Administrative Practice and Procedure, Postal Service, 36136-36156 [E8-14396]
Download as PDF
<![CDATA[
36136
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. PI2008–1; Order No. 83]
Administrative Practice and Procedure,
Postal Service
Postal Regulatory Commission.
Notice.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
SUMMARY: Changes in the law governing
the nation’s postal system mandate
adoption of service performance
measurement and reporting systems for
market dominant products, which
include First-Class Mail. This notice
presents a service measurement and
reporting plan for public review and
comment. The comments will assist the
Commission in formulating its position
on the plan.
DATES: Comments are due July 9, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments
electronically via the Commission’s
Filing Online system at https://
www.prc.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Stephen L. Sharfman, General Counsel,
202–789–6820 and
stephen.sharfman@prc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Regulatory History, 72 FR 72395
(December 20, 2007).
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
I. Background
Section 301 of the Postal
Accountability and Enhancement Act
(PAEA), Public Law 109–435, 120 Stat.
3218, requires the Postal Service, in
consultation with the Postal Regulatory
Commission (Commission), to establish
by regulation a set of modern service
standards for market dominant
products.1 The Postal Service completed
this initial task with the publication of
‘‘Modern Service Standards for MarketDominant Products’’ as a final rule,
effective December 19, 2007.2
By statute, the service standards must
be measured by an objective external
performance measurement system,
unless the Commission approves the use
of an internal measurement system. 39
U.S.C. 3691(b)(1)(D) and (b)(2). The
Postal Service is in the process of
developing its performance
measurement system, and has kept the
Commission informed of its progress
through a series of meetings to discuss
service performance measurement
issues. The Commission has solicited
public input on the Postal Service’s
measurement system proposals by
providing the public with an
1 Section 301 of the PAEA is codified at 39 U.S.C.
3691.
2 See 72 FR 72216 (December 19, 2007) (to be
codified at 39 CFR parts 121 and 122).
VerDate Aug<31>2005
20:04 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
opportunity to comment on the Postal
Service’s November 2007 draft Service
Performance Measurement plan.3
Since November, the Postal Service
has made significant progress in
working with its external measurement
vendors and working through the
implementation of the internal
Intelligent Mail Barcode system. The
result of this progress has led to a
continuous refinement of the Service
Performance Measurement plan. The
Commission is in the process of
preparing a reply to the Postal Service’s
most recent plan which will address the
proposals for internal versus external
measurement systems and the proposals
for data reporting.
The text of the June 2008 version of
the Service Performance Measurement
plan appears below the signature line of
this order. The perspective of the
mailing community will aid the
Commission in developing its reply to
the Postal Service and help the
Commission carry out its performance
measurement responsibilities under the
PAEA. Interested persons are invited to
comment on any or all aspects of the
proposed service performance
measurement and reporting systems.
This provides an opportunity for those
that previously commented to update
their comments, and for those that have
yet to comment to provide initial
comments. Comments are due July 9,
2008. All comments will be available for
review on the Commission’s Web site,
https://www.prc.gov.
II. United States Postal Service Service
Performance Measurement
A. Glossary of Terms
The description of the approach for
service performance measurement
includes references to certain postal
terminology. For clarification, the
following brief definitions and
descriptions are provided.
The Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) is
a height-modulated barcode that
encodes up to 31-digits of mailpiece
data. The IMb combines and expands
the capabilities of the POSTNET
barcode and the Planet Code barcode
into one unique barcode and is intended
to replace the POSTNET and Planet
Code barcodes by May 2010.
A service standard is defined as ‘‘a
stated goal for service achievement for
each mail class.’’ See Publication 32,
Glossary of Postal Terms (May 1997,
updated through July 5, 2007). The
service standard for each marketdominant mail service incorporates the
days-to-deliver for each 3-digit ZIP Code
3 PRC Order No. 48, December 4, 2007; 72 FR
72395 (December 20, 2007).
PO 00000
Frm 00102
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
origin-destination pair within the Postal
Service network. The standards serve as
the benchmark for measuring service
performance.
The service performance is the
number of calendar days from the ‘‘startthe-clock’’ to the ‘‘stop-the-clock’’.
However, if the day of the ‘‘stop-theclock’’ event is immediately after a nondelivery day (Sunday or a holiday), then
one day is subtracted from the service
performance measurement calculation
for each consecutive non-delivery day
preceding the delivery day.
For inclusion in service performance
measurement, a mail piece, container/
handling unit, or mailing must pass
verification and meet the applicable
inclusion criteria listed in the appendix
to this document. Verification is a
system of checks used to determine if a
mailing is properly prepared and if the
correct postage is paid.
The critical entry time (CET) is the
latest time that a reasonable amount of
a class of mail can be received at
designated induction points in the
postal network for it to be processed and
dispatched in time to meet service
standards.
The ‘‘start-the-clock’’ is the date and
time when the mail piece enters the
mailstream. If the Postal Service accepts
a mail piece before the posted CET for
that day, the day of entry is designated
as the ‘‘start-the-clock’’ date. If the mail
piece is accepted after the CET or
dropped at a collection box, business
mail chute, or Post Office location after
the last posted pickup time or on a day
when pickup does not occur, the mail
piece has a ‘‘start-the-clock’’ date of the
following applicable acceptance day.
‘‘Start-the-clock’’ Day zero (or Day-0)
is the date when the clock starts for
purposes of service measurement.
The ‘‘stop-the-clock’’ is the date on
which delivery occurs or is initially
attempted.
A Customer/Supplier Agreement (C/
SA) is a written notice that confirms, for
a commercial mailer, the origin-entry
acceptance window during which mail
that meets applicable preparation
requirements will be considered to have
been entered into the postal network on
‘‘start-the-clock Day zero,’’ for purposes
of service performance measurement.
The notice may include mail
containerization specifications,
designated postal mail facility entry
locations and time-sensitive mail entry
windows.
The Annual Compliance Report
includes the national annual service
performance report for market-dominant
products and is subject to compliance
review by the Postal Regulatory
Commission on a fiscal year basis.
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
36137
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
A postal area is the administrative
level directly below national
headquarters and is comprised of
multiple subordinate postal districts.
There are currently nine areas that span
the entirety of the postal network; these
The Postal Service refers to the delivery
performance of pieces delivered after
the service standard as ‘‘Within +X’’
days of the standard.
The following are examples of
calculating service variance:
nine areas are comprised of a total of 80
subordinate districts.
In service variance reports, the Postal
Service reports the cumulative
percentage for mail pieces delivered
after the applicable service standard.
TABLE 1.—EXAMPLES OF CALCULATING SERVICE VARIANCE—MAY 08
[Adapted from the original, which can be viewed on the Commission’s Web site, https://www.prc.gov/prc-pages/daily-listing)]
Monday
Tuesday
April 28
29
Wednesday
30
Thursday
May 1
Friday
Saturday
2
3
4
Example One.
5
Day Four
7
8
.............................
.............................
.............................
Non-Delivery Day.
14
13
Day Zero
9
Day One
Non-Delivery Day.
Mail Entered After
CET with 2 Day
Service Standard
12
6
Sunday
15
16
17
18
Actual Delivery Day
19
10
Day Two
Example Two.
20
21
22
Day Zero
23
Day One
24
Day Two
Mail Entered Prior
to CET with 3
Day Service
Standard
26
Day Four
27
Holiday
Day Five
28
29
11
Day Three
Non-Delivery Day.
25
Day Three
Non-Delivery Day.
30
31
Actual Delivery
Day
June 1
Non-Delivery Day.
Example 1—Mail was entered after CET on Wednesday and delivered on Monday with a two-day service standard. Since the entry was after
Wednesday’s CET, day zero is now Thursday. Actual Delivery is the number of days it took (calendar days) to deliver the mail (Thursday to
Monday) or 4 days. Expected Delivery is the service standard, which in this case is 2 days. The service performance measurement is Actual Delivery Day (4) minus Expected Delivery (2) minus any non-delivery days between the Expected Delivery Day and the Actual Delivery Day (1) = 1.
Example 2—Mail was entered prior to CET on Thursday and delivered on Tuesday with a three-day service standard. Actual Delivery is the
time it took (calendar days) to deliver the mail (Thursday to Tuesday) or 5 days. Expected Delivery is the service standard, which in this case is
3 days, plus 2 days since Sunday and Monday are non-delivery days. The service performance measurement is Actual Delivery Day (5) minus
Expected Delivery (5) minus any non-delivery days between the Expected Delivery Day and the Actual Delivery Day (0) = 0. Therefore, the mail
piece was delivered on time.
Definition of Terms:
1. The Actual Delivery Day is the calendar day of the ‘‘stop-the-clock’’ for a mail piece.
2. Non-Delivery Days are nationally recognized days on which the Postal Service does not deliver mail to delivery points. Sundays and holidays are non-delivery days. Non-delivery days may also occur by Presidential proclamation such as a national day of mourning.
3. The Expected Delivery Day is calculated by adding the applicable service standard to the ‘‘start-the-clock’’ date for a mail piece. When that
date lands on a non-delivery day, the expected delivery date becomes the next possible delivery date.
4. Service variance, represented as ‘‘Within +X’’, is the number of delivery days between the Expected Delivery Date for the mail piece and the
Actual Delivery Date of the piece. ‘‘Within +X’’ is calculated by subtracting the Expected Delivery Date from the Actual Delivery Date and then
subtracting any Non-Delivery Days between the Actual and Expected Delivery Dates from the result:
X = Actual Delivery Day¥Expected Delivery Day¥Non-Delivery Days between Actual and Expected Delivery Days
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
1. Introduction
Among many requirements, the Postal
Accountability and Enhancement Act
(PAEA) instructs the United States
Postal Service (Postal Service) to
establish modern service standards for
its market-dominant mail products.
According to the law, these standards
should be designed ‘‘to provide a system
of objective external performance
measurements for each marketdominant product as a basis for
measurement of Postal Service
performance.’’ However, with the
VerDate Aug<31>2005
21:37 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
approval of the Postal Regulatory
Commission (PRC), an internal
measurement system may be
implemented instead of an external
system.4
The service performance
measurement systems used for
measurement will evolve over time as
capacity increases. For example, the
measurement system may be modified
annually pending the outcome of the
annual service standards review
process. The measurement systems are
designed to provide the Postal Service
and its customers with data sufficiently
accurate and reliable for purposes of
assessing the quality of mail service in
a cost effective manner. These data are
expected to provide the PRC with the
ability to perform its responsibilities
under the PAEA with a high degree of
confidence. The following table
4 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act,
Public Law 109–435, 120 Stat. 3198, 39 U.S.C.
3691(b)(1)(D) and (b)(2).
PO 00000
Frm 00103
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
36138
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
summarizes the measurement system at
full rollout.
TABLE 2.—POSTAL SERVICE MEASUREMENT APPROACH AT FULL ROLLOUT1
[Measurement approach by mail segment]
Single-piece
Presort
Letters
First-Class Mail ......
Single-Piece FirstClass Mail International.
Periodicals 6 ...........
Flats
Parcels
Letters
Flats
EXFC ...................
EXFC ...................
Start: Acceptance
scan.
EXFC as Proxy 2
IMMS 3 .................
EXFC as proxy 4
N/A ......................
N/A ......................
N/A ......................
N/A ......................
Stop: Delivery
Confirmation
delivery scan.
Single-Piece FirstClass Mail parcels as proxy.5
N/A ......................
Start: Documented Arrival
Time at Postal
facility.
Stop: External reporting.
Start: Documented Arrival
Time at Postal
facility.
Stop: External reporting.
Start: Documented Arrival
Time at Postal
facility.
Stop: External reporting 7.
Start: Documented Arrival
Time at Postal
facility.
Stop: External reporting.
Standard Mail .........
N/A ......................
N/A ......................
N/A ......................
Start: Documented Arrival
Time at Postal
facility.
Stop: External reporting.
Start: Documented Arrival
Time at Postal
facility.
Stop: External reporting.
Package Services ..
N/A ......................
N/A 8 ....................
Start: Acceptance
scan.
N/A ......................
Stop: Delivery
Confirmation
delivery scan.
.........................
.........................
Parcels
Start: Documented Arrival
Time at Postal
facility.
Stop: Delivery
Confirmation
delivery scan.
N/A.
N/A.
N/A.
Start: Documented Arrival
Time at Postal
facility.
Stop: Delivery
Confirmation
delivery scan.
Start: Documented Arrival
Time at Postal
facility.
Stop: Delivery
Confirmation
delivery scan.
1 Special Services are not included in Table 1 as they have different methods to ‘‘start-the-clock’’ and ‘‘stop-the-clock’’ from the market-dominant mail products.
2 The Postal Service will use the External First-Class Mail Measurement System (EXFC) measurement for single-piece flats as a proxy for
Presort First-Class Mail flats due to the very small volume of Presort flats.
3 The International Mail Measurement System (IMMS) is an external measurement system for which an independent measurement contractor
seeds mail into the mailstream.
4 The EXFC measurement for domestic single-piece First-Class Mail flats will serve as a proxy for single-piece First-Class Mail International
flats due to the small volume in the latter category. After clearing customs, single-piece First-Class Mail International flats enter the domestic
mailstream and are handled with domestic single-piece First-Class Mail flats.
5 The Postal Service will use the measurement for domestic single-piece First-Class Mail parcels as a proxy for single-piece First-Class Mail
International parcels.
6 Two mailer-operated external systems, Red Tag and Time Inc.’s DelTrak, will be used for Periodicals measurement during FY 2009, as the
Postal Service transitions to a long-term internal solution.
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
2. Measurement Approach
For purpose of service performance
measurement, the Postal Service will
continue use of the External First-Class
Measurement system (EXFC) for singlepiece First-Class Mail letters and flats
and the International Mail Measurement
System (IMMS) for single-piece FirstClass Mail International letters.5 For
letter- and flat-shaped Presort mail
within First-Class Mail, Periodicals, and
Standard Mail services, the Postal
5 The
only major type of International Mail
classified as market-dominant is single-piece FirstClass Mail International. For single-piece First-Class
Mail International flats and parcels, the Postal
Service will use the domestic flats and parcel
measurements as proxies, as explained in Section
4.1.
VerDate Aug<31>2005
20:04 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
Service uses an external measurement
approach that supplements mail scans
available from an internal Intelligent
Mail system with externally collected
data. For parcel-shaped mail within
First-Class Mail, Standard Mail, and
Package Services,6 the Postal Service
uses an internal solution based on
Delivery Confirmation scans obtained at
acceptance and delivery. Additionally,
the performance measurement of
6 Package Services market-dominant products
include Parcel Post, Bound Printed Matter, Library
Mail, and Media Mail, by operation of 39 U.S.C.
3621. For purposes of service standard
establishment and service performance
measurement, these market-dominant products are
grouped together as Package Services due to their
relatively small volumes.
PO 00000
Frm 00104
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
various domestic special services uses
an internal measurement approach.
Destination-entered Standard Mail is
subject to national Critical Entry Times
(CETs). All other classes of mail are
subject to locally-defined facility CETs.
A Customer/Supplier Agreement
between a bulk mailer and the Postal
Service may identify an alternate
acceptance window. In the case where
a Customer/Supplier Agreement exists,
it is the responsibility of the mailer to
enter mail within the agreed-upon
acceptance window. Customer/Supplier
Agreements may include terms
regarding seasonal volumes or split
processing windows.
The two critical elements for service
performance measurement of a mail
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
piece are the date and time when the
mail piece enters the mailstream,
otherwise known as the ‘‘start-theclock,’’ and the date when delivery
occurs or is attempted, otherwise known
as the ‘‘stop-the-clock’’.7 The mail piece
service performance measurement can
be viewed as the difference between the
‘‘start-the-clock’’ and ‘‘stop-the-clock’’
dates, excluding non-delivery days,
which is then compared to the
established service standard for the mail
category. When assessing mail piece
service performance, relevant facility
Critical Entry Times (CETs) must be
taken into account. For commercial
mail, Customer/Supplier Agreements
(C/SAs) may also be employed and used
to assign the ‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0 for
purposes of service performance
measurement. If the Postal Service
accepts a mail piece either before the
CET or within the acceptance window
specified in the C/SA on a given
acceptance day, the mail piece will have
a ‘‘start-the-clock’’ date of the current
day. If the mail piece is accepted after
the CET, and outside the acceptance
window specified in the C/SA, the mail
piece will have a ‘‘start-the-clock’’ date
of the following applicable acceptance
day for that facility.8
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
2.1 Presort Letter and Flat-Shaped Mail
For Presort First-Class Mail, Standard
and Periodical letters and for Standard
and Periodical flats, the Postal Service’s
service performance measurement
system uses documented arrival time at
the postal facility to ‘‘start-the-clock,’’
and an external, third-party ‘‘stop-theclock’’ performed by reporters with
scanners in their homes. Additional
data on mail piece tracking from
Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) scans are
also used to supplement the external
data. However, data collected by the
Postal Service are provided to an
independent, external contractor to
calculate service measurement and
compile the necessary reports.
