Year in review

Delivering Our Best

Outstanding service is nothing new for the Postal Service. For the second straight year, on-time delivery of overnight-committed First-Class Mail reached 95 percent, as independently measured by IBM Consulting Services. In quarter 3, this score grew to 96 percent.*

Satisfying Customers

Delivering value — great service, affordable prices, and ease-of-use — is the winning formula for pleasing customers. Independently measured customer satisfaction scores show that 94% of residential customers rated their experience with the Postal Service as excellent, very good, or good. And we’re experiencing steady improvement in “excellent” and “very good” ratings.

Keeping Our Promise

With the implementation of the Transformation Plan in 2002, we pledged to remove $5 billion in costs from our system by the end of 2006. We met that commitment a full year ahead of schedule. It’s our goal to cut another $5 billion through 2010, continuing to make mail a better value than ever.

Helping Others

Our Breast Cancer Research stamp — the Postal Service’s first semipostal stamp — has raised $48.9 million to help find a cure. The Heroes of 2001 semipostal has raised $10.6 million for the families of emergency workers killed or injured in the 9/11 attacks. And the Stop Family Violence semipostal has raised $1.8 million for the victims of this form of abuse.

Extending Hours

Our customers are busy with work, school, family and, of course, all the chores that go with that. Their time is limited. So we’re making it easy for them to get to the Post Office by extending hours — in the evening and on weekends — at thousands of Post Offices from coast to coast.

Protecting Consumers

The Postal Inspection Service worked to protect American consumers from fraud. In partnership with other agencies, Postal Inspectors launched “Operation Dialing for Dollars,” to shut down fraudulent telemarketers, particularly those who target older Americans. Investigations resulted in 64 arrests and 64 convictions. Postal Inspectors also continued their successful efforts to combat child pornography.

Closing the Sale

Direct mail is the fastest growing segment of the advertising market, increasing at twice the rate of any other media. That’s because direct mail stands out in a crowded selling environment, with the ability to offer a personalized message to just the audience you want to reach.

Bringing the Post Office to Your Home
or Office

We continue to add new features to our online Post Office, usps.com, making it more valuable than ever — features like insurance, return receipts, change-of-address, and mail-hold requests. That’s in addition to usps.com’s powerful combination of Click-N-Ship, for address labels and postage, and Carrier Pickup online notification, to alert your letter carrier to pick up your prepaid Priority or Express Mail package from your home or office with the next day’s delivery — at no extra charge!

Keeping People Connected

Following the unprecedented devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Postal Service worked to keep evacuees connected with friends and loved ones — through the mail. Temporary Post Offices were set up in shelters throughout the nation. Where normal delivery was impossible, special arrangements were made for the distribution of Social Security checks. And mail was forwarded for more than 600,000 households in the affected areas of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.

Increasing Efficiency

Postal efficiency continued its upward swing, with an unprecedented sixth consecutive year of growth in total-factor productivity — the equivalent of more than $700 million in cost savings.

Building a Safer Workplace

Innovative new partnerships with postal employees, their unions and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have resulted in a safer workplace. Through OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program and Ergonomics Risk Reduction Program, accidents have been dramatically reduced at participating sites. Overall, injuries and illnesses declined by an impressive 11.9 percent, supported by the development a strong culture of safety throughout the entire organization.

Caring for Others

Postal employees from coast to coast collected a record 71.3 million pounds of food, almost a half-million pounds more than last year, during the 13th annual Postal Service/National Association of Letter Carriers “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive — the nation’s largest one-day effort to combat hunger. The food was distributed to local food banks, pantries, and shelters to help needy families.

* The External First-Class Mail measurement system (EXFC) measures collection box to mailbox delivery performance. EXFC continually tests a panel of 463 ZIP Code areas selected on the basis of geographic and volume density from which 90% of First-Class Mail volume originates and 80% destinates. EXFC is not a system-wide measurement of all First-Class Mail performance.

Your time is valuable. That’s why we created Automated Postal Centers. Just about anything you can do at the counter, you can do from an APC. They’re in hundreds of Post Offices nationwide, with many available 24/7!