on time in FY 2019 Quarter 4. All areas had at least 95.5 percent of mail delivered within the service standard plus three days for Inbound/Outbound combined.