To facilitate an accurate ‘‘start-theclock’’ measurement, mailers prepare
mail with IMb’s and, as a part of the
acceptance process, submit electronic
mailing information that describes the
mail profile. Mailings are verified at
acceptance to ensure they meet
applicable preparation requirements
necessary to qualify for service
7 Mail must pass verification before being
included in service measurement.
8 National CETs have been established for
Standard Mail destination-entered at Sectional
Center Facilities (SCFs) and Bulk Mail Centers
(BMCs).
VerDate Aug<31>2005
20:04 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
performance measurement.9 For mailers
that meet the Full Service Intelligent
Mail Option, the Postal Service makes
mail arrival time and mail preparation
quality information available.
The external measurement contractor
determines service performance based
on the elapsed time between the ‘‘startthe-clock’’ event recorded by the Postal
Service and the ‘‘stop-the-clock’’ event
scan recorded by anonymous
households and small businesses that
report delivery information directly to
the contractor. The end-to-end service
measure consists of two parts: (1) How
long mail pieces take to get through
processing, and (2) how long mail takes
from the last processing scan to
delivery. The second portion is used as
a delivery factor differential to
determine the percent of mail that is
delivered on the last processing date
and the percent delivered after the last
processing date. For Presort letters and
non-saturation flats entered at Delivery
Units that do not receive processing
scans, postal personnel scan IMb’s to
indicate intention to deliver that day. By
comparing the date of the Postal
Service’s final IMb scan with the
reported delivery date for these mail
pieces, the external measurement
contractor calculates the delivery factor
differential for each mail category. With
this measurement approach, the core
service performance score is augmented
by data provided by external reporters,
which provides a cost-effective method
for end-to-end measurement.
External scanning offers many
benefits to the Postal Service, the PRC,
and mailers concerning the accuracy
and auditability of service performance
measurement: Delivery sampling data
are used to provide the granularity
required for district level reporting, and
association of the reporter scan data to
the final mail processing equipment
scan is used to assess delivery failures.
The use of external reporters allows
for barcoded mail that falls out of
automation to be included in service
performance measurement. To ensure
that the external service measurement
contractor is able to measure service
performance for properly prepared and
addressed mail pieces, the Postal
Service provides the contractor with
mail quality information that it derives
by scanning IMb’s.
This measurement approach leverages
IMb data from internal systems for
Presort letters and flat-shaped mail to
enhance service measurement. It also
allows for: Greater representation of
9 Such requirements are in addition to those
which must be met to qualify for mailing within a
particular product or price category.
PO 00000
Frm 00105
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
36139
mail characteristics; richer diagnostics;
and robust and reliable measurement at
low cost.
2.2 Measurement System
Requirements for Presort Mailers of
Letters, Cards, and Flats
The Postal Service performs service
measurement on mail that satisfies
generally applicable mail preparation
requirements and also meets the
requirements of the Full Service
Intelligent Mail Option, which gives
the Postal Service the ability to identify
unique mail pieces in the mailstream.
These service measurement
requirements include, unique Intelligent
Mail barcodes on mail pieces, trays
and containers where appropriate, and
appointment scheduling for Destination
Bulk Mail Center (DBMC), Destination
Area Distribution Center (DADC), and
Destination Sectional Center Facility
(DSCF) drop shipments, and for
authorized mailers choosing to transport
origin-entered, postal-verified mail to
downstream facilities. They also may
include electronic submission of
postage statements and mailing
documentation. More information on
the Full Service Intelligent Mail
Option can be found in Federal Register
notices 10 and will be published in
future revisions of the Domestic Mail
Manual (DMM).11
2.3
Parcels
For parcel-shaped First-Class Mail,
Standard Mail, and Package Services,
the Postal Service uses an internal
solution based on Delivery Confirmation
scans obtained at acceptance and
delivery. For reporting purposes, FirstClass Mail parcels are included with the
First-Class Mail aggregate performance
results and Standard Mail parcels are
included with the Standard Mail
aggregate performance.
For parcel-shaped Retail mail for
which Delivery Confirmation service
has been purchased, the Postal Service
uses the Delivery Confirmation scan at
the retail counter as the ‘‘start-theclock’’ event. Parcel-shaped Presort mail
uses the documented arrival time at the
postal facility as the ‘‘start-the-clock’’.
For Presort parcels, validation similar to
that for letters and flats is performed to
ensure that the parcels were dropped at
the correct postal facility.
10 See 73 FR 1158 (January 7, 2008) and 73 FR
23393 (April 30, 2008).
11 The requirements for service performance
measurement are separate from addressing,
presortation, containerization, or other
requirements generally governing price eligibility
published in the Mail Classification Schedule or
USPS Domestic Mail Manual.
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
36140
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
The ‘‘stop-the-clock’’ event is the
Delivery Confirmation scan performed
by postal personnel at delivery.12 Since
postal personnel scan pieces with a
Delivery Confirmation barcode at
delivery, the measurement system is
truly an end-to-end performance system.
In addition, the sender has access to the
Delivery Confirmation ‘‘stop-the-clock’’
information from the Track & Confirm
function at the Postal Service’s public
Web site, https://www.usps.com and,
thus, can independently verify the
delivery date.
In accordance with section 3652 of
the Postal Accountability and
Enhancement Act, the Postal Service is
required to report measures of the
quality of service on an annual basis.
The Postal Service’s proposal for service
measurement goes far beyond annual
reporting and will instead provide
quarterly reporting for all marketdominant products, almost entirely at a
district level.
2.4
Reporting
The Postal Service uses an
independent, external contractor to
prepare service performance reports for
domestic First-Class Mail, Periodicals,
Standard Mail, and single-piece FirstClass Mail International letters.
The Postal Service will continue
collecting performance data for parcels
within each domestic market-dominant
mail class based on Delivery
Confirmation acceptance and delivery
scans. The Postal Service sends
performance data for First-Class Mail
parcels and Standard Mail parcels to the
external service performance contractor
for consolidated reporting of the
performance of each mail class.
Quarterly reports include data on the
percentage of mail delivered on-time, as
well as the percentage of mail delivered
within 1-day, 2-days, and 3-days of the
standard being measured. Annual
compliance reports for each marketdominant product will include the
annual target and the annual percentage
of mail delivered on time.
For Special Services, the Postal
Service reports a performance index that
combines the measurement of a number
of Special Services into a single index
for comparison on an annual basis.
3
First-Class Mail
3.1
Background
First-Class Mail pieces represented
45.2 percent of the overall mail volume
in FY2007,13 with nearly 96 billion
pieces. Of First-Class Mail, 41.3 percent
are single-piece cards, letters or flats, 0.4
percent are single-piece parcels, 57.1
percent are Presort cards and letters, 1.0
percent are Presort flats, and 0.2 percent
are Presort parcels. The Postal Service
plans to measure each of these different
segments and report a weighted average
measurement separately for presort and
single-piece categories. Below, Table
3—First-Class Mail Volume illustrates
the make-up of First-Class Mail by entry
volume and shape. The table also
illustrates the percentage of the overall
mailstream that each of these First-Class
Mail segments represents.
TABLE 3.—FIRST-CLASS MAIL VOLUME
Single-Piece
Letters
(percent)
First-Class Mail ........................................
Overall Mailstream ...................................
38.0
17
3.2 First-Class Mail Single-Piece
Letters and Flats
Collection boxes and office building
chutes are the primary methods for
entering First-Class Mail single-piece
letters and flats. Combined, this mail
represents 18.7 percent of the total
mailstream. Service performance is
measured though EXFC.
EXFC continuously measures nearly
all 3-digit ZIP Code service areas. EXFC
mail pieces are designed to resemble the
rest of the mailstream; pieces are handor machine-addressed, stamped or
metered, and are of different colors,
sizes, and weights. Quality reviews are
conducted for droppers and reporters,
and data are reviewed on a daily,
weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and
quarterly basis.
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
3.2.1
‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
The date and time that the mail piece
is dropped into a collection box or
business mail chute is the ‘‘start-theclock’’. Mail piece droppers report the
12 Either by a carrier on a delivery route or a clerk
in a Post Office Box section as delivery is
completed or attempted.
VerDate Aug<31>2005
20:04 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
Flats
(percent)
Presort
Parcels
(percent)
3.3
1.5
Letters
(percent)
0.4
0.2
‘‘start-the-clock’’ directly to the external
service measurement contractor. If a
mail piece is dropped at a collection
box, business mail chute, or Post Office
location after the last posted pickup
time or on a day when pickup does not
occur, the next pickup day is the ‘‘startthe-clock’’.
The induction points for the ‘‘startthe-clock’’ are determined before the
start of each fiscal quarter. External
droppers are provided with a listing of
collection boxes that they are allowed to
use for their assigned inductions in a
given 3-digit ZIP Code service area.
Enough locations are chosen to ensure
a certain amount of coverage, to
accommodate any unforeseen issues
that may arise with the selected
induction points. The collection boxes
are chosen in a random selection
process with replacement, meaning that
the same induction location may be
chosen multiple times. The induction
points are weighted going into the
selection process, so that locations in 5-
Flats
(percent)
57.1
25.8
1.0
0.4
Frm 00106
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
0.2
0.1
Total
(percent)
100
45.2
digit ZIP Code areas with a larger
number of collection boxes have a
greater chance of being selected than
locations in ZIP Codes areas with a
smaller number of collection boxes. The
external contractor monitors drop
compliance continuously throughout
the quarter to ensure proper
diversification of mail locations.
EXFC origin-destination mail flows
are based on estimated 3-digit ZIP Code
origin-destination pair volume flows for
corresponding 3-digit ZIP Code pairs
over the past 12 quarters. The number
of pieces entered from each postal
administrative district is proportionate
to the corresponding origin-destination
volumes by service standard.
3.2.2 ‘‘Stop-the-Clock’’
The date that the mail piece is
received at a household, small business,
or Post Office Box is reported by the
recipient as the ‘‘stop-the-clock’’ event
directly to the external contractor for
purposes of EXFC. The service
13 See https://www.usps.com/financials/_pdf/
RPW_FY_2007.pdf.
PO 00000
Parcels
(percent)
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
that falls out of automation to be
included in service performance
measurement. In these cases, the
external reporters record the actual
‘‘stop-the-clock’’ event and provide that
information to the external
measurement contractor, which
calculates the service performance for
those pieces.
3.3 First-Class Mail Presort Letters and
Cards
The primary induction method for
Presort letters and cards is bulk entry at
postal mail processing plants and
Business Mail Entry Units (BMEUs)
across the United States. Presort FirstClass Mail letters and cards represent
25.8 percent of the total mailstream. The
Postal Service’s measurement approach
uses externally generated delivery scans
of mail pieces containing IMb’s by
reporters to record delivery dates. In
combination with Intelligent Mail scan
data collected by the Postal Service, this
approach enables the granular level of
reporting being sought by the mailing
industry.
3.4
3.3.1 ‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
Full Service IMb mailers are required
to submit electronic mailing
documentation listing the IMb’s used.
Mail is verified to ensure it meets mail
preparation requirements. Mail that
does not meet mail preparation
standards is excluded from service
performance measurement. If a mailer
decides to rework the mail so that it
meets preparation requirements or
decides to pay additional postage, the
mail will be included in service
performance measurement but it may
have a new ‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0.
Mail ‘‘start-the-clock’’ times and mail
preparation quality information are
made available to Full Service IMb
mailers.
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
performance is the number of calendar
days from the ‘‘start-the-clock’’ to the
‘‘stop-the-clock’’. However, if the day of
the stop-the-clock event occurs
immediately after a non-delivery day
(Sunday or a holiday), then one day is
subtracted from the service performance
calculation for each consecutive nondelivery day.
3.5
3.3.2 ‘‘Stop-the-Clock’’
External reporters use scanners
capable of reading IMb’s to record the
‘‘stop-the-clock’’ delivery event for
individual mail pieces they receive and
to transmit scan data to the external
reporting system. By comparing the date
of the final Postal Service processing
scan with the actual receipt date for
these pieces, the external measurement
contractor calculates a delivery factor
for the service performance of FirstClass Mail Presort letters and cards.
This delivery factor is combined with
postal mail processing data to determine
the end-to-end service performance
measurement for mail that may not
receive an external reporter scan.
The use of external reporters allows
for mail that is manually processed and
VerDate Aug<31>2005
20:04 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
First-Class Mail Presort Flats
Presort First-Class Mail flats represent
only 0.4 percent of the total mailstream,
producing one of the smallest mail
categories. The Postal Service uses the
EXFC measurement of single-piece
First-Class Mail flats as a proxy for
Presort flats. In order to determine a
more accurate estimate for First-Class
Mail Presort flats, the portion of EXFC
that reflects this mail category, i.e.,
machine-addressed flats, rather than
hand-addressed, is used. If the external
measurement contractor determines that
sufficient volume of Presort Flats
contains IMb’s, the measurement system
for Presort letters will be employed for
Presort flats.
First-Class Mail Retail Parcels
The Postal Service measures service
performance for this mail via Delivery
Confirmation barcode scans. For
reporting purposes, performance results
are sent to the external measurement
contractor for inclusion in aggregate
First-Class Mail service performance
results. First-Class Mail Retail parcels
represent 0.4 percent of all First-Class
Mail and less than 0.2 percent of the
total mailstream.
3.5.1
‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
Primarily, the ‘‘start-the-clock’’ event
occurs at retail counters when
customers purchase Delivery
Confirmation for parcels they intend to
mail. When postal retail personnel
apply the Delivery Confirmation PS
Form 152 to these parcels, they scan the
unique Delivery Confirmation barcode
on each form. The scan is captured via
either a Point of Sale (POS) or Integrated
Retail Terminal (IRT) at the retail
counter or an Intelligent Mail scanning
device. Since the customer is present at
the ‘‘start-the-clock’’ event and receives
a time-stamped receipt with purchase,
there are several validation points for
the ‘‘start-the-clock’’ event.
3.5.2
‘‘Stop-the-Clock’’
At delivery, postal personnel scan the
Delivery Confirmation PS Form 152
barcode to denote delivery or that
delivery was attempted, either of which
serves to ‘‘stop-the-clock’’ for service
performance measurement. More
PO 00000
Frm 00107
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
36141
information on delivery and attempted
delivery can be found in the Appendix.
3.6 First-Class Mail Presort Parcels
First-Class Mail presort parcels
represent under 0.2 percent of all FirstClass Mail and less than 0.1 percent of
the total mailstream. One differentiating
characteristic of First-Class Mail Presort
parcels is the propensity of senders to
purchase Delivery Confirmation service.
Using Delivery Confirmation scan data,
performance results are calculated by
the Postal Service and then sent to the
external measurement contractor for
inclusion into the First-Class Mail
service aggregate performance results.
3.6.1 ‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
For service performance measurement
of First-Class Mail Presort parcels,
mailers use Delivery Confirmation and
will submit electronic mailing
documentation listing the unique
Delivery Confirmation barcodes used.
Mail is verified to ensure it meets
applicable mail preparation
requirements. Mail that does not meet
mail preparation requirements is
excluded from service performance
measurement. If a mailer decides to
rework the mail so that it meets
preparation requirements or decides to
pay additional postage, the mail will be
included in service performance
measurement but it may have a new
‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0. The ‘‘start-theclock’’ event is the documented arrival
time of the mailing at the Postal Service
acceptance facility. Arrival times are
made available to mailers.
3.6.2 ‘‘Stop-the-Clock’’
Postal personnel scan the Delivery
Confirmation barcode upon delivery
and can denote the delivery or
attempted delivery, either of which
serves to ‘‘stop-the-clock’’ for service
performance measurement.
