Quality of Mail Service in the State of Louisiana

Mail service in Louisiana was compared with the southern region and the Nation. Test mailings were conducted, large mailers were contacted, and workload and mail processing were assessed in the Postal Service's sectional center facilities in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport.

About 95% of stamped first-class mail was delivered on time within overnight areas, but the percentage was lower in 2- and 3-day delivery areas. Combined mail delivery was poorer by comparison in overnight delivery, better on 2- and 3-day area mail originating in Louisiana, and better than national and almost equal to regional performance on incoming 2- and 3-day area deliveries. Twenty-one percent of postal customer complaints dealt with delayed mail, and more than half of the large mailers complained of the problem. Two of the 1,000 test letters were missent. Economy measures and more ambitious delivery commitments under the Service Improvement Program have adversely affected mail service. Delayed mail is delayed even longer at times to keep local/overnight mail on schedule.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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