A LITTLE BETTER, A LITTLE WORSE, NOT MUCH CHANGE OVERALL – AND KEEP AN EYE ON FLATS
Not a terribly exciting week, but it could be a harbinger of things to come this fall. Letters were improved from the prior week in First-Class, and flat for Marketing mail. Speaking of flat(s), not a good week. The always volatile First-Class flats were below the YTD on-time average, and Marketing Mail flats were well below YTD performance. With the Catalog Promotion a month away, this is worrisome.
The Postal Service did acknowledge that it was aware of delays in the Greater Chicago Area, specifically for packages. Still, this has them redirecting packages from their Chicago RPDC to: Springdale, IL; Grand Rapids, MI NDC; Detroit, MI NDC. Delayed packages take up space and labor from all categories of mail. This is very early in the season – really before the season – for facilities to be backing up. Letters live in their own highly automated world where jammed facilities aren’t a big risk. Flats, on the other hand, share space and resources with packages. And the catalog promotion looms.
If flats are your business, pay attention.