3.7
Reporting for First-Class Mail
3.7.1 Quarterly Reporting
For Single-Piece First-Class Mail, the
Postal Service reports on-time service
performance separately by day (i.e.,
overnight, 2-day, and 3-day/4-day/5day), for each postal district on a
quarterly basis. This greatly expands the
number of performance measures
reported, yet is consistent with the way
EXFC currently reports single-piece
First-Class Mail service. The use of data
from the final Intelligent Mail scans
allows reporting at a higher degree of
granularity. The Postal Service sends
performance data for First-Class Mail
parcels to the external service
performance contractor for consolidated
reporting purposes.
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
36142
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
The quarterly report format for ontime performance of Single-Piece FirstClass Mail is as follows:
TABLE 4.—QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE FOR SINGLE-PIECE FIRST-CLASS MAIL; SAMPLE QUARTERLY REPORT FORMAT FOR
SINGLE-PIECE FIRST-CLASS MAIL
Overnight
Two-day
Three-day/four-day/
five-day
% On-time
% On-time
% On-time
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
District
Capital Metro Area ...........................................................................................................
Baltimore District ..............................................................................................................
Capital District ..................................................................................................................
South Carolina District .....................................................................................................
Greensboro District ..........................................................................................................
Mid-Carolinas District .......................................................................................................
No. Virginia District ..........................................................................................................
Richmond District .............................................................................................................
A similar report is produced to report
quarterly service performance for
Presort First-Class Mail.
The service variance for Single-Piece
First-Class Mail pieces is reported
separately as the percentage of mail that
is delivered within one-day, two-days,
and three-days of the applicable
standard. The quarterly service variance
report format for Single-Piece First-Class
Mail is as follows:
TABLE 5.—QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE FOR SINGLE-PIECE FIRST-CLASS MAIL SERVICE VARIANCE; SAMPLE QUARTERLY
REPORT FORMAT WITH SERVICE VARIANCE FOR SINGLE-PIECE FIRST-CLASS MAIL
Overnight
Two-day
Three-day/four-day/five-day
District
Within +
1-day
(percent)
Within +
2-days
(percent)
Within +
3-days
(percent)
Within +
1-day
(percent)
Within +
2-days
(percent)
Within +
3-days
(percent)
Within +
1-day
(percent)
Within +
2-days
(percent)
Within +
2-days
(percent)
Capital Metro Area .......................
Baltimore District ..........................
Capital District ..............................
South Carolina District .................
Greensboro District ......................
Mid-Carolinas District ...................
No. Virginia District ......................
Richmond District .........................
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
A similar service variance report is
produced to report quarterly service
performance for Presort First-Class Mail.
Class Mail segment (Single-Piece and
Presort) and by service standard (oneday, two-day, and three-day/four-day).
3.7.2
Annual performance consists of a
weighted average for each First-Class
Mail segment that allots weight based
Annual Reporting
Separate national measures are
compiled per fiscal year for each First-
on the volume of mail in each district.
If the segments are not representatively
distributed, the weighting ensures that
each district counts for the appropriate
portion of the national aggregate.
TABLE 6.—ANNUAL COMPLIANCE REPORT; SAMPLE ANNUAL REPORT FORMAT FOR FIRST-CLASS MAIL
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
Mail class
Target
(percent)
Percent
on-time
First-Class Mail:
Single-Piece Overnight .....................................................................................................................................
Single-Piece Two-Day ......................................................................................................................................
Single-Piece Three-Day/Four-Day ...................................................................................................................
Presort Overnight .............................................................................................................................................
Presort Two-Day ...............................................................................................................................................
Presort Three-Day/Four-Day ............................................................................................................................
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
VerDate Aug<31>2005
21:37 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
PO 00000
Frm 00108
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
4 Single-Piece First-Class Mail
International
4.1 Background
The United States Postal Service
accepts outbound single-piece FirstClass Mail International pieces for
processing and transfer to foreign postal
administrations for delivery to their
destination address. The service
standard for the outbound domestic
transit of this mail is the same as for
First-Class Mail pieces from the
domestic 3-digit ZIP Code of origin to
the domestic 3-digit ZIP Code area in
which the Postal Service International
Service Center (ISC) designated for that
origin is located.14
Inbound single-piece First-Class Mail
International originates from other
countries and is destined for delivery to
addresses in 3-digit ZIP Code areas of
the United States. The service standard
for the inbound domestic transit of this
mail is the same as for First-Class Mail
that originates from the 3-digit ZIP Code
in which the designated ISC is located
to the 3-digit ZIP Code area of the
delivery address.
Service performance for the domestic
transit of both inbound and outbound
single-piece First-Class Mail
International is measured through the
International Mail Measurement System
(IMMS), which is operated by an
external service performance
measurement contractor.
IMMS utilizes only letter-shaped mail
pieces, which is the predominant shape
of both outbound and inbound singlepiece First-Class Mail International. The
processing of single-piece First-Class
Mail International—during either
outbound transit from domestic origin
to the designated ISC or inbound transit
from the designated ISC to the domestic
delivery address—is the same as for
domestic single-piece First-Class Mail
letters and parcels, which are discussed
above in sections 3.2 and 3.5,
postal mail processing network includes a
handful of ISCs, each of which serves a region of
the postal network and is responsible for
conducting the initial international processing for
outbound international mail or the final
international processing for inbound international
mail. For outbound mail, the ISC for a postal
network region may be the gateway facility from
which mail is transported from the postal network
to the custody of a foreign postal administration. In
a small percentage of cases, outbound mail may be
transported from its designated ISC to another ISC
for the outbound gateway processing that precedes
its exit from the postal network.
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
14 The
VerDate Aug<31>2005
20:04 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
respectively. The domestic transit
service standards are the same.
Accordingly, the Postal Service will use
service performance data for domestic
single-piece First-Class Mail flats
(EXFC) and parcels (Delivery
Confirmation) as a proxy for estimating
the service performance for outbound
and inbound single-piece First-Class
Mail International flats and inbound
surface parcels.
4.1.1 ‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
To measure outbound single-piece
First-Class Mail International letters
service performance, the external
contractor arranges for sample
international pieces to be commingled
with pieces created for the domestic
EXFC testing program, which is
described above in section 3.2. The date
and time that the test pieces are
dropped into collection boxes or
business mail chutes is the ‘‘start-theclock’’ event reported by droppers
directly to the independent contractor.
To test inbound single-piece FirstClass Mail International letter service
performance, sample letters addressed
to reporters in the United States
employed by the external contractor are
mailed from foreign countries by
droppers also employed by the IMMS
service performance measurement
contractor, which has worldwide
operations. To maintain the
confidentiality of the program, the
identities and addresses of the reporters
and droppers (as well as the
participating foreign countries of the
droppers and receivers) are known only
to the contractor. The inbound ‘‘startthe-clock’’ tracking begins with the date
and time of the first Postal Service scan
of the PLANET Code barcode 15 on a
piece at the ISC that first handles the
mail. Mailpieces received at the
designated ISC on a Sunday or holiday
have a ‘‘start-the-clock’’ date of the next
processing date.
4.1.2 ‘‘Stop-the-Clock’’
As an outbound international mail
letter travels through the Postal
Service’s mail processing system, the
PLANET Code information on the piece
15 The PLANET Code is a barcode printed on mail
pieces by mailers participating in the CONFIRM
program. CONFIRM enables mailers to receive
detailed scan information about the pieces they
mail in order to track mail through the postal
network. The PLANET Code will be phased out by
May 2010 and replaced by the IMb.
PO 00000
Frm 00109
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
36143
is captured and used to measure its
progress. When the letter is sorted at the
designated ISC, it receives an ID tag
and/or PLANET Code scan. The ‘‘stopthe-clock’’ for an outbound mail piece is
the date of the last scan at this facility.
The number of transit days for outbound
mail is the difference between the
induction date and the last PLANET
Code read at the designated ISC.
Because the ‘‘stop-the-clock’’ event
takes place at an ISC, as opposed to a
delivery point, the transit days
calculation includes Sundays and
holidays.
An inbound international mail letter
flows through the USPS network from
the ISC to the delivery addresses. The
‘‘stop-the-clock’’ event data for inbound
mail pieces are the dates on which they
are delivered to reporters employed by
the service measurement contractor. The
reporter is part of the EXFC survey
group and is responsible for receiving
the mail and reporting the date of
delivery. The number of transit days for
inbound test mail is the difference
between the delivery date and the date
of the first PLANET Code read or ID tag
at the designated ISC. The service
performance is calculated in the same
method as described in the Glossary.
Because the service standards for both
outbound and inbound single-piece
First-Class Mail International flats and
parcels are based on the domestic transit
of such mail, on-time performance is
measured against the same set of origindestination 3-digit ZIP Code area service
standards as domestic First-Class Mail.
4.2 Reporting Single-Piece First-Class
Mail International
4.2.1
Quarterly Reporting
Since not all postal administrative
districts have sufficient international
volumes for statistically representative
reporting, the Postal Service reports
international quarterly service
performance at a postal administrative
area level. Each measurement includes
the percent delivered on time for
outbound and for inbound single-piece
First-Class Mail International. All scores
are weighted at the area level using
proportions derived from a rolling
average of estimated volumes for 12
fiscal quarters.
The quarterly report format for SinglePiece First-Class Mail International is as
follows:
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
36144
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
TABLE 7.—QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE FOR SINGLE-PIECE INTERNATIONAL MAIL; SAMPLE QUARTERLY REPORT FORMAT
FOR SINGLE-PIECE FIRST-CLASS MAIL INTERNATIONAL
Area
% On-time
inbound
% On-time
outbound
Northeast Area .........................................................................................................................................................
New York Metro Area ..............................................................................................................................................
Eastern Area ............................................................................................................................................................
Capital Metro Area ...................................................................................................................................................
Southeast Area ........................................................................................................................................................
Great Lakes Area ....................................................................................................................................................
Western Area ...........................................................................................................................................................
Southwest Area .......................................................................................................................................................
Pacific Area ..............................................................................................................................................................
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
National .............................................................................................................................................................
xx.x
xx.x
The service variance for Single-Piece
First-Class Mail International is reported
separately as the percentage of mail that
is delivered within one-day, two-days,
and three-days of the applicable service
standard. The quarterly report format is
as follows:
TABLE 8.—QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE FOR SINGLE-PIECE INTERNATIONAL MAIL SERVICE VARIANCE; SAMPLE QUARTERLY
REPORT FORMAT WITH THE SERVICE VARIANCE FOR SINGLE-PIECE FIRST-CLASS MAIL INTERNATIONAL
Inbound
Outbound
Area
Within + 1-day
(percent)
Within + 2days
(percent)
Within + 3days
(percent)
Within + 1-day
(percent)
Within + 2days
(percent)
Within + 3days
(percent)
Northeast Area .........................................
New York Metro Area ..............................
Eastern Area ............................................
Capital Metro Area ...................................
Southeast Area ........................................
Great Lakes Area .....................................
Western Area ...........................................
Pacific Area ..............................................
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
National .............................................
xx.x
xx.x
xx
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
4.2.2
Annual Reporting
The Postal Service’s Annual
Compliance Report includes the
national measure per fiscal year for the
percentage of single-piece First-Class
Mail International delivered on time.
Annual performance consists of a
weighted average that allots weight
based on the volume of mail in each of
the nine postal administrative areas. If
the data are not representatively
distributed, the weighting ensures that
each area counts for the appropriate
portion of the national aggregate.
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
The Annual Compliance Report
format for the Single-Piece First-Class
Mail International is as follows:
VerDate Aug<31>2005
21:37 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
TABLE 9.—ANNUAL COMPLIANCE REPORT; SAMPLE ANNUAL REPORT FOR
SINGLE-PIECE FIRST-CLASS MAIL
INTERNATIONAL
Mail Class
Target
(percent)
%
on-time
Single-Piece International Mail ..........
First-Class Mail .........
................
xx.x
................
xx.x
5
5.1
Standard Mail
Background
Standard Mail pieces represented 49.2
percent of the overall mail volume in
FY2007.16 At over 103 billion mail
16 See https://www.usps.com/financials/_pdf/
RDW_FY_2007.pdf.
PO 00000
Frm 00110
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
pieces, it has the largest annual volume
of any mail product. By shape, Standard
Mail, is 61.1 percent letters, 38.3
percent flats, and 0.6 percent parcels.
Table 10—Standard Mail Volume below
illustrates the make-up of Standard Mail
and illustrates the percentage that
Standard Mail letters, flats, and parcels
represent in relation to the overall
mailstream. Different categories of
Standard Mail have different
preparation and entry requirements for
mailers and thus are measured
separately. Accordingly, this section has
been separated into the following subsections: Non-saturation letters, nonsaturation flats, saturation letters and
flats, and parcels.
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
36145
TABLE 10.—STANDARD MAIL VOLUME1
Presort
Letters
(percent)
Flats
(percent)
Parcels
(percent)
Total
(percent)
61.1
30.1
38.3
18.8
0.6
0.3
100
49.2
Standard Mail ...................................................................................................
Overall Mailstream ...........................................................................................
1 For
purposes of publication, the reference to Table 3 in the plan has been changed to Table 10.
determine the end-to-end service
performance measurement.
The use of external reporters allows
for mail that is not exposed to or that
falls out of automation to be included in
service performance measurement. The
external reporters provide the actual
‘‘stop-the-clock’’ on such pieces, and the
external measurement contractor
calculates the service performance for
those pieces that go to the external
reporters.
5.2.1 ‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
Full Service IMb mailers are required
to prepare mail with IMb’s and submit
electronic mailing documentation
listing the IMb’s used. Mail is verified
to ensure it meets preparation
requirements. Mail that does not meet
mail preparation requirements is
excluded from service performance
measurement. If a mailer decides to
rework the mail so that it meets
preparation requirements or decides to
pay additional postage, the mail will be
included in service performance
measurement, but it may have a new
‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0. Drop shipment
mailers schedule appointments for
Standard Mail non-saturation letters in
the Postal Service’s Facility Access and
Shipment Tracking (FAST) system for
DBMC, DADC and DSCF drop
shipments. The ‘‘start-the-clock’’ is the
documented arrival time at the Postal
Service acceptance facility. For mailers
that meet the Full Service Intelligent
Mail Option, mail arrival times and
mail preparation quality information are
made available.
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
5.2 Standard Mail Non-Saturation
Letters
The primary induction method for
Standard Mail non-saturation letters is
bulk entry. The Postal Service bases
service performance measurement on
the documented arrival time at the
postal facility where the mail is
accepted, and in-home IMb delivery
scan data provided by external
reporters.
5.3 Standard Mail Non-Saturation
Flats
The primary induction method for
Standard flats is bulk entry. As of May
2009, mailers of automation nonsaturation flats will be required to have
a delivery point POSTNET or IMb. Also
as of May 2009, in order to qualify for
the lowest automation prices, Full
Service IMb mailers will be required to
apply an IMb on automation nonsaturation flats.
5.2.2 ‘‘Stop-the-Clock’’
External reporters are equipped with
IMb scanners for recording the ‘‘stopthe-clock’’ delivery event for all mail
they receive containing an IMb and
transmitting data to the external
reporting system. By comparing the date
of the final postal mail processing scan
with the actual receipt date for these
pieces, the external service performance
measurement contractor calculates a
delivery factor for Standard Mail letters.
This delivery factor is combined with
the mail processing data for Full Service
IMb Standard Mail letters that may not
receive an external reporter scan to
VerDate Aug<31>2005
20:04 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
5.3.1 ‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
Full Service IMb mailers are required
to submit electronic mailing
documentation listing the IMb’s used.
Mail is verified to ensure it meets mail
preparation criteria. Mail that does not
meet mail preparation standards is
excluded from service performance
measurement. If a mailer decides to
rework the mail so that it meets
preparation requirements or decides to
pay additional postage, the mail will be
included in service performance
measurement, but it may have a new
‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0. Drop shipment
mailers create appointments for
Standard Mail flats in the Postal
Service’s Facility Access and Shipment
Tracking (FAST) system at DBMC,
DADC and DSCF facilities. The ‘‘startthe-clock’’ is the documented arrival
time at the Postal Service acceptance
facility. For mailers that meet the Full
Service Intelligent Mail Option, mail
arrival times and mail preparation
quality information are made available.
