USPS Failed to Meet Service Targets in 2015, PRC Report Says

According to the Postal Regulatory Commission’s (PRC) Annual Compliance Determination Report (ACD), the Postal Service failed to meet the majority of service performance targets in fiscal year 2015. Service performance remains “substantially below their targets,” the March 28 report found.

The Postal Service lowered service standards in January 2015 – but failed to meet even the degraded standards.

The USPS failed to fix the problems identified in last year’s report, and in all but one case, performance results declined over the previous year’s results.

The commission said it is concerned about the “dramatic decline” in performance for First-Class Mail Single-Piece Letters and Postcards with a 3-5-day service standard. The USPS only met service performance targets for High Density and Saturation Letters, Standard Mail Parcels, Bound Printed Matter Parcels, Media Mail/Library Mail, and most Special Services products.

The report also expressed concern over the staggering number of post offices that are “temporarily” closed, such as those awaiting relocation. “The Commission also notes its concern with the growing number of postal retail facilities under suspension, as the number of facilities under suspension has nearly tripled from the end of FY 2012 to the end of FY 2015,” it said.

The PRC also found compliance issues related to 53 workshare discounts, identifying 24 excessive discounts. “Workshare discounts that exceed avoided costs adversely affect Postal Service finances because they incent mailers to perform worksharing that the Postal Service could have done on a less costly basis,” the report said.

“For the second year in a row, the Postal Service failed to meet service standards,” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein. “These failures are frustrating customers and driving away revenue. The Postal Service should restore overnight delivery standards, stop the consolidation and closure of mail processing facilities, open shuttered post offices, and hire enough workers to give the people the service they deserve,” he said.