The United States Postal Service reported new delivery performance metrics for the 11th week of the fiscal fourth quarter. The data shows continued strong performance for first-class mail, marketing mail, and periodicals. During the reporting period, the postal service averaged 2.5 days to deliver a mailpiece or package across the postal network.
The fourth quarter service performance scores covering July 1 through Sept. 16 included:
- First-class mail: 93.2 per cent of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal third quarter.
- Marketing mail: 94.6 per cent of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal third quarter.
- Periodicals: 87.1 per cent of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal third quarter.
One of the goals of Delivering for America, the postal service’s 10-year plan for achieving financial sustainability and service excellence, is to meet or exceed 95 per cent on-time service performance for all mail and shipping products once all elements of the plan are implemented. Service performance is defined by the postal service as the time it takes to deliver a mailpiece or package from its acceptance into our system through its delivery, as measured against published service standards.
As service across the network holds steady through the busy fall mailing season, USPS announced efforts underway to prepare for the holiday shipping and mailing season. Initiatives include stabilizing the USPS permanent workforce by converting 100,000 workers to full-time since the beginning of 2021; with more than 41,000 part-time workers converted to full-time since January 2022. Additionally, USPS is hiring 28,000 seasonal employees ahead of the holiday season. As part of $40 billion in capital investments under the Delivering for America plan, USPS is installing 137 new package sorting machines across the nation this year. This brings the organization’s total to 249 new processing machines since the beginning of 2021. The new equipment and increased operational precision will expand daily package processing capacity to 60 million, the postal service said.
Since January, USPS has installed 81 of 137 new package sorting machines ahead of the holiday season. New package sorting machines have recently been installed in: Dallas, Texas , Newark, N.J., Denver, Colo., and Boston, Mass.
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on selling postage, products and services to fund its operations.