5.3.2 ‘‘Stop-the-Clock’’
External reporters are equipped with
IMb scanners for use in recording the
‘‘stop-the-clock’’ delivery event for
individual mail pieces that bear an IMb
PO 00000
Frm 00111
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
and transmitting data to the external
reporting system. By comparing the date
of the final postal mail processing scan
with the receipt date for these pieces,
the external service measurement
contractor can calculate a delivery factor
for the service performance of Standard
Mail flats. This delivery factor is
combined with the mail processing data
that may not receive an external reporter
scan to determine the end-to-endservice
performance measurement for Standard
Mail flats.
5.4 Standard Mail Saturation Letters
and Flats
For Standard Mail saturation letters
and flats, the primary induction method
is Sectional Center Facility or Delivery
Unit dropped bundles and saturation
trays. Due to the distinct characteristics
of saturation letters and flats, the Postal
Service is proposing a measurement
approach specific to these mail types.
5.4.1 ‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
When required, Full Service IMb
mailers submit electronic mailing
documentation listing the IMb’s used.
Mail is verified to ensure it meets mail
preparation criteria. Mail that does not
meet mail preparation standards is
excluded from service performance
measurement. If a mailer decides to
rework the mail so that it meets
preparation requirements or decides to
pay additional postage, the mail will be
included in service performance
measurement, but it may have a new
‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0. Drop shipment
mailers create appointments for
Standard Mail in the Postal Service’s
FAST system at DBMC, DADC and
DSCF facilities providing advance
notification of the mail profile and
arrival times. The ‘‘start-the-clock’’ is
the documented arrival time at the
Postal Service acceptance facility. For
mailers that meet the requirements of
the Full Service Intelligent Mail
Option, mail arrival times and mail
preparation quality information are
made available.
5.4.2 ‘‘Stop-the-Clock’’
As with non-saturation Standard Mail
letters and flats, saturation mail with
IMb’s is scanned by external reporters to
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
36146
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
‘‘stop-the-clock’’. However, unique
barcodes are not required on saturation
mail. The Postal Service will develop
methods for external reporters to
capture the ‘‘stop-the-clock,’’ such as
requiring training for external reporters
to identify saturation mail and have
them report delivery of such pieces
without an IMb on the date of receipt.
These data will be sent to the external
reporting system and will be the ‘‘stopthe-clock’’ for the individual mail
pieces. The external service
measurement contractor calculates the
service performance for the pieces that
go to the external reporters.
Postal Service then sent to the external
measurement contractor for inclusion
into aggregate Standard Mail results.
Full Service implementation will
include electronic submission of
postage statements and mailing
documentation, unique Intelligent Mail
Package barcodes, unique Intelligent
Mail Container barcodes, and
appointment scheduling for drop
shipments at DBMC, DADC and DSCF
facilities. These requirements are
separate from addressing, presortation,
containerization, or other specifications
generally governing price eligibility.
5.5
The ‘‘start-the-clock’’ for Standard
Mail parcels is the documented arrival
time at the Postal Service facility.
Standard Mail Parcels
Many Standard Mail parcel shippers
choose to purchase special services such
as Delivery Confirmation for their mail.
The Postal Service performs service
measurement on Standard Mail parcels
that pass verification and use Delivery
Confirmation service. For reporting
purposes, results are calculated by the
5.5.1
5.5.2
‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
‘‘Stop-the-Clock’’
Postal personnel scan Delivery
Confirmation barcodes upon delivery of
parcels for which Delivery Confirmation
service has been purchased. They can
denote the delivery or attempted
delivery, either of which serves to
‘‘stop-the-clock’’.
5.6
Reporting for Standard Mail
5.6.1
Quarterly Reporting
Quarterly reporting for Standard Mail
reflects performance by postal district
separately for destination entry mail and
end-to-end mail. Reporting destination
entry mail and end-to-end mail
separately by service standard day
significantly expands the number of
performance measures reported and the
number of external reporters required.
The measurements provide ample detail
to assess the quality of service without
becoming cost prohibitive for the Postal
Service. The Postal Service sends
performance data for Standard Mail
parcels to the external service
performance contractor for consolidated
reporting purposes.
The quarterly report format for
Standard Mail is as follows:
TABLE 11.—QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE FOR STANDARD MAIL; SAMPLE QUARTERLY REPORT FORMAT FOR STANDARD
MAIL
Destination entry
End-to-end
District
On-time
(Percent)
On-time
(Percent)
Capital Metro Area ...........................................................................................................................
Baltimore District ..............................................................................................................................
Capital District ..................................................................................................................................
Greater South Carolina District .......................................................................................................
Greensboro District ..........................................................................................................................
Mid-Carolinas District .......................................................................................................................
No. Virginia District ..........................................................................................................................
Richmond District .............................................................................................................................
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
The service variance for Standard
Mail pieces is reported separately as the
percentage of mail that is delivered
within one-day, two-days, and threedays of the applicable standard. The
quarterly report format for Standard
Mail service variance is as follows:
TABLE 12.—QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE FOR STANDARD MAIL SERVICE VARIANCE; SAMPLE QUARTERLY REPORT FORMAT
FOR STANDARD MAIL SERVICE VARIANCE
Destination entry
End-to-end
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
District
Within
+1-day
(Percent)
Within
+2-days
(Percent)
Within
+3-days
(Percent)
Within
+1-day
(Percent)
Within
+2-days
(Percent)
Within
+3-days
(Percent)
Capital Metro Area ...................................
Baltimore District ......................................
Capital District ..........................................
Greater South Carolina District ................
Greensboro District ..................................
Mid-Carolinas District ...............................
No. Virginia District ..................................
Richmond District .....................................
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
VerDate Aug<31>2005
21:30 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
PO 00000
Frm 00112
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
5.6.2
Annual Reporting
The Postal Service reports a national
aggregate measure per fiscal year for the
percentage of Standard Mail delivered
on time. The Annual Compliance Report
includes letter, flat, and parcel-shaped
Standard Mail. It consists of a weighted
average for each Standard Mail segment
that allots weight based on the volume
of mail in each postal administrative
district. If the segments are not
representatively distributed, the
36147
weighting ensures that each district
counts for the appropriate portion of the
national aggregate.
The Postal Service’s Annual
Compliance Report format for Standard
Mail is as follows:
TABLE 13.—ANNUAL COMPLIANCE REPORT; SAMPLE ANNUAL REPORT FORMAT FOR STANDARD MAIL
Mail class
Target
(percent)
Percent
on-time
Standard Mail.
Letters, Flats, and Parcels ...............................................................................................................................
xx.x
xx.x
6
Periodicals
6.1
Background
Periodicals represented just over 4
percent of the overall mail volume in
FY2007,17 with 8.8 billion mail pieces.
Periodicals consist of letter- and flatshaped pieces, most of which are
destination-dropped. The Postal Service
uses the same interim service
measurement approach for both letters
and flats, which relies on external
reports generated by Red Tag and
DelTrak.
6.2
Periodicals Letters and Flats
volume is flats. Table 14—Periodicals
Mail Volume illustrates the make-up of
Periodicals Mail. It also illustrates the
percentage that each Periodicals shape
represents within the overall
mailstream.
All Periodicals are bulk entry or drop
shipments, and the vast majority of the
TABLE 14.—PERIODICALS MAIL VOLUME 1
Letters
(Percent)
Flats
(Percent)
Total
(Percent)
1.5
0.1
98.5
4.1
100.0
4.2
Periodicals ...................................................................................................................................
Overall Mailstream .......................................................................................................................
1 For
6.2.1
purposes of publication, the reference to Table 3 in the plan has been changed to Table 14.
Interim Approach
Until the Intelligent Mail system has
sufficient Periodicals volume using
IMb’s, the Postal Service uses two
external systems, Red Tag and DelTrak,
to measure Periodicals service
performance. The ‘‘start-the-clock’’ for
both external systems is the mailerreported induction time. For Red Tag
and DelTrak, the ‘‘stop-the-clock’’ is the
delivery date reported online by the
external reporters. These reporters are
mainly concentrated in postal
administrative districts with high
population density. Due to the limited
number of reporters participating in
these programs, data are only
statistically valid for the desired
precision at a postal administrative area
level.
6.3
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
6.3.1
The data from both systems will be
provided to an external measurement
contractor for application of business
rules and combining of the data for
overall performance reporting.
The Postal Service reports service
performance at a postal administrative
area level in the interim until the
volume of Periodicals with IMb’s and
electronic mailing documentation is
sufficiently robust to provide
statistically significant results at a lower
level of aggregation. As additional
performance data become available, the
granularity will increase and may allow
for reporting at the district level.
The quarterly report format for
Periodicals is as follows:
Reporting for Periodicals
Quarterly Reporting
In FY2009, the Postal Service will use
Red Tag and DelTrak data for reporting
at the area level on a quarterly basis.
TABLE 15.—QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE FOR PERIODICALS; SAMPLE
QUARTERLY REPORT FORMAT FOR
PERIODICALS
Area
Percent
on-time
Northeast Area .....................
New York Metro Area ...........
Eastern Area .........................
Capital Metro Area ...............
Southeast Area .....................
Great Lakes Area .................
Western Area ........................
Southwest Area ....................
Pacific Area ..........................
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
National .........................
xx.x
The service variance for Periodicals is
reported separately, reflecting the
percentage of mail that is delivered
within one-day, two-days, and threedays of the applicable standard. The
quarterly service variance report format
for Periodicals is as follows:
17 See https://www.usps.com/financials/_pdf/
RPW_FY_2007.pdf.
VerDate Aug<31>2005
20:39 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
PO 00000
Frm 00113
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
36148
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
TABLE 15.—QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE FOR PERIODICALS SERVICE VARIANCE; SAMPLE QUARTERLY REPORT FORMAT
WITH SERVICE VARIANCE FOR PERIODICALS
Area
Within
+1-day
(percent)
Within
+2-days
(percent)
Within
+3-days
(percent)
Northeast Area .............................................................................................................................
New York Metro Area ..................................................................................................................
Eastern Area ................................................................................................................................
Capital Metro Area .......................................................................................................................
Southeast Area ............................................................................................................................
Great Lakes Area ........................................................................................................................
Western Area ...............................................................................................................................
Southwest Area ...........................................................................................................................
Pacific Area ..................................................................................................................................
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
National .................................................................................................................................
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
6.3.2
Annual Reporting
The Postal Service reports national
measures per fiscal year for the
percentage of Periodicals mail delivered
on time.
Annual performance consists of a
weighted average for each Periodicals
segment that allots weight based on the
volume of mail in each Area. If the data
are not representatively distributed, the
weighting ensures that each Area counts
for the appropriate portion of the
national aggregate.
The Postal Service’s Annual
Compliance Report format for
Periodicals Mail is as follows:
TABLE 16.—ANNUAL COMPLIANCE RE- composed of oversized catalogs, which
PORT; SAMPLE ANNUAL REPORT are operationally handled the same as
Standard Mail flats. Accordingly, the
FORMAT FOR PERIODICALS
Mail class
Target
(Percent)
Percent
on-time
Periodicals.
Letters,
Flats, and
Parcels ...
xx.x
xx.x
7
Package Services
7.1 Background
Market-dominant Package Services
products include single-piece Parcel
Post, Bound Printed Matter, Library
Mail, and Media Mail. Presort Package
Services flat-shaped mail is mainly
Postal Service measures Presort Package
Services flats using the same approach
as Standard Mail flats.
Package Services parcel-shaped mail
represented less than 0.3 percent of
overall mail volume in FY2007.18
Among Package Services parcels, 14.5
percent are Retail and 85.5 percent are
Presort.
Table 17—Package Services ParcelShaped Mail Volume illustrates the
make-up of parcels by entry method.
The table also illustrates the percentage
that market-dominant Package Services
parcel-shaped mail represents within
the overall domestic mailstream.
TABLE 17.—PACKAGE SERVICES PARCEL-SHAPED MAIL VOLUME 1
Retail
(Percent)
Presort
(Percent)
Total
(Percent)
14.5
0.1
85.5
0.3
100
0.4
Package Services (Parcel-shaped) .............................................................................................
Total Domestic Mailstream ...................................................................................................
1 For
7.2
purposes of publication, the reference to Table 5 in the plan has been changed to Table 17.
Retail Package Services
retail personnel apply the Delivery
Confirmation PS Form 152 to parcels,
they scan the Delivery Confirmation
form barcode. The scans are captured
via either a POS or IRT terminal at the
retail counter or an Intelligent Mail
handheld scanning device. Because the
customer is present at the ‘‘start-theclock’’ event and receives a timestamped receipt with purchase, there
are several validation points.
7.2.1
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
The Postal Service measures service
performance for Package Services Retail
mail via Delivery Confirmation scans.
Retail Package Services parcels
represent 14.5 percent of all Package
Services parcels, but less than 0.1
percent of the total mailstream. Delivery
Confirmation is included on 16 percent
of such parcels, which represents a
significant volume.
7.2.2
‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
The ‘‘start-the-clock’’ for Retail
Package Services mail occurs at the
retail counter when the customer
purchases Delivery Confirmation. When
‘‘Stop-the-Clock’’
Postal personnel scan the Delivery
Confirmation barcodes upon delivery or
attempted delivery, either of which
serves to ‘‘stop-the-clock’’.
7.3
Presort Package Services
The Postal Service performs service
measurement on presorted mail that
passes verification and uses Delivery
Confirmation service or the IMb. Service
performance preparation requirements
include electronic submission of
postage statements and mailing
documentation (when required), unique
Intelligent Mail Package barcodes or
IMb’s, unique Intelligent Mail
Container barcodes, and appointment
scheduling for drop shipments at
DBMC, DADC and DSCF facilities.
These requirements are separate from
addressing, presortation,
18 See https://www.usps.com/financials/_pdf/
RPW_FY_2007.pdf.
VerDate Aug<31>2005
20:04 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
PO 00000
Frm 00114
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
containerization, or other requirements
generally governing price eligibility.
mailer shipment content and acceptance
time.
7.3.1
7.3.2 ‘‘Stop-the-Clock’’
For Package Services parcels, postal
personnel scan Delivery Confirmation
barcodes upon delivery or attempted
delivery, either of which serves to
‘‘stop-the-clock’’ for service
performance measurement. For flats,
mail with IMb’s is scanned by external
reporters to record ‘‘stop-the-clock’’
delivery events and transmitted to the
external reporting system. By comparing
the date of the final postal mail
processing scan with the delivery date
for these pieces, the external service
measurement contractor can calculate a
factor for the service performance for
Package Services flats. The delivery
factor is combined with the mail
processing data that may not receive an
external reporter scan to determine the
end-to-end service performance
measurement for Package Services flats.
‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
The ‘‘start-the-clock’’ for Presort
Package Services is the documented
arrival time at the Postal Service
acceptance facility. For drop shipments
at DBMC, DADC and DSCF facilities, the
‘‘start-the-clock’’ event is based on the
customer’s documented appointment
and the driver-reported arrival time to
the Postal Service, which are used to
determine when the mail is available for
processing. For mail that is presented at
the BMEU, the arrival of the mailing is
used as the ‘‘start-the-clock’’ as long as
the mailing meets applicable
preparation and service measurement
requirements. For mail that is presented
at the Delivery Unit, delivery
confirmation or Intelligent Mail
Container barcode scan events are used
to ‘‘start-the-clock’’. As with other
mailings that enter a postal facility
loading dock area, the Postal Service
scans containers that have an Intelligent
Mail Container barcode or uses
electronic documentation to validate
7.4
Reporting for Package Services
7.4.1 Quarterly Reporting
The Postal Service reports quarterly
on the percentage of mail that is
36149
delivered on time. The quarterly report
format for Package Services parcels is as
follows:
TABLE 18.—QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE FOR PACKAGE SERVICES;
SAMPLE QUARTERLY REPORT FORMAT WITH SERVICE VARIANCE FOR
PACKAGE SERVICES PARCELS
District
Percent
on-time
Capital Metro Area ...............
Baltimore District ..................
Capital District ......................
Greater South Carolina District ....................................
Greensboro District ...............
Mid-Carolinas District ...........
No. Virginia District ...............
Richmond District .................
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
The service variance for Package
Services parcels is reported separately
as the percentage of mail that is
delivered within one-day, two-days, and
three-days of the applicable standard.
