SO MUCH FOR AN IMPROVING SERVICE TREND. A RETURN TO THE MEAN.
The past couple of weeks had shown some promise that the Postal Service could shake off a couple of problem areas (I’m looking at you, Atlanta) and get into a better summer pattern. Nah.
Less than 84% of First-Class letters were delivered on time, and less than 48% of First-Class flats. I’ll throw in my usual proviso that the sample of First-Class flats was very small, so take that stat on advisement, although the small sample rarely makes it look artificially good, so I am pretty satisfied that First-Class Flats delivery is generally unreliable.
The character of the poor performance changed a bit this week. The real trouble spots seem to be finally improving, with a First-Class letter to an Atlanta address arriving in 5.89 days on average – much better than the 10+ days we had been seeing for months. Other Atlanta area facilities barely made the list, with much improved First-Class service. What we saw this week was lessened performance across almost the entire country – with most facilities showing 4+ day performance. So, although average delivery days for First-Class letters was a bit better than the YTD average, those earlier measures were heavily influenced by an Atlanta meltdown – now slow service is more widespread.
Ohio continued to show performance issues as well. Cleveland, Mansfield, and Canton all appeared among the five slowest areas for delivery, so continue to bear watching.
Marketing Mail remained OK, with a decent on-time percentage due to much lower standards. Still, average delivery days and intra-SCF delivery days were worse than YTD.
All in all, a low drama week, if a continuation of a slow decline in service.
