Revised Delivery Standards

Claiming that its customers valued consistency over promptness in mail delivery, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) revised its first-class mail service standards in 1990. The new standards were intended to set more realistic goals for the time a letter should take to travel between two points and thus to allow the goals to be met more consistently. About eight percent of overnight mail became two-day mail, and about 22 percent of two-day mail became three-day mail. After the standards were relaxed, delivery service for stamped mail more often met the new standards--driving up the percentage of mail delivered on time. But no improvement occurred in actual delivery service. This report discusses the (1) volume of first-class mail subject to the new standards; (2) effect of the standards' changes on the speed and consistency of delivery service and on postal operations; (3) savings from operational changes; and (4) views of postal management, customers, and unions on the revised standards.

GAO found that: (1) the Postal Service relaxed delivery standards for nearly half of its overnight and 2-day zip code paired locations and over 11 percent of the daily first-class mailstream; (2) new standards shifted 8 percent of overnight mail to a 2-day delivery schedule and 22 percent of the 2-day mail to a 3-day delivery schedule; (3) the new standards improved the timely delivery of stamped mail, but there was no noticeable improvement in delivery service or consistency; (4) stamped mail service measurement scores improved 55 percent for locations that changed standards from overnight to 2-day delivery and 60 percent for locations that changed standards from a 2- to 3-day delivery; (5) locations that changed delivery standards continued to experience consistency problems and a decrease in the speed of mail delivery; (6) the percentage of stamped mail delivered nationwide within 1 day decreased by approximately 3 percent, and mail delivered within 2 days decreased about 1 percent; (7) the Postal Service failed to take advantage of all the anticipated changes due to the new standards, including shifting mail processing duties from morning to daytime hours, sending mail on trucks, and consolidating truck routes; (8) the Postal Service saved $17 million by reducing air transportation rates and shifting some mail to surface transportation; (9) there were few changes implemented due to the low percentage of mail affected by the new standards; (10) large business mailers reported no improvement in delivery satisfaction and that new standards hindered financial institutions' business; and (11) postal unions reported the changes would lead to slower service, were instituted for operational convenience, and were not warranted.