The quarterly report format with the
service variance for Package Services is
as follows:
TABLE 19.—QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE FOR PACKAGE SERVICES SERVICE VARIANCE; SAMPLE QUARTERLY REPORT
FORMAT WITH SERVICE VARIANCE FOR PACKAGE SERVICES PARCELS
Within
+1-day
(percent)
Capital Metro Area .......................................................................................................................
Baltimore District ..........................................................................................................................
Capital District ..............................................................................................................................
Greater South Carolina District ...................................................................................................
Greensboro District ......................................................................................................................
Mid-Carolinas District ...................................................................................................................
No. Virginia District ......................................................................................................................
Richmond District .........................................................................................................................
7.4.2
Annual Reporting
8 Special Services
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
The Postal Service reports national
measures per fiscal year for the
percentage of Package Services mail
delivered on time.
The Postal Service’s Annual
Compliance Report format for Package
Services parcels is as follows:
8.1
20:04 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
PO 00000
Background
Frm 00115
Fmt 4703
Within
+3-days
(percent)
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
Box Service, CONFIRM, and Address
List Services, among others.
There are two categories of special
services: Ancillary and stand-alone.
Ancillary special services are purchased
in addition to the postage applicable to
First-Class Mail, Periodicals, Standard
Mail, and Package Services. These
optional special services are varied in
TABLE 20.—ANNUAL COMPLIANCE RE- nature and include Delivery
PORT; SAMPLE ANNUAL REPORT Confirmation, Signature Confirmation,
FORMAT FOR PACKAGE SERVICES
Certified Mail, Electronic Return
Receipt, Registered Mail, Collect on
Target
Percent
Delivery, and Address Correction
Mail class
(percent)
on-time
Service, among others. In contrast to
ancillary special services, stand-alone
Package Servspecial services are not contingent on
ices.
sending or receiving a particular mail
Parcels .......
xx.x
xx.x
piece and include services such as P.O.
VerDate Aug<31>2005
Within
+2-days
(percent)
Sfmt 4703
8.2 Delivery Confirmation, Signature
Confirmation, Certified Mail, Registered
Mail, Electronic Return Receipt, and
Collect on Delivery
A principal feature of these special
services is the electronic provision of
information by the Postal Service to the
sender regarding the delivery status of a
particular mail piece. That information
may consist of confirmation that
delivery was attempted, completed, or
that a copy of the recipient’s signature
was captured.
For a number of these services,
delivery-related information is
generated by postal scanning of mail
pieces at delivery units or during
delivery. Before the completion of daily
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
36150
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
work shifts, postal personnel dock their
portable handheld scanners, so that
delivery information pertinent to each
scanned mail piece can be transmitted
to appropriate postal data systems.
Handheld scanners allow for signatures
to be captured at delivery and
transmitted with the delivery
information. Delivery information
captured is then made available to the
purchaser of the special service.
The service measurement for Delivery
Confirmation, Signature Confirmation,
Certified Mail, Registered Mail,
electronic Return Receipt, and Collect
on Delivery uses data generated from
delivery event barcode scans to measure
the time between when delivery
information is collected and when that
information is made available to the
customer. When the delivery scan event
is captured by the handheld scanner, a
time-stamp is associated with the scan,
which is the ‘‘start-the-clock’’. When the
scanning device is docked, the delivery
scan event information is transmitted
through postal data systems to the
customer-accessible Track & Confirm
page at https://www.usps.com, the Postal
Service public Web site. The posting
time to the customer-accessible Web site
is the ‘‘stop-the-clock’’.
8.3 CONFIRM and Address Correction
The electronic provision of
information by the Postal Service to the
mail piece sender is a key component
for CONFIRM and automated Address
Correction services as well. CONFIRM
scanning of mail and identification of
automated Address Correction of
applicable mail pieces are each
performed passively by automated mail
processing equipment, which then
transmits information to postal data
systems. Information from these systems
is made available to the purchaser of the
special service.
The service measurement for both
CONFIRM and automated Address
Correction uses the IMb on individual
mail pieces. For CONFIRM, when mail
processing equipment scans a mail
piece, the scan information is
transmitted to the CONFIRM system in
near-real time and made available to
CONFIRM subscribers. The ‘‘start-theclock’’ is the time stamp associated with
the scan. The ‘‘stop-the-clock’’ is the
date and time when data are made
available to subscribers. For automated
Address Correction customers, scans are
transmitted to the Address Correction
System (ACS) at preset intervals during
the day and the corrected address
information is forwarded to customers
VerDate Aug<31>2005
20:04 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
who subscribe to the service. The ‘‘startthe-clock’’ is the date and time when
data is transmitted to ACS. The ‘‘stopthe-clock’’ is the date and time when
data are forwarded to participants.
8.4 Post Office Box Service
Post Office Box service is internally
measured using scanning technology to
compare the availability of mail
delivered to a P.O. Box section by the
posted ‘‘uptime’’. The ‘‘uptime’’ is the
posted time of day when customers can
expect to collect the mail from their P.O.
Box. A barcode in the P.O. Box section
is scanned when the distribution of mail
is complete.
8.5 Insurance Claims Processing
The Postal Service’s Customer Inquiry
Claims Response System (CICRS) is an
application used to process indemnity
claims when domestic insured articles
are lost or damaged in the mail. For
domestic claims, after the customer has
submitted the appropriate claim form,
Postal Service employees verify
completion of the form and submit it for
processing to the CICRS system. The
claim is keyed into the system and the
data are uploaded for processing. For
claims that are not complete and that
require additional information from the
customer, correspondence is mailed to
the customer requesting the missing
information, with instructions regarding
where to send the additional
information. Once all information is
received by CICRS, the system proceeds
to the claims processing resolution
phase. The date that all information is
available for claims processing
resolution is the ‘‘start-the-clock’’.
Depending on the value of the item lost
or damaged, the claim may be
automatically paid or denied by the
system or sent for review by a postal
insurance claims adjudicator or the
Postal Service Consumer Advocate. The
adjudicator or Consumer Advocate
decides if the claim should be paid,
denied, or closed. The date on which
the system, adjudicator, Consumer
Advocate pays, denies, or closes the
claim and transmits a response to the
customer is the ‘‘stop-the-clock’’.
8.6 Postal Money Order Inquiry
Processing
The Money Order Inquiry System
(MOIS) is an application used to process
customer inquiries regarding Postal
Money Orders they have purchased.
After the customer has completed PS
Form 6401 and paid for the inquiry
service, Postal Service employees
PO 00000
Frm 00116
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
submit the form to a centralized facility
for processing. The inquiry is scanned
into the system and the data are
uploaded for processing. MOIS verifies
whether the money order in question
has been cashed by running the money
order number against a database of
cashed money orders. The system
generates correspondence to the
inquiring customer regarding the status
of the money order in question. The
purchase of the inquiry service is the
‘‘start-the-clock’’ event. Transmission of
a response to the customer is the ‘‘stopthe-clock’’ event.
8.7
Address List Services
Address List Services are available to
customers seeking correction of the
addresses or ZIP Codes on their mailing
lists, or the sequencing of their address
cards. The Postal Service will use a
system to record ‘‘start-the-clock’’ and
‘‘stop-the-clock’’ times for these
services. The ‘‘start-the-clock’’ event is
the receipt of the address list or address
cards from the mailer at the delivery
unit or the postal district Address
Management Systems office. The ‘‘stopthe-clock’’ event is the transmission of
the corrected address information from
the delivery unit or district AMS office
to the requestor.
8.8 Reporting
8.8.1
Quarterly Reporting
The Postal Service reports Delivery
Confirmation, Signature Confirmation,
Certified Mail, Registered Mail,
electronic Return Receipt, and Collect
on Delivery as an aggregate score on a
quarterly basis by district. The service
performance for these special services is
aggregated, as they all use the same
system to measure the time elapsed
from when the delivery information is
captured by the Postal Service until it is
available to the customer. Post Office
Box service is also reported quarterly by
district.
Since CONFIRM, automated Address
Correction, Insurance Claims
Processing, Money Order Inquiry
Processing, and Address List Services
each use a national or centralized
system for providing the majority if not
all of each respective service,
performance will be reported at a
national level. The Postal Service
reports quarterly on the percentage of
those services that meet the service
standard.
The quarterly report format for
Special Services is as follows:
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
36151
TABLE 21.—QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE FOR SPECIAL SERVICES; SAMPLE QUARTERLY REPORT FORMAT FOR SPECIAL
SERVICES REPORTED AT THE DISTRICT LEVEL; SAMPLE QUARTERLY REPORT FORMAT FOR SPECIAL SERVICES REPORTED AT THE DISTRICT LEVEL
Delivery information special
services combined score
District
Percent ontime
Capital Metro Area ...................................................................................................................................................
Baltimore District ......................................................................................................................................................
Capital District ..........................................................................................................................................................
Greater South Carolina District ...............................................................................................................................
Greensboro District ..................................................................................................................................................
Mid-Carolinas District ...............................................................................................................................................
No. Virginia District ..................................................................................................................................................
Richmond District .....................................................................................................................................................
The quarterly report format for
CONFIRM, automated Address
Correction, Insurance Claims
Processing, Address List Services, and
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
Post office box
service
Percent ontime
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
Postal Money Order Inquiry Processing
is as follows:
TABLE 22.—SAMPLE QUARTERLY REPORT FORMAT FOR SPECIAL SERVICES REPORTED AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL
CONFIRM
8.8.2
Annual Reporting
The Postal Service has developed a
Special Services Index to reflect an
annual combined service measurement
score per fiscal year for Special
Services. This index weights and
aggregates various special services so
that all components are reflected
appropriately and still maintain
distinctness. The Annual Compliance
Report format for Special Services is as
follows:
Insurance
Claims Processing
Address List
Services
Money Order
Inquiry
Percent ontime
National ................................................................................
Address Correction
Percent ontime
Percent ontime
Percent ontime
Percent ontime
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
xx.x
the-clock’’, Special Services, and
Inclusions.
1
‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
Generally, if the mail arrival time is
before the CET, the ‘‘start-the-clock’’
Day-0 will be the day of entry. If the day
of entry is a Sunday or holiday, the
‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0 will be the next
applicable acceptance day. If the mail
arrival time is after the CET, then the
mail will have a ‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day0 of the next acceptance day for that
facility. CET rules apply to mail entered
TABLE 23.—ANNUAL COMPLIANCE RE- at retail and through bulk induction.
PORT; SAMPLE ANNUAL REPORT
As mail entry processes and systems
FORMAT FOR SPECIAL SERVICES RE- change over time, so too will the
PORTED AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL
methods by which the Postal Service
will gather ‘‘start-the-clock’’ and ‘‘stopTarget
Index
the-clock’’ information. The following
rules apply to current entry scenarios.
Special
Services
9
xxxx
xxxx
1.1 Mail Entered at the Business Mail
Entry Unit (BMEU)
Appendix
1.1.1
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
9.1 Service Measurement Business
Rules
The business rules for service
performance measurement are intended
to maintain a clearly defined structure
for and ensure the reliability of the
measurement system. The business
rules are grouped into the four subject
areas below: ‘‘Start-the-clock’’, ‘‘Stop-
VerDate Aug<31>2005
20:04 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
Customer/Supplier Agreement
Bulk mailers subject to a Customer/
Supplier Agreement may have different
acceptance windows than the
established BMEU hours of operation.
Each Customer/Supplier Agreement will
specify the applicable ‘‘start-the-clock’’
Day-0 window mutually established by
the mailer and the Postal Service.
Mailers who require BMEU verification
PO 00000
Frm 00117
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
must work within the posted BMEU
hours of operation unless alternate
arrangements specified through
Customer/Supplier Agreements.
1.1.2
Critical Entry Time
For mailers who deposit mail at a
BMEU, the CET for specific classes of
mail is determined locally by the facility
manager at the Postal Service mail
facility at which bulk entry will occur.
1.1.3
‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
The ‘‘start-the-clock’’ event for mail
deposited at a BMEU is either the time
the mailer arrives, as documented in
PostalOne! or when mailing
verification is complete, depending on
the circumstances surrounding the mail
entry. Mailer arrival time is recorded by
postal personnel in PostalOne! upon
mailer arrival at the BMEU. Mailing
verification completion also is
documented in the PostalOne! system.
For mailers with a Customer/Supplier
Agreement in place, the ‘‘start-theclock’’ Day-0 will be the day of entry if
the mailer arrival time is prior to the
latest acceptance time specified by the
Customer/Supplier Agreement. The
‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0 for mailers that
arrive after the latest acceptance time
specified by their Customer/Supplier
Agreement is the day of entry if
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
36152
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
verification is completed before the
facility CET; otherwise, the ‘‘start-theclock’’ Day-0 will be the following
applicable acceptance day.
For mailers without a Customer/
Supplier Agreement in place, if the
mailer arrival time is prior to the facility
CET for the class of mail, the ‘‘start-theclock’’ Day-0 will be the day of entry;
otherwise, the ‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0
will be the following acceptance day.
If the mailing fails acceptance
verification, the mailer will be notified
and presented with the option of fixing
the mailing so that it conforms to the
preparation requirements associated
with acceptance at the requested price
categories or paying additional postage
based upon the degree of preparation
associated with the mail as presented. A
new ‘‘start-the-clock’’ event may occur
when mail that initially fails verification
is finally released for processing.
A decision tree illustrating the ‘‘startthe-clock’’ Day-0 for mail deposited at a
BMEU is depicted below [and identified
as] Appendix Figure 1—‘‘Start-theClock’’ Decision Tree for mail deposited
at the BMEU[.] [Appendix Figure 1
omitted for publication purposes, but
can be viewed on the Commission’s
Web site, https://www.prc.gov/prc-pages/
daily-listing.]
1.2 ‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
Mail Deposited at a BMEU: Mailer has
Customer/Supplier Agreement; latest
time of acceptance in agreement is 3
p.m.; verification start time is 4:30 p.m.;
verification complete time is 5:15 p.m.;
hours of Operation are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.;
and ‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0 is the next
day of acceptance. [Decision Tree
omitted for publication purposes, but
can be viewed on Commission’s Web
site, https://www.prc.gov/prc-pages/
daily-listing.]
1.3 Plant Load Using Postal
Transportation
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
1.3.2 ‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
The ‘‘start-the-clock’’ event for a plant
load mailing using postal transportation
is based on the mail ready time as
indicated by mailers and verified by
postal personnel in PostalOne!.
Mailers document that mail was ready
within the acceptance window specified
in the Customer/Supplier Agreement
and this is verified by postal personnel.
If the ‘‘start-the-clock’’ event occurs
before the latest acceptance time
specified by the Customer/Supplier
20:04 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
1.4 Plant Load Using Mailer
Transportation
1.4.1
Critical Entry Time
For plant load using mailer
transportation, the CET for each class is
determined locally by postal facility
managers.
1.4.2
‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
For plant load using mailer
transportation, the ‘‘start-the-clock’’
event will be defined in the mailer’s
Customer/Supplier Agreement. If the
‘‘start-the-clock’’ event occurs before the
latest acceptance time specified by the
Customer/Supplier Agreement, the
‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0 will be the day
of entry. If this event occurs after the
latest acceptance time, the ‘‘start-theclock’’ Day-0 will be the following
acceptance day.
1.5 Destinating Drop Shipment at
Plants—Standard Letters and Flats
1.5.1
Critical Entry Time
The CET for destination-entered
Standard Mail drop shipments is a
nationally standardized entry time
documented in the Postal Service’s Mail
Processing Operating Plan System
(MPOPS) and made visible to the
mailers.
1.5.2
1.3.1 Critical Entry Time
The CET is determined locally by
postal facility managers and is
documented in a Customer/Supplier
Agreement.
VerDate Aug<31>2005
Agreement, the ‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0
will be the day of entry. If this activity
occurs after the latest acceptance time,
the ‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0 will be the
following acceptance day.
If a mailer with multiple dispatch
events cannot identify what is
physically in each container or tray, the
‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0 for all mail
entered within the mailing period
defined in the mailer’s electronic
documentation will be based on the
‘‘start-the-clock’’ event of the last truck
dispatched.
‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
The ‘‘start-the-clock’’ event is
documented in FAST at the destination
entry facility. For mailings that arrive at
the scheduled appointment time, the
‘‘start-the-clock’’ event is the driverreported arrival time. For mailings that
arrive prior to the scheduled
appointment, the ‘‘start-the-clock’’ event
is either the appointment time or unload
start time, whichever is earlier. For
mailings that arrive after the mailerscheduled appointment time, the ‘‘startthe-clock’’ event is the unload start
time.
Mailings will be subject to the
national CET. For mailings that have a
‘‘start-the-clock’’ event prior to the CET,
then Day-0 is day of entry. For mailings
that have a ‘‘start-the-clock’’ event after
PO 00000
Frm 00118
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
the CET, then Day-0 is the next
applicable acceptance day.
When a mailer schedules multi-stop
appointments to drop mail at two or
more facilities using the same surface
transportation vehicle and mail arrives
late at a downstream facility because of
a delay caused solely by the Postal
Service, the following litmus test will be
used to determine ‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day0. If the multi-stop appointment
schedule reflects consideration of interfacility drive-times and designated
unload times for the category of mail
and is on time at the first appointment,
the mailer will receive credit for on-time
arrival at downstream facilities and the
‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0 will be the day
of entry. If the mailer fails to adhere to
these considerations in making multistop appointments, the ‘‘start-the-clock’’
Day-0 will be the next processing day.
The Postal Service encourages mailers
to account for foreseeable traffic and
construction delays in scheduling all
drop ship appointments. Mailers who
schedule the minimum time for
transportation and designated unload
times run a higher risk of missing
appointments versus mailers who allow
for traffic and construction delays.
Where available, a postal acceptance
facility will use handheld scanning
devices or computer terminals located
on the dock to record the mailing’s
driver-reported arrival time. The FAST
system uses these arrival times.
Otherwise, manual-entered appointment
data will be used to document the
mailing’s arrival time.
A decision tree illustrating the ‘‘startthe-clock’’ Day-0 for destinating drop
shipment at plants is depicted below [.]
[and identified as Appendix Figure 2—
‘‘Start-the-clock’’ Decision Tree for
Destinating Drop Shipment at Plants.]
[Appendix Figure 2 omitted for
publication purposes, but can be viewed
on the Commission’s Web site, https://
www.prc.gov/prc-pages/daily-listing.]
1.6
‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
Drop Shipment at an SCF; mail
received after appointment time: FAST
appointment at 12 p.m.; arrival 1 p.m.;
CET is 4 p.m.; unload start time is 1:30
p.m.; and ‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0 is the
day of entry. [Decision Tree omitted for
publication, but can be viewed on the
Commission’s Web site, https://
www.prc.gov/prc-pages/daily-listing.]
1.7 Destinating Drop Shipment—
Periodicals
1.7.1
Critical Entry Time
The CET for destination-entered
Periodicals drop shipments is
determined locally by facility managers.
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
1.7.2 ‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
The ‘‘start-the-clock’’ rules for
destination-entered Periodicals drop
shipments are the same as the rules for
destinating drop shipment at plants for
Standard letters and flats, with one
exception. For destination-entered
Periodicals, if the day of entry is a
Sunday or holiday, the ‘‘start-the-clock’’
Day-0 will be the day of entry.
1.8 Drop Shipment at the Delivery
Unit
1.8.1 Critical Entry Time
The CET for drop shipment at a
Delivery Unit is determined locally by
postal facility managers, documented in
the Postal Service’s Facilities Database
(FDB), and will be made visible to the
mailers. A Customer/Supplier
Agreement may be established between
a bulk mailer and the Postal Service. In
the case where a Customer/Supplier
Agreement exists, it is the responsibility
of the mailer to enter mail in
compliance with the agreement.
1.8.2 ‘‘Start-the-Clock’’
The ‘‘start-the-clock’’ event at the
delivery unit will be based on the
container acceptance scans generated by
postal personnel via the Intelligent Mail
Data Acquisition System (IMDAS)
scanner. When the ‘‘start-the-clock’’
event occurs at or before the CET, the
‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0 will be the day
of acceptance. If the ‘‘start-the-clock’’
event occurs after the CET, the ‘‘startthe-clock’’ Day-0 will be the next
applicable acceptance day.
‘‘Stop-the-Clock’’
The ‘‘stop-the-clock’’ event for service
measurement will be a scan by an
external reporter or postal personnel.
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
2
2.1 Final Scan by Postal Personnel
If a mail piece meeting the
requirements for service performance
measurement also is subject to Delivery
Confirmation service, postal personnel
will scan the Delivery Confirmation
barcode on the piece at delivery. The
time of this scan will be the ‘‘stop-theclock’’ for the piece. In cases where
multiple acceptable ‘‘stop-the-clock’’
events take place, the first event
assigned will ‘‘stop-the-clock’’. Any of
the following Delivery Confirmation
scans may be a ‘‘stop-the-clock’’ event:
Delivery; attempted delivery; forwarded;
undeliverable-as-addressed; refused;
return to sender; dead mail; and arrival
at pickup point.
2.2 External Reporter ‘‘Stop-the-Clock’’
Scan
When an external reporter scans a
mail piece, the time of the scan will be
VerDate Aug<31>2005
20:04 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
the ‘‘stop-the-clock’’ for the external
measurement contractor. Reporters are
required to scan mail on the day of
receipt. Quality control checks will
verify process compliance.
2.3
Delivery Factor
The external measurement contractor
will calculate delivery factors and apply
those factors to calculate service
measurement for categories of mail. The
external measurement contractor will
determine the delivery factor for each
district on a quarterly basis. Because the
following mail segments are processed
differently by postal operations, the
delivery factor will be distinct for the
following mail segments: First-Class
Mail and Standard Mail Presort Letters
with DPS secondary sort scans;
Standard Mail Non-Carrier Route Flats
(scanned on postal mail processing
equipment); Standard Mail Carrier
Route Flats (including saturation flats,
scanned at delivery unit); Standard Mail
Letters without DPS scan; Standard Mail
Saturation Flats (visually identified by
external reporters); and manual mail
(mail that falls out of automation or
does not destinate in an automated
zone).
If the delivery factor is not sufficiently
precise for the mail piece characteristics
over the period of a fiscal quarter, an
annual factor will be used.
3
3.1
Special Services
Delivery Information Services
3.1.1 Delivery information from the
following Special Services riding on
market-dominant products will be
included in service measurement:
Delivery Confirmation, Signature
Confirmation, Certified Mail, electronic
Return Receipt, Collect On Delivery,
and Registered Mail.
3.1.2 ‘‘Start-the-Clock’’ and ‘‘Stop-theClock’’
The ‘‘start-the-clock’’ is the timestamp associated to the delivery event
scan. The ‘‘stop-the-clock’’ is the
posting of the delivery information for
customers via the customer-accessible
Web site. Delivery information services
included in service measurement must
have both a recorded ‘‘start-the-clock’’
and ‘‘stop-the-clock’’.
3.2 CONFIRM and Automated Address
Correction Service
3.2.1 ‘‘Start-the-clock’’ and ‘‘Stop-theClock’’ for CONFIRM
The time stamp associated with the
mail processing equipment scan is the
‘‘start-the-clock’’. The posting time of
the scan information in CONFIRM is the
‘‘stop-the-clock’’. CONFIRM scan
PO 00000
Frm 00119
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
36153
information included in service
measurement must have both a recorded
‘‘start-the-clock’’ and ‘‘stop-the-clock’’.
3.2.2 ‘‘Start-the-Clock’’ and ‘‘Stop-theClock’’ for Automated Address
Correction
The date and time scans are
transmitted to the ACS system is the
‘‘start-the-clock’’. The date and time
information is forwarded to subscribers
is the ‘‘stop-the-clock’’. ACS scan
information included in service
measurement must have both a recorded
‘‘start-the-clock’’ and ‘‘stop-the-clock’’.
3.2.3 Customers that choose to receive
data outside of the service standard will
not be included in service measurement.
3.3
Post Office Box Service
3.3.1 Post Office Box service is
internally measured using scanning
technology to compare the actual
availability of the day’s mail delivered
to a P.O. Box section to the posted
‘‘uptime’’. If there is no daily scan from
an office, the P.O. Box uptime for that
office on that day will be considered
late for service measurement.
3.3.2 Contract postal units will not be
included in service measurement.
3.3.3 Sundays, postal holidays and
other non-delivery days will not be
counted in measuring service standard
compliance.
3.4
Insurance Claims Processing
3.4.1 ‘‘Start-the-Clock’’ and ‘‘Stop-theClock’’
The date that all information is
available for claims processing
resolution is the ‘‘start-the-clock’’. The
date on which either the system or the
adjudicator pays, denies, or closes the
claim and sends a response for the
customer is the ‘‘stop-the-clock’’.
Insurance claims included in service
measurement must have both a recorded
‘‘start-the-clock’’ and ‘‘stop-the-clock’’.
3.4.2 Designated postal holidays will
not be counted in measuring service
standard compliance.
3.5 Postal Money Order Inquiry
Processing
3.5.1 ‘‘Start-the-Clock’’ and ‘‘Stop-theClock’’
The purchase of the inquiry service is
the ‘‘start-the-clock’’ event. The
response to the customer in the Money
Order Inquiry System (MOIS) is the
‘‘stop-the-clock’’ event. Money Order
Inquiries included in service
measurement must have both a recorded
‘‘start-the-clock’’ and ‘‘stop-the-clock’’.
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
36154
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
3.5.4 Only fee-based Money Order
Inquiries will be included in service
measurement.
verification, the mailing will not be
included in service measurement until
the mailer fixes the problem or pays
additional postage. After the mailer
fixes the problem, the mailing will be
included in service measurement,
although a new ‘‘start-the-clock’’ Day-0
may apply. If additional postage is
needed, the mailer may have to submit
additional information in order for the
mailing to be included in service
measurement.
3.6
4.2
3.5.2 Money Order Inquiries with a
start-the-clock date prior to the Money
Order issue date will not be included in
service measurement.
3.5.3 Saturdays, Sundays, designated
postal holidays, and other non-delivery
days will not be counted in measuring
service standard compliance.
Address List Service
3.6.1 ‘‘Start-the-Clock’’ and ‘‘Stop-theClock’’
The ‘‘start-the-clock’’ event is the
receipt of the address list or address
cards from the mailer at the delivery
unit or the postal district Address
Management Systems office. The ‘‘stopthe-clock’’ event is the transmission of
the corrected address information from
the district AMS office to the requestor.
Address List Service requests included
in service measurement must have both
a recorded ‘‘start-the-clock’’ and ‘‘stopthe-clock’’.
3.6.2 Saturdays, Sundays, designated
postal holidays, and other non-delivery
days will not be counted in measuring
service standard compliance.
3.6.3 Requests received between
November 16 and January 1 will not be
included in service measurement.19
4
Inclusions
For purposes of measuring end-to-end
market-dominant bulk mail service
quality, only mail that is verified by the
Postal Service as satisfying mail
preparation requirements associated
with applicable price categories, and
complies with requirements of the Full
Service Intelligent Mail option, will be
included in service measurement.
Manual Mailing Evaluation Readability
Lookup Instrument (MERLIN) and
automated verification results are
methods used to verify the mail.
4.1 Mailing Level Validation
When a bulk mailing does not pass a
particular mail preparation criterion in
the verification process, no pieces from
that mailing will be included in service
measurement (unless ‘‘Next Day’’ Day-0
can be applied). When a mailing fails
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
19 The
exclusion of the Nov 16–Jan 1 time frame
for Address List Services performance measurement
conforms to the service standard for this product
published at 39 CFR 122.2(b). See 72 Federal
Register 72231 (December 19, 2007). As explained
at 72 FR 58963 (October 17, 2007), the surge of
holiday mail volume places an extraordinary
demand on Postal Service personnel ordinarily
responsible for fulfilling Address List Services
requests, making it very difficult for them to fulfill
such requests during this time frame.
VerDate Aug<31>2005
20:39 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
Appointment Level Validation
Containers associated with an
appointment with one of the
irregularities identified below will not
be included in service measurement.
1. Incorrect Entry Facility; and
2. Damaged Mail.
4.3
Container Level Validation
All pieces inducted at the correct
destination facility based on container
preparation and that can be associated
with an appointment will not be
included in service measurement per
the scenarios below.
4.3.1 Scenario 1. Container inducted
at the correct destination facility based
on container preparation, but not
included on any appointment: Pieces
associated with that container will not
be included in service measurement.
4.3.2 Scenario 2. Container inducted
at wrong destination facility based on
container preparation, but not included
on any appointment: Pieces associated
with that container will not be included
in service measurement.
4.4
Piece Level Validation
Mail pieces identified with mail
preparation quality issues by the
automated verification system will not
be included in service measurement.
Piece level validations include: Barcode
uniqueness; barcode quality; unmanifested mail piece; address validity;
address hygiene (per Postal Service
Publication 28); and presort accuracy.
4.5
Parcel Validation
Parcels destined for unique or 100
percent business 5-digit ZIP Codes will
not be included in service measurement.
4.6
Mailer Documentation Validation
Automated validations will be
conducted to ensure the integrity of the
electronic documentation submitted by
mailers and that it accurately reflects
the mail preparation requirements, price
eligibility and other physical
characteristics of the mail to which it
pertains.
PO 00000
Frm 00120
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
4.7
ZIP Codes
All active 3-digit ZIP Codes are
included in Service Measurement, with
the following exceptions:
4.7.1 090–098, 340, and 962–966 are
all APO/FPO (military) ZIP Codes and
fall outside of the capability of this
measurement system. The mail is
processed in a manner that will not
produce a final automation scan that
can serve as a reasonable proxy for
delivery.
4.7.2 Mail destinating to 202–205,
which are the Federal Agency ZIP Code
ranges in Washington, DC. All of this
mail continues to be processed through
a complex process of treatment and
surveillance prior to delivery. There is
no reliable means to measure actual
service performance.
4.7.3 005, 192, 375, 399, 459, 649,
733, 842 and 938 are unique 3-digit ZIP
Codes for IRS Processing Centers. Due to
the unique processing and flow of this
mail, there is no means to provide
service measurement.
4.7.4 For purposes of service
measurement, the origin for mail from
Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico and
the U.S. Virgin Islands is the 3-digit ZIP
Code area in which the interstate/
interterritorial gateway processing
facility for each state or territory is
located. The destination for mail to
Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico and
the U.S. Virgin Islands is the 3-digit ZIP
Code area in which the interstate/
interterritorial gateway mail processing
facility for each state or territory is
located.
4.7.5 509, 555, 821, 872, 885, 889,
901, and 942 are unique 3-digit ZIP
Codes for either large businesses or
government agencies. Due to the unique
processing and flow of this mail, there
is no means to provide service
measurement. 569 is a unique 3-digit
ZIP Code that is used only for a
competitive product.
9.2
Implementation Status (June 2008)
The Postal Service will use a phased
rollout of the service performance
measurement system, which will
correspond with Full Service Intelligent
Mail Option adoption. A significant
adoption of IMb’s by Full Service
mailers is expected after May 2009,
when IMb-based price incentives are
expected to take effect, with
progressively higher levels of adoption
thereafter. As more and varied mailers
adopt Full Service IMb’s, the data
available for service performance
measurement will become even more
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
robust and representative of the full
population.20
Some components of the
measurement system are already in
place. The Postal Service will continue
to use EXFC to measure single-piece
First-Class Mail letters and flats, as well
as IMMS to measure single-piece FirstClass Mail International letters. EXFC
and IMMS are specifically designed to
be representative of those mailstreams
and already provide an external,
statistically valid performance
measurement. Measurement is also
available for Package Services parcels
entered at retail.21 The existing Delivery
Confirmation performance reports for
mail originating at postal retail facilities
can be used in the short-term to measure
the service performance of all Package
Services.
Although use of the IMb will not be
required on all automation mail until
May 2010, several mailers have already
adopted the IMb and submit electronic
documentation. Pilot programs are
currently underway for measurement of
Presort First-Class Mail and Standard
Mail. Mailer adoption rates are expected
to continue growing since the lowest
automation price, Full-Service IMb, is
expected to be implemented in May
2009.
Toward the end of FY2008, selected
external reporters will be trained to use
a new scanning device for in-home
delivery reporting of all mail received
that contains an IMb. In FY2009, IMb
and electronic mailing information
adoption will occur in sufficient
quantity that measurement based on
scans generated by external reporters
36155
will provide statistically valid
measurements for service performance
of Presort First-Class Mail letters and
Standard Mail.
