A VIEW OF ELECTION WEEK MAIL PERFORMANCE. FIRST-CLASS STAGES A REBOUND. MARKETING MAIL STRUGGLES.
So far, we are seeing exactly what we expected. With the election over and “extraordinary measures” winding down, First-Class Mail service, letters, and flats, is returning to YTD averages.
Marketing Mail is just starting to show the negative impacts of the political mail process. Marketing Mail letters had the worst on-time performance we’ve seen since we began running these reports in 2021, with barely 90% delivered on time. Marketing Mail flats also showed a steep decline in performance. Days in transit were roughly a day longer than the YTD.
The results are not a surprise, as we expected Marketing Mail to be held aside while political mail was expedited. The slowest states tended to be “battleground” states (MI, GA, WI, AZ, PA) which were inundated with political mail. Our expectation and hope is that impacted facilities will get cleared out and caught up on Marketing Mail. We’ll see.
BTW, the worst service in the country for Marketing Mail was in Nebraska, which was not, to our understanding, a battleground.
