2010 Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations - USPS.com

Chapter 2: Products and Services
Box is offered to military addresses. Discounts are available for
customers who use electronic postage and meet other requirements.
Unlike most other shipping companies, the Postal Service does not
impose surcharges for fuel, residential delivery, forwarding, Saturday
delivery, or off-shore domestic addresses to destinations such as
Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.
Retail prices are available to any customer using permissible postage
payment methods. Lower Commercial Base prices are available
to customers who use alternate postage payment systems that
capture more customer information such as the online Click-N-Ship
service, approved information-based indicia (IBI) metering system,
or specified permit imprint and barcode configurations. Even
lower Commercial Plus prices are available to customers who use
authorized postage payment methods and whose account volumes
exceed 100,000 pieces in the previous calendar year or who have a
customer commitment agreement.
Two innovations were added this year to Commercial Plus: a
half-pound price and a flat-rate padded envelope. Commercial Plus
Cubic prices in five tiers were also added this year for pieces that
measure 0.50 cubic foot or less and weigh 20 pounds or less if the
qualifying Priority Mail customer presents at least 250,000 such
pieces annually or has a customer commitment agreement. Prices
for the five tiers are based on size and distance rather than weight
and distance. Commercial Plus Cubic is designed to encourage
smaller, less wasteful packaging.
Additional promotion of flat-rate shipping included the distribution
of Priority Mail Flat Rate Box kits to customers who responded to
the advertising campaign through reply cards, the Internet, and
telephone. Over 850,000 kits were fulfilled during the 2009 holiday
period.
A valuable drop-ship service for commercial shippers is Priority Mail
Open and Distribute, which can be used to expedite mail in bulk
such as First-Class Mail bills or Standard Mail parcels containing
medicine. Shippers enclose pieces all destined for the same ZIP
Code or range of ZIP Codes in a Priority Mail sack or distinctive
Postal Service-provided tray box and address it to the destination
postal facility. Several features and activities added to improve Open
and Distribute and redirect services included half and full tray boxes,
a self-adhesive label for flat-rate boxes and envelopes, documented
acceptance and processing procedures, and a Lean Six Sigma
project for improving scanning and service performance.
Simplified postage payment with a permit imprint is available with
the Electronic Verification System (eVS) that allows commercial
mailers to manifest and track large mailings, including Priority
Mail shipments. Mailers transmit electronic files which generate
financial documents such as postage statements, deduct postage
from a centralized account, and produce other mailing and sampling
reports.
PARCEL SELECT
Parcel Select is an economical ground package-delivery product
that medium and large volume shippers and consolidators use to
ship packages. Any mailable matter may be mailed as Parcel Select
except matter required to be mailed as First-Class Mail or Priority
Mail, and publications required to be entered as Periodicals. Price
is determined by weight, distance, entry facility, and in some cases,
dimension. The best pricing is available for packages entered at
destination facilities: destination delivery unit (DDU), destination
sectional center facility (DSCF), or destination network distribution
center (DNDC). Parcel Select also includes higher price options for
parcels prepared and sorted by NDCs at Origin and NDC Presort, as
well as barcoded machinable parcels.
Parcel Select combines parcel consolidator expertise and logistics
with the vast delivery network of the Postal Service to provide highly
competitive prices and excellent delivery service. The Postal Service
has actively developed strategies to increase volume by optimizing
pricing and developing new customer contracts based on flexible
pricing; increasing partnerships and better leveraging the first- and
last-mile pickup and delivery network; and by shortening start-up
time for new customers. As a result, ground packages drop-shipped
at DDUs and DNDCs represented more than 97.5 percent of Parcel
Select volume as businesses continue to move packages closer to
destination. Service performance was at an all-time high in <strong>2010</strong>.
<strong>2010</strong> <strong>Comprehensive</strong> <strong>Statement</strong> on Postal Operations | 13