For Periodicals mailers, adoption of
IMb’s and electronic mailing
information is projected to be slower.
Measurements from DelTrak and Red
Tag, which are two external
measurement systems, will be used
during FY2009 as the Postal Service
transitions to a statistically viable longterm solution using the same
methodology explained above.
The following table provides an
illustration of the measurement timeline
that the Postal Service will implement
while long-term measures are being
developed and adopted.
TABLE 23.—MEASUREMENT IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE
FY2009
First-Class Mail Single-Piece Letters and Flats
First-Class Mail Presort Flats and Single-Piece
International Mail Flats.
Single-Piece First-Class Mail International Letters.
First-Class Mail Presort Letters .........................
First-Class Mail Parcels and International Mail
Parcels 1.
Standard Mail Letters and Flats ........................
Standard Mail Parcels 2 .....................................
Periodicals Letters and Flats .............................
Package Services Parcels (includes Bound
Printed Matter, Library Mail, Media Mail and
Parcel Post).
Special Services ................................................
FY2010
EXFC ................................................................
EXFC as Proxy .................................................
EXFC.
EXFC as Proxy.
IMMS ................................................................
IMMS.
Pilot and Reporter + IMb/Electronic Mailing Information.
Retail and Presort Delivery Confirmation .........
Reporter + IMb/ Electronic Mailing Information.
Pilot and Reporter + IMb/Electronic Mailing Information.
Delivery Confirmation .......................................
Red Tag/DelTrak ..............................................
Reporter + IMb/ Electronic Mailing Information.
Retail and Presort Delivery Confirmation.
Retail and Presort Delivery Confirmation .........
Delivery Confirmation.
Reporter + IMb/ Electronic Mailing Information.3
Retail and Presort Delivery Confirmation.
Internal Measurement ......................................
Internal Measurement.
1 First-Class
Mail parcels will be rolled into the First-Class Mail measurement based on percent of mail.
Mail parcels will be rolled into the Standard Mail measurement based on percent of mail.
Postal Service may elect to have its external provider use data from DelTrak or Red Tag even in future years, if it proves to increase the
overall robustness of the data and the statistical validity.
2 Standard
3 The
9.3 Modern Service Standards for
Market Dominant Products
TABLE 24.—DOMESTIC ORIGIN ENTRY
MAIL
The following tables are provided as
a reference for the modern service
standards.
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
Periodicals Mail.
Order No. 43, the PRC has classified
inbound single-piece surface parcels tendered at
Universal Postal Union inward land rates as a
market-dominant product. This mail includes
parcels, which enter the United States via surface
transportation at the New Jersey International Bulk
Mail Center, as well as surface airlift parcels, which
enter at the five International Service Centers in
21 Under
VerDate Aug<31>2005
20:04 Jun 24, 2008
Jkt 214001
1–3
1–9
3–10
Mail class
End-to-end
flow range
(days) 1
Package Services .................
2–8
End-to-end
flow range
(days) 1
First-Class Mail .....................
Periodicals ............................
Standard Mail .......................
20 Excluding
Mail class
TABLE 24.—DOMESTIC ORIGIN ENTRY
MAIL—Continued
Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York JFK, and
San Francisco. Once parcels clear U.S. Customs,
they are transferred from the acceptance facility to
a Bulk Mail Center (BMC). Once entered into the
BMC network, inbound surface parcels undergo the
same processing as domestic single-piece Package
Services parcels. Because the volume of the
inbound surface parcels is small in proportion to
other market-dominant categories, creating a
PO 00000
Frm 00121
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
1 See
72 FR 72216 (December 19, 2007) for
Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and U.S.
Virgin Islands.
separate measurement system for these parcels is
not cost-justified. Given that inbound surface
parcels are handled through the domestic BMC
network, the Postal Service will use the service
performance measurement statistics for
corresponding domestic parcels as a reasonable
proxy for International Mail inbound surface
parcels (at UPU rates).
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
36156
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 25, 2008 / Notices
TABLE 25.—DOMESTIC DESTINATION ENTRY MAIL 1
End-to-end flow range (days) 1
Mail Class
DDU (days)
SCF (days)
ADC (days)
BMC (days)
1
2
1
1
3
2
1–2
....................
....................
1–2 2
5
3
Periodicals .......................................................................................................................
Standard Mail ...................................................................................................................
Package Services ............................................................................................................
1 See
2 Only
72 FR 72216 (December 19, 2007) for Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and U.S. Virgin Islands.
applies to Periodicals receiving the DBMC Container rate.
TABLE 26.—SPECIAL SERVICES
Delivery Information
Services:
Delivery Confirmation.
Signature Confirmation
Certified Mail
Registered
Mail 1
Collect on Delivery
Electronic Return Request
CONFIRM ..............
Address Correction
Service (automated.
P.O. Box Service ...
Insurance Claims
Processing.
Money Order Inquiry.
Address List Services.
Availability of delivery
information within 24
hours.
By the Commission.
Steven W. Williams,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8–14396 Filed 6–24–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710–FW–P
Availability of scan information within 24
hours.
Availability of address
information within 24
hours.
Mail delivered by posted P.O. Box uptime.
Claims processing within 30 calendar days.
Customer response
within 15 business
days.
Information within 15
business days.
1 Registered Mail includes domestic mail
and inbound international mail.
III. Trademarks
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
1. Interested persons may submit
written comments on any or all aspects
of the Postal Service’s proposed service
performance measurement systems and
reporting systems by no later than July
9, 2008.
2. The Secretary shall arrange for
publication of this notice in the Federal
Register.
The following are among the
trademarks owned by the United States
Postal Service: Certified MailTM, ClickN-Ship, CONFIRM, Delivery
ConfirmationTM, ‘1DMM, Express
Mail, FASTforward, First-Class
Mail, Intelligent Mail, MERLINTM,
P.O. BoxTM, Parcel Post, Parcel
Select, PC Postage, PLANET,
PLANET Code, Post OfficeTM,
PostalOne!, Postal ServiceTM, Priority
Mail, Registered MailTM, Signature
ConfirmationTM, Standard Mail,
United States Postal Service, U.S.
MailTM, U.S. Postal Service, USPS,
USPS https://www.usps.com, ZIP+4,
and ZIP CodeTM. This is not a
comprehensive list of all Postal Service
trademarks.
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[Release No. 34–57987; File No. S7–966]
Program for Allocation of Regulatory
Responsibilities Pursuant to Rule
17d–2; Notice of Filing and Order
Approving and Declaring Effective an
Amendment to the Plan for the
Allocation of Regulatory
Responsibilities Among the American
Stock Exchange, LLC, the Boston
Stock Exchange, Inc., the Chicago
Board Options Exchange,
Incorporated, the International
Securities Exchange, LLC, Financial
Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc., the
New York Stock Exchange, LLC, the
NYSE Arca, Inc., The NASDAQ Stock
Market, LLC, and the Philadelphia
Stock Exchange, Inc
June 18, 2008.
Notice is hereby given that the
Securities and Exchange Commission
(‘‘Commission’’) has issued an Order,
pursuant to Section 17(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(‘‘Act’’),1 approving and declaring
effective an amendment to the plan for
allocating regulatory responsibility filed
pursuant to Rule 17d–2 of the Act,2 by
the American Stock Exchange, LLC
(‘‘Amex’’), the Boston Stock Exchange,
Inc. (‘‘BSE’’), the Chicago Board Options
Exchange, Incorporated (‘‘CBOE’’), the
International Securities Exchange,
(‘‘ISE’’), Financial Industry Regulatory
IV. Ordering Paragraphs
1 15
It is Ordered:
VerDate Aug<31>2005
20:04 Jun 24, 2008
2 17
Jkt 214001
PO 00000
U.S.C. 78q(d).
CFR 240.17d–2.
Frm 00122
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Authority, Inc. (‘‘FINRA’’), The
NASDAQ Stock Market LLC
(‘‘NASDAQ’’), the New York Stock
Exchange LLC (‘‘NYSE’’), NYSE Arca,
Inc. (‘‘NYSE Arca’’), and the
Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Inc.
(‘‘Phlx’’) (collectively, ‘‘SRO
participants’’).
I. Introduction
Section 19(g)(1) of the Act,3 among
other things, requires every selfregulatory organization (‘‘SRO’’)
registered as either a national securities
exchange or national securities
association to examine for, and enforce
compliance by, its members and persons
associated with its members with the
Act, the rules and regulations
thereunder, and the SRO’s own rules,
unless the SRO is relieved of this
responsibility pursuant to Section
17(d) 4 or Section 19(g)(2) 5 of the Act.
Without this relief, the statutory
obligation of each individual SRO could
result in a pattern of multiple
examinations of broker-dealers that
maintain memberships in more than one
SRO (‘‘common members’’). Such
regulatory duplication would add
unnecessary expenses for common
members and their SROs.
Section 17(d)(1) of the Act 6 was
intended, in part, to eliminate
unnecessary multiple examinations and
regulatory duplication.7 With respect to
a common member, Section 17(d)(1)
authorizes the Commission, by rule or
order, to relieve an SRO of the
responsibility to receive regulatory
reports, to examine for and enforce
compliance with applicable statutes,
rules, and regulations, or to perform
other specified regulatory functions.
To implement Section 17(d)(1), the
Commission adopted two rules: Rule
17d–1 and Rule 17d–2 under the Act.8
Rule 17d–1 authorizes the Commission
3 15
U.S.C. 78s(g)(1).
U.S.C. 78q(d).
5 15 U.S.C. 78s(g)(2).
6 15 U.S.C. 78q(d)(1).
7 See Securities Act Amendments of 1975, Report
of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and
Urban Affairs to Accompany S. 249, S. Rep. No. 94–
75, 94th Cong., 1st Session 32 (1975).
8 17 CFR 240.17d–1 and 17 CFR 240.17d–2,
respectively.
4 15
E:\FR\FM\25JNN1.SGM
25JNN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 123 (Wednesday, June 25, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36136-36156]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-14396]
[[Page 36136]]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. PI2008-1; Order No. 83]
Administrative Practice and Procedure, Postal Service
AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Changes in the law governing the nation's postal system
mandate adoption of service performance measurement and reporting
systems for market dominant products, which include First-Class Mail.
This notice presents a service measurement and reporting plan for
public review and comment. The comments will assist the Commission in
formulating its position on the plan.
DATES: Comments are due July 9, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments electronically via the Commission's Filing
Online system at https://www.prc.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen L. Sharfman, General Counsel,
202-789-6820 and stephen.sharfman@prc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Regulatory History, 72 FR 72395 (December 20, 2007).
I. Background
Section 301 of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act
(PAEA), Public Law 109-435, 120 Stat. 3218, requires the Postal
Service, in consultation with the Postal Regulatory Commission
(Commission), to establish by regulation a set of modern service
standards for market dominant products.\1\ The Postal Service completed
this initial task with the publication of ``Modern Service Standards
for Market-Dominant Products'' as a final rule, effective December 19,
2007.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Section 301 of the PAEA is codified at 39 U.S.C. 3691.
\2\ See 72 FR 72216 (December 19, 2007) (to be codified at 39
CFR parts 121 and 122).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
By statute, the service standards must be measured by an objective
external performance measurement system, unless the Commission approves
the use of an internal measurement system. 39 U.S.C. 3691(b)(1)(D) and
(b)(2). The Postal Service is in the process of developing its
performance measurement system, and has kept the Commission informed of
its progress through a series of meetings to discuss service
performance measurement issues. The Commission has solicited public
input on the Postal Service's measurement system proposals by providing
the public with an opportunity to comment on the Postal Service's
November 2007 draft Service Performance Measurement plan.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ PRC Order No. 48, December 4, 2007; 72 FR 72395 (December
20, 2007).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since November, the Postal Service has made significant progress in
working with its external measurement vendors and working through the
implementation of the internal Intelligent Mail Barcode system. The
result of this progress has led to a continuous refinement of the
Service Performance Measurement plan. The Commission is in the process
of preparing a reply to the Postal Service's most recent plan which
will address the proposals for internal versus external measurement
systems and the proposals for data reporting.
The text of the June 2008 version of the Service Performance
Measurement plan appears below the signature line of this order. The
perspective of the mailing community will aid the Commission in
developing its reply to the Postal Service and help the Commission
carry out its performance measurement responsibilities under the PAEA.
Interested persons are invited to comment on any or all aspects of the
proposed service performance measurement and reporting systems. This
provides an opportunity for those that previously commented to update
their comments, and for those that have yet to comment to provide
initial comments. Comments are due July 9, 2008. All comments will be
available for review on the Commission's Web site, https://www.prc.gov.
II. United States Postal Service Service Performance Measurement
A. Glossary of Terms
The description of the approach for service performance measurement
includes references to certain postal terminology. For clarification,
the following brief definitions and descriptions are provided.
The Intelligent Mail[supreg] barcode (IMb) is a height-modulated
barcode that encodes up to 31-digits of mailpiece data. The IMb
combines and expands the capabilities of the POSTNET barcode and the
Planet Code[supreg] barcode into one unique barcode and is intended to
replace the POSTNET and Planet Code barcodes by May 2010.
A service standard is defined as ``a stated goal for service
achievement for each mail class.'' See Publication 32, Glossary of
Postal Terms (May 1997, updated through July 5, 2007). The service
standard for each market-dominant mail service incorporates the days-
to-deliver for each 3-digit ZIP Code origin-destination pair within the
Postal Service network. The standards serve as the benchmark for
measuring service performance.
The service performance is the number of calendar days from the
``start-the-clock'' to the ``stop-the-clock''. However, if the day of
the ``stop-the-clock'' event is immediately after a non-delivery day
(Sunday or a holiday), then one day is subtracted from the service
performance measurement calculation for each consecutive non-delivery
day preceding the delivery day.
For inclusion in service performance measurement, a mail piece,
container/handling unit, or mailing must pass verification and meet the
applicable inclusion criteria listed in the appendix to this document.
Verification is a system of checks used to determine if a mailing is
properly prepared and if the correct postage is paid.
The critical entry time (CET) is the latest time that a reasonable
amount of a class of mail can be received at designated induction
points in the postal network for it to be processed and dispatched in
time to meet service standards.
The ``start-the-clock'' is the date and time when the mail piece
enters the mailstream. If the Postal Service accepts a mail piece
before the posted CET for that day, the day of entry is designated as
the ``start-the-clock'' date. If the mail piece is accepted after the
CET or dropped at a collection box, business mail chute, or Post Office
location after the last posted pickup time or on a day when pickup does
not occur, the mail piece has a ``start-the-clock'' date of the
following applicable acceptance day.
``Start-the-clock'' Day zero (or Day-0) is the date when the clock
starts for purposes of service measurement.
The ``stop-the-clock'' is the date on which delivery occurs or is
initially attempted.
A Customer/Supplier Agreement (C/SA) is a written notice that
confirms, for a commercial mailer, the origin-entry acceptance window
during which mail that meets applicable preparation requirements will
be considered to have been entered into the postal network on ``start-
the-clock Day zero,'' for purposes of service performance measurement.
The notice may include mail containerization specifications, designated
postal mail facility entry locations and time-sensitive mail entry
windows.
The Annual Compliance Report includes the national annual service
performance report for market-dominant products and is subject to
compliance review by the Postal Regulatory Commission on a fiscal year
basis.
[[Page 36137]]
A postal area is the administrative level directly below national
headquarters and is comprised of multiple subordinate postal districts.
There are currently nine areas that span the entirety of the postal
network; these nine areas are comprised of a total of 80 subordinate
districts.
In service variance reports, the Postal Service reports the
cumulative percentage for mail pieces delivered after the applicable
service standard. The Postal Service refers to the delivery performance
of pieces delivered after the service standard as ``Within +X'' days of
the standard.
The following are examples of calculating service variance:
Table 1.--Examples of Calculating Service Variance--May 08
[Adapted from the original, which can be viewed on the Commission's Web site, https://www.prc.gov/prc-pages/daily-listing)]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 28 29 30 May 1 2 3 4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...................... ...................... Example One. Non-Delivery Day.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 6 7 8 Day Zero 9 Day One 10 Day Two 11 Day Three
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...................... Mail Entered After CET ...................... ..................... ..................... Non-Delivery Day.
with 2 Day Service
Standard
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12 Day Four 13 14 15 16 17 18
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Actual ...................... ...................... ...................... Example Two. Non-Delivery Day.
