Explaining the Standards of Service Standards
There’s been a lot of talk recently about the Postal Service making changes and “slowing down the mail,” using terms like service standards and service targets. Don’t understand what any of this means? Don’t worry, you are not alone. Shedding some light on this subject is the topic of our recently released report, A Primer on Service Standards.
The report explains the previously mentioned service performance measurements – service standards and service performance targets. A service standard is the number of days USPS expects it should take to deliver a specific type of mail. For example, Priority Mail currently has a one-to-three-day service standard. That means if you go to your local post office and mail a piece of Priority Mail, it should take one to three days to reach your recipient. Marketing Mail, on the other hand, should take three to 10 days. To change service standards, the Postal Service must follow certain procedures, including consulting its regulator, the Postal Regulatory Commission. That is what all the recent news is about — the Postal Service is in the process of changing its Service Standards for single-piece First-Class Mail and First-Class Package Service.
Service performance targets, relatedly, measure the Postal Service’s success in meeting its service standards. They are expressed in terms of a percentage. For example, the current service target for First-Class single-piece mail with a 2-day service standard is 87.81 percent. This means USPS’s goal is to meet the service standard for 87.81 percent of that type of mail. Like service standards, service performance targets vary by the type of mail. Unlike service standards, changes to service performance targets don’t need to be reviewed by the regulator. They do need to be approved by the Postal Service’s executive leadership and its Board of Governors. The Postal Service has said it will increase its service targets for all mail to 95 percent once it has implemented all parts of its 10-year plan.
Want to know more about these service measurements, how USPS measures their success, and how all of this relates to USPS’s planned changes? Read about it in our paper.
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From: Felicia Gates (Property Staff)
Date: October 12, 2021, 3:27 pm
Subject: Mailbox Area
Good afternoon,
When the mail was delivered today, it was discovered that the are mailboxes had been broken into. A police report has been filed. In the meantime until the contractor repairs the boxes, you will need to come into the office during office hours to get to the mail area.
If you have any information on who may have done this please let us know.
We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.
Sincerely,
Your Community Team.
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This violation of the law..
You are notice me, have mail
Pick up post office..
Stop this immediately. Never give this manager my mail ever since this my rights.
Please asked mail lady contact me at my door.
The set of facts, 3 carriers on one section of a route at 7:30 suggest that your station was barely able to staff its routes with ordinary overtime but something happened. Could be illness a vehicle breakdown, a dog attack etc. And when two or three carriers finished their ordinary overtime under penalty overtime conditions flooded your route to finish it as early as possible instead of leaving one carrier to do what he can before the 12 hour limit saw him bring back a portion of that route undelivered to wait for the next day.
USPS creates a lot of global warming emissions which should be calculated into pricing such as carbon taxing. Digitization of mail as an option could be applied as credit to recipient for future mailings as an example while those wanting the full “experience” of hard paper in hand are not affected at all.
USPS does not have any competition and it’s large enough, technology savvy enough, and mostly staffed well enough to run on it’s own and even pay back tax payer bailouts.
Maybe high cost areas like NY and CA have higher priced stamps for letters and packages originating from those locations in order to pay workers premium wage required to live in those areas.
Automation, deregulation, dynamic market based pricing, tiered serving, and ability to temporarily augment staff to handle peaks would bring USPS in line with expanded consumer demands and desires.
The first tiered servicing features should be optional Saturday delivery as other delivery providers do. A 2 day letter mailed on Thursday would have a target date no earlier than on Monday.
Day two still no mail for our street
Lancaster, Pa
I haven't had any problems my mouth shows up as it should sometimes they do get mail that isn't mine but it's from a previous person that lived there so but I get my mail on time I think the United States postal service is doing just to find job