SERVICE PERFORMANCE CONTINUES TO DECLINE, BUT NOT AS BADLY AS LAST YEAR
No surprises last week – service got worse as volume increased and the holidays approach. Barely 70% of First-Class letters were delivered on time, and nearly 10% were more than five days late. Just over 50% of First-Class flats were on time. Marketing Mail numbers were less grim, but still well below YTD averages. We expect slow service this time of year, and on that expectation the Postal Service delivered.
Still, there is a bright side to all of this. Service was much better than the same week last year. If “better” is too strong a word, then less awful. This continues a trend we have seen since service took a hit after the July regulation changes – while service continues to follow seasonal patterns, the overall averages are improving over the prior year. It’s been a few years since USPS has managed that. We’re a long way from good performance – or even acceptable performance – but we like the direction.
Geographically, there were no real laggards driving the averages down. The middle part of the country was a bit worse, the west better, but no particular hot spots.