Delivery
Day
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19 20 21 22 Day Zero 23 Day One 24 Day Two 25 Day Three
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...................... ...................... Mail Entered Prior to ..................... ..................... Non-Delivery Day.
CET with 3 Day
Service Standard
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
26 Day Four 27 Day Five 28 29 30 31 June 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Holiday Actual Delivery Day ...................... ...................... ..................... ..................... Non-Delivery Day.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Example 1--Mail was entered after CET on Wednesday and delivered on Monday with a two-day service standard. Since the entry was after Wednesday's CET,
day zero is now Thursday. Actual Delivery is the number of days it took (calendar days) to deliver the mail (Thursday to Monday) or 4 days. Expected
Delivery is the service standard, which in this case is 2 days. The service performance measurement is Actual Delivery Day (4) minus Expected Delivery
(2) minus any non-delivery days between the Expected Delivery Day and the Actual Delivery Day (1) = 1.
Example 2--Mail was entered prior to CET on Thursday and delivered on Tuesday with a three-day service standard. Actual Delivery is the time it took
(calendar days) to deliver the mail (Thursday to Tuesday) or 5 days. Expected Delivery is the service standard, which in this case is 3 days, plus 2
days since Sunday and Monday are non-delivery days. The service performance measurement is Actual Delivery Day (5) minus Expected Delivery (5) minus
any non-delivery days between the Expected Delivery Day and the Actual Delivery Day (0) = 0. Therefore, the mail piece was delivered on time.
Definition of Terms:
1. The Actual Delivery Day is the calendar day of the ``stop-the-clock'' for a mail piece.
2. Non-Delivery Days are nationally recognized days on which the Postal Service does not deliver mail to delivery points. Sundays and holidays are non-
delivery days. Non-delivery days may also occur by Presidential proclamation such as a national day of mourning.
3. The Expected Delivery Day is calculated by adding the applicable service standard to the ``start-the-clock'' date for a mail piece. When that date
lands on a non-delivery day, the expected delivery date becomes the next possible delivery date.
4. Service variance, represented as ``Within +X'', is the number of delivery days between the Expected Delivery Date for the mail piece and the Actual
Delivery Date of the piece. ``Within +X'' is calculated by subtracting the Expected Delivery Date from the Actual Delivery Date and then subtracting
any Non-Delivery Days between the Actual and Expected Delivery Dates from the result:
X = Actual Delivery Day-Expected Delivery Day-Non-Delivery Days between Actual and Expected Delivery Days
1. Introduction
Among many requirements, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement
Act (PAEA) instructs the United States Postal Service (Postal Service)
to establish modern service standards for its market-dominant mail
products. According to the law, these standards should be designed ``to
provide a system of objective external performance measurements for
each market-dominant product as a basis for measurement of Postal
Service performance.'' However, with the approval of the Postal
Regulatory Commission (PRC), an internal measurement system may be
implemented instead of an external system.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, Public Law 109-
435, 120 Stat. 3198, 39 U.S.C. 3691(b)(1)(D) and (b)(2).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The service performance measurement systems used for measurement
will evolve over time as capacity increases. For example, the
measurement system may be modified annually pending the outcome of the
annual service standards review process. The measurement systems are
designed to provide the Postal Service and its customers with data
sufficiently accurate and reliable for purposes of assessing the
quality of mail service in a cost effective manner. These data are
expected to provide the PRC with the ability to perform its
responsibilities under the PAEA with a high degree of confidence. The
following table
[[Page 36138]]
summarizes the measurement system at full rollout.
Table 2.--Postal Service Measurement Approach at Full Rollout\1\
[Measurement approach by mail segment]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Single-piece Presort
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letters Flats Parcels Letters Flats Parcels
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First-Class Mail................ EXFC.............. EXFC.............. Start: Acceptance Start: Documented EXFC as Proxy \2\. Start: Documented
scan. Arrival Time at Arrival Time at
Postal facility. Postal facility.
Stop: Delivery Stop: External .................. Stop: Delivery
Confirmation reporting. Confirmation
delivery scan. delivery scan.
Single-Piece First-Class Mail IMMS \3\.......... EXFC as proxy \4\. Single-Piece First- N/A............... N/A............... N/A.
International. Class Mail
parcels as
proxy.\5\
Periodicals \6\................. N/A............... N/A............... N/A............... Start: Documented Start: Documented N/A.
Arrival Time at Arrival Time at
Postal facility. Postal facility.
Stop: External Stop: External N/A.
reporting. reporting.
Standard Mail................... N/A............... N/A............... N/A............... Start: Documented Start: Documented Start: Documented
Arrival Time at Arrival Time at Arrival Time at
Postal facility. Postal facility. Postal facility.
Stop: External Stop: External Stop: Delivery
reporting. reporting \7\. Confirmation
delivery scan.
Package Services................ N/A............... N/A \8\........... Start: Acceptance N/A............... Start: Documented Start: Documented
scan. Arrival Time at Arrival Time at
Postal facility. Postal facility.
Stop: Delivery .................. Stop: External Stop: Delivery
Confirmation reporting. Confirmation
delivery scan. delivery scan.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Special Services are not included in Table 1 as they have different methods to ``start-the-clock'' and ``stop-the-clock'' from the market-dominant
mail products.
\2\ The Postal Service will use the External First-Class Mail Measurement System (EXFC) measurement for single-piece flats as a proxy for Presort First-
Class Mail flats due to the very small volume of Presort flats.
\3\ The International Mail Measurement System (IMMS) is an external measurement system for which an independent measurement contractor seeds mail into
the mailstream.
\4\ The EXFC measurement for domestic single-piece First-Class Mail flats will serve as a proxy for single-piece First-Class Mail International flats
due to the small volume in the latter category. After clearing customs, single-piece First-Class Mail International flats enter the domestic
mailstream and are handled with domestic single-piece First-Class Mail flats.
\5\ The Postal Service will use the measurement for domestic single-piece First-Class Mail parcels as a proxy for single-piece First-Class Mail
International parcels.
\6\ Two mailer-operated external systems, Red Tag and Time Inc.'s DelTrak, will be used for Periodicals measurement during FY 2009, as the Postal
Service transitions to a long-term internal solution.
2. Measurement Approach
For purpose of service performance measurement, the Postal Service
will continue use of the External First-Class Measurement system (EXFC)
for single-piece First-Class Mail letters and flats and the
International Mail Measurement System (IMMS) for single-piece First-
Class Mail International letters.\5\ For letter- and flat-shaped
Presort mail within First-Class Mail, Periodicals, and Standard Mail
services, the Postal Service uses an external measurement approach that
supplements mail scans available from an internal Intelligent Mail
system with externally collected data. For parcel-shaped mail within
First-Class Mail, Standard Mail, and Package Services,\6\ the Postal
Service uses an internal solution based on Delivery Confirmation scans
obtained at acceptance and delivery. Additionally, the performance
measurement of various domestic special services uses an internal
measurement approach.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ The only major type of International Mail classified as
market-dominant is single-piece First-Class Mail International. For
single-piece First-Class Mail International flats and parcels, the
Postal Service will use the domestic flats and parcel measurements
as proxies, as explained in Section 4.1.
\6\ Package Services market-dominant products include Parcel
Post, Bound Printed Matter, Library Mail, and Media Mail, by
operation of 39 U.S.C. 3621. For purposes of service standard
establishment and service performance measurement, these market-
dominant products are grouped together as Package Services due to
their relatively small volumes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Destination-entered Standard Mail is subject to national Critical
Entry Times (CETs). All other classes of mail are subject to locally-
defined facility CETs. A Customer/Supplier Agreement between a bulk
mailer and the Postal Service may identify an alternate acceptance
window. In the case where a Customer/Supplier Agreement exists, it is
the responsibility of the mailer to enter mail within the agreed-upon
acceptance window. Customer/Supplier Agreements may include terms
regarding seasonal volumes or split processing windows.
The two critical elements for service performance measurement of a
mail
[[Page 36139]]
piece are the date and time when the mail piece enters the mailstream,
otherwise known as the ``start-the-clock,'' and the date when delivery
occurs or is attempted, otherwise known as the ``stop-the-clock''.\7\
The mail piece service performance measurement can be viewed as the
difference between the ``start-the-clock'' and ``stop-the-clock''
dates, excluding non-delivery days, which is then compared to the
established service standard for the mail category. When assessing mail
piece service performance, relevant facility Critical Entry Times
(CETs) must be taken into account. For commercial mail, Customer/
Supplier Agreements (C/SAs) may also be employed and used to assign the
``start-the-clock'' Day-0 for purposes of service performance
measurement. If the Postal Service accepts a mail piece either before
the CET or within the acceptance window specified in the C/SA on a
given acceptance day, the mail piece will have a ``start-the-clock''
date of the current day. If the mail piece is accepted after the CET,
and outside the acceptance window specified in the C/SA, the mail piece
will have a ``start-the-clock'' date of the following applicable
acceptance day for that facility.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ Mail must pass verification before being included in service
measurement.
\8\ National CETs have been established for Standard Mail
destination-entered at Sectional Center Facilities (SCFs) and Bulk
Mail Centers (BMCs).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1 Presort Letter and Flat-Shaped Mail
For Presort First-Class Mail, Standard and Periodical letters and
for Standard and Periodical flats, the Postal Service's service
performance measurement system uses documented arrival time at the
postal facility to ``start-the-clock,'' and an external, third-party
``stop-the-clock'' performed by reporters with scanners in their homes.
Additional data on mail piece tracking from Intelligent Mail barcode
(IMb) scans are also used to supplement the external data. However,
data collected by the Postal Service are provided to an independent,
external contractor to calculate service measurement and compile the
necessary reports.
To facilitate an accurate ``start-the-clock'' measurement, mailers
prepare mail with IMb's and, as a part of the acceptance process,
submit electronic mailing information that describes the mail profile.
Mailings are verified at acceptance to ensure they meet applicable
preparation requirements necessary to qualify for service performance
measurement.\9\ For mailers that meet the Full Service Intelligent
Mail[supreg] Option, the Postal Service makes mail arrival time and
mail preparation quality information available.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ Such requirements are in addition to those which must be met
to qualify for mailing within a particular product or price
category.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The external measurement contractor determines service performance
based on the elapsed time between the ``start-the-clock'' event
recorded by the Postal Service and the ``stop-the-clock'' event scan
recorded by anonymous households and small businesses that report
delivery information directly to the contractor. The end-to-end service
measure consists of two parts: (1) How long mail pieces take to get
through processing, and (2) how long mail takes from the last
processing scan to delivery. The second portion is used as a delivery
factor differential to determine the percent of mail that is delivered
on the last processing date and the percent delivered after the last
processing date. For Presort letters and non-saturation flats entered
at Delivery Units that do not receive processing scans, postal
personnel scan IMb's to indicate intention to deliver that day. By
comparing the date of the Postal Service's final IMb scan with the
reported delivery date for these mail pieces, the external measurement
contractor calculates the delivery factor differential for each mail
category. With this measurement approach, the core service performance
score is augmented by data provided by external reporters, which
provides a cost-effective method for end-to-end measurement.
External scanning offers many benefits to the Postal Service, the
PRC, and mailers concerning the accuracy and auditability of service
performance measurement: Delivery sampling data are used to provide the
granularity required for district level reporting, and association of
the reporter scan data to the final mail processing equipment scan is
used to assess delivery failures.
The use of external reporters allows for barcoded mail that falls
out of automation to be included in service performance measurement. To
ensure that the external service measurement contractor is able to
measure service performance for properly prepared and addressed mail
pieces, the Postal Service provides the contractor with mail quality
information that it derives by scanning IMb's.
This measurement approach leverages IMb data from internal systems
for Presort letters and flat-shaped mail to enhance service
measurement. It also allows for: Greater representation of mail
characteristics; richer diagnostics; and robust and reliable
measurement at low cost.
2.2 Measurement System Requirements for Presort Mailers of Letters,
Cards, and Flats
The Postal Service performs service measurement on mail that
satisfies generally applicable mail preparation requirements and also
meets the requirements of the Full Service Intelligent Mail[supreg]
Option, which gives the Postal Service the ability to identify unique
mail pieces in the mailstream. These service measurement requirements
include, unique Intelligent Mail[supreg] barcodes on mail pieces, trays
and containers where appropriate, and appointment scheduling for
Destination Bulk Mail Center (DBMC), Destination Area Distribution
Center (DADC), and Destination Sectional Center Facility (DSCF) drop
shipments, and for authorized mailers choosing to transport origin-
entered, postal-verified mail to downstream facilities. They also may
include electronic submission of postage statements and mailing
documentation. More information on the Full Service Intelligent
Mail[supreg] Option can be found in Federal Register notices \10\ and
will be published in future revisions of the Domestic Mail Manual
(DMM).\11\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ See 73 FR 1158 (January 7, 2008) and 73 FR 23393 (April 30,
2008).
\11\ The requirements for service performance measurement are
separate from addressing, presortation, containerization, or other
requirements generally governing price eligibility published in the
Mail Classification Schedule or USPS Domestic Mail Manual.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.3 Parcels
For parcel-shaped First-Class Mail, Standard Mail, and Package
Services, the Postal Service uses an internal solution based on
Delivery Confirmation scans obtained at acceptance and delivery. For
reporting purposes, First-Class Mail parcels are included with the
First-Class Mail aggregate performance results and Standard Mail
parcels are included with the Standard Mail aggregate performance.
For parcel-shaped Retail mail for which Delivery Confirmation
service has been purchased, the Postal Service uses the Delivery
Confirmation scan at the retail counter as the ``start-the-clock''
event. Parcel-shaped Presort mail uses the documented arrival time at
the postal facility as the ``start-the-clock''. For Presort parcels,
validation similar to that for letters and flats is performed to ensure
that the parcels were dropped at the correct postal facility.
[[Page 36140]]
The ``stop-the-clock'' event is the Delivery Confirmation scan
performed by postal personnel at delivery.\12\ Since postal personnel
scan pieces with a Delivery Confirmation barcode at delivery, the
measurement system is truly an end-to-end performance system. In
addition, the sender has access to the Delivery Confirmation ``stop-
the-clock'' information from the Track & Confirm function at the Postal
Service's public Web site, https://www.usps.com and, thus, can
independently verify the delivery date.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\12\ Either by a carrier on a delivery route or a clerk in a
Post Office Box section as delivery is completed or attempted.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In accordance with section 3652 of the Postal Accountability and
Enhancement Act, the Postal Service is required to report measures of
the quality of service on an annual basis. The Postal Service's
proposal for service measurement goes far beyond annual reporting and
will instead provide quarterly reporting for all market-dominant
products, almost entirely at a district level.
2.4 Reporting
The Postal Service uses an independent, external contractor to
prepare service performance reports for domestic First-Class Mail,
Periodicals, Standard Mail, and single-piece First-Class Mail
International letters.
The Postal Service will continue collecting performance data for
parcels within each domestic market-dominant mail class based on
Delivery Confirmation acceptance and delivery scans. The Postal Service
sends performance data for First-Class Mail parcels and Standard Mail
parcels to the external service performance contractor for consolidated
reporting of the performance of each mail class. Quarterly reports
include data on the percentage of mail delivered on-time, as well as
the percentage of mail delivered within 1-day, 2-days, and 3-days of
the standard being measured. Annual compliance reports for each market-
dominant product will include the annual target and the annual
percentage of mail delivered on time.
For Special Services, the Postal Service reports a performance
index that combines the measurement of a number of Special Services
into a single index for comparison on an annual basis.
3 First-Class Mail
3.1 Background
First-Class Mail pieces represented 45.2 percent of the overall
mail volume in FY2007,\13\ with nearly 96 billion pieces. Of First-
Class Mail, 41.3 percent are single-piece cards, letters or flats, 0.4
percent are single-piece parcels, 57.1 percent are Presort cards and
letters, 1.0 percent are Presort flats, and 0.2 percent are Presort
parcels. The Postal Service plans to measure each of these different
segments and report a weighted average measurement separately for
presort and single-piece categories. Below, Table 3--First-Class Mail
Volume illustrates the make-up of First-Class Mail by entry volume and
shape. The table also illustrates the percentage of the overall
mailstