United States Postal Service®

Quarterly Performance for Package Services
Mailpieces Delivered Between 07/01/2020 and 09/30/2020

Quarter IV
FY2020

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 89 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 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

In FY2020 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. Results for Destination Entry Bound Printed Matter parcels were also included in the measurement. While Destination Delivery Unit (DDU) Entry represented approximately 67 percent of Destination Entry Bound Printed Matter Parcels in the population, 94 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 84.4 percent, which is 3.0 points lower than the same period last year. In FY2020 Quarter 4, 95.5 percent were delivered within the service standard plus three days, which is 3.4 points lower than the same period last year.

In FY2020 Quarter 4, five districts had scores at or above the target of 90.0. The Western Pennsylvania District led in performance with 93.1 percent on time. The Capital Metro Area achieved the highest performance of the seven areas, with an on-time score of 86.7 percent.

District Percent On Time
Capital Metro Area 86.7
Atlanta  79.2
Baltimore  84.2
Capital  86.5
Greater South Carolina  89.7
Greensboro  90.5
Mid-Carolinas  91.3
Northern Virginia  86.9
Richmond  85.8
Eastern Area 85.8
Appalachian  90.5
Central Pennsylvania  81.0
Kentuckiana 87.3
Northern Ohio 88.2
Ohio Valley 84.9
Philadelphia Metro  82.5
South Jersey  84.6
Tennessee  84.1
Western New York  86.4
Western Pennsylvania  93.1
Great Lakes Area 80.5
Central Illinois  73.6
Chicago  75.8
Detroit  78.1
Gateway  81.0
Greater Indiana  82.8
Greater Michigan  82.2
Lakeland  83.9
Northeast Area 84.4
Albany  88.3
Caribbean  56.0
Connecticut Valley  84.3
Greater Boston  85.2
Long Island  83.7
New York  85.3
Northern New England  86.5
Northern New Jersey  83.5
Triboro  80.3
Westchester  86.2
Pacific Area 84.4
Bay-Valley  87.2
Honolulu  65.6
Los Angeles  80.8
Sacramento  77.0
San Diego  85.2
San Francisco  87.3
Santa Ana  83.8
Sierra Coastal  87.1
Southern Area 82.6
Alabama  85.9
Arkansas  83.3
Dallas  82.3
Fort Worth  81.2
Gulf Atlantic 84.4
Houston 84.3
Louisiana 81.1
Mississippi 84.8
Oklahoma  84.9
Rio Grande  85.3
South Florida  77.4
Suncoast  79.3
Western Area 86.0
Alaska  86.9
Arizona  82.1
Central Plains  85.0
Colorado/Wyoming  85.7
Dakotas  84.1
Hawkeye  89.3
Mid-America  80.2
Nevada-Sierra  86.0
Northland  87.1
Portland  88.2
Salt Lake City  83.0
Seattle  90.2
Nation FY2020 Q4 84.4
Nation FY2019 Q4 (SPLY) 87.4
Nation FY2009 Annual 73.4
Nation FY2010 Annual 79.4
Nation FY2011 Annual 76.7
Nation FY2012 Annual 87.2
Nation FY2013 Annual 87.5
Nation FY2014 Annual 86.3
Nation FY2015 Annual 84.0
Nation FY2016 Annual 82.5
Nation FY2017 Annual 89.6
Nation FY2018 Annual 89.2
Nation FY2019 Annual 87.3
Nation FY2020 Annual 85.8
Nation FY2020 Q1 85.3
Nation FY2020 Q2 90.8
Nation FY2020 Q3 83.7
FY2020 Annual Target 90.0