2010 Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations - USPS.com

The <strong>2010</strong> Annual Performance Report and 2011 Annual Performance Plan
is measured using Delivery Confirmation scans that have both
“start-the-clock” and “stop-the-clock” scans. All performance scores
compare actual transit times against the service standard for the
respective category — Overnight, 2-Day, or 3- to 5-Days. Most
Single-Piece First-Class Mail (99.8%) has a service standard of
between 1 and 3 days.
Since the 1980s, External First-Class Mail (EXFC) has been a
rigorous sampling system performed by an external entity that
records transit times between deposit and delivery. Single-Piece
First-Class Mail International is not included in the national goal;
however, it is measured and reported separately on usps.com/
serviceperformance and used as a unit goal.
The consistent improvement of Single-Piece First-Class Mail
performance over time is the result of sustained focus at all levels
of postal management, in conjunction with multiple activities and
initiatives designed to standardize best practices, improve efficiency,
and eliminate the root causes of delay and process variability.
These efforts, described throughout the <strong>Comprehensive</strong> <strong>Statement</strong>,
include (but are not limited to) ongoing refinements in automation
and address recognition; elimination of unnecessary handling and
process steps; improvements in visibility and expansion of Intelligent
Mail; and standard use of computerized workforce planning models.
Single-Piece First-Class Mail service standards factor in distance
and transportation availability, the amount of processing required,
and risk. Explanations for the service standards and other details
on service measurement may be found at www.prc.gov/Docs/60/
60194/OrderNo.83Attachment.pdf. All Single-Piece First-Class Mail
categories require processing at an origin postal facility. Mail with
2-Day or 3–5-Day service standards require more processing and
more extensive transportation, with associated risks.
Other Mailing Services. Additional categories of mailing services
have been measured and reported using pilot or interim systems.
These categories also have service standards and goals. They
receive similar attention to continuous improvement and are also
impacted by similar forces, such as weather.
For a goal to be included on the list of a limited number of corporate
goals, it would have to go through the Annual Planning Process
mentioned earlier. It must rely on stable systems where processes
are in control and are statistically significant at the levels being
measured (e.g., at the district level). As more reliable diagnostic data
becomes available, it refines its measurement processes and may
expand the services that are measured. New measurement systems
for other mailing services are summarized below. These systems are
in different stages of maturity and are not included in the corporate
objectives for 2011. Service standards and on-time performance for
mailing services are available at usps.com/serviceperformance.
Presort First-Class Mail and Standard Mail. Measurement
for commercial letters and flats use similar processes, which
determine performance using tracking from IMb scans with valid
4 | <strong>2010</strong> Performance Report and 2011 Performance Plan
start- and stop-the-clock scans, in conjunction with external data
from the EXFC system. In Quarter 4, the measurement moved from
using a limited number of pilot Full-Service IMb mailers to using
all IMb Full-Service mailings with valid start- and stop-the-clock
scans, totaling over 1.5 billion pieces per week. This is measuring
a census of mail with an IMb instead of being a sampling system
like EXFC. Intelligent Mail includes many aspects such as electronic
documentation (details in the <strong>Comprehensive</strong> <strong>Statement</strong> ).
Automation equipment passively reads the barcodes and sends the
information back to a centralized database. As more mail stays on
automation, such as FSS, there will be more robust information that
will provide statistically reliable results throughout the country. As the
system matures, it will help improve performance measurement by
extending coverage to more mail categories and mail volume and by
providing more detail for analysis and action.
Periodicals. Current tracking combines data from two external,
independently-operated systems used by the publishing industry.
Service is measured using mailer-reported entry times to start the
clock and external reporter delivery dates. Since this process is
not representative of all publications and is not statistically valid,
a system that uses broad participation in IMb will replace it with
a more robust system similar to commercial First-Class Mail and
Standard Mail.
Package Services. Service is measured using transit time
from deposit at a Post Office to delivery for parcels with Delivery
Confirmation. The system measures service to and from virtually all
3-Digit ZIP Code areas. Systems are not yet fully in place to measure
the on-time performance for Presort Package Services and at this
point available data includes too little of the overall population to be a
representative measure.
Special Services. There are a number of special services and
performance is measured using a variety of systems. For all of
these services, the measured result is compared with the respective
service standard to determine performance. Results are included on
usps.com/serviceperformance.
Customer Experience. The Postal Service maintains one of the
nation’s largest survey-based customer experience measurement
programs, supplemented by mystery shopper visits. The survey
examines a wide range of postal interactions with consumers, small
businesses, and large commercial mailers. These include sending
and receiving mail, contacts with service employees, and other
issues important to customers. In addition, independent observers
(mystery shoppers) visit Post Offices and use postal help-lines to
assess performance. All this information is provided to managers
to improve performance, which is one of the reasons the American
Customer Satisfaction Index has listed postal services as the most
improved of all services measured since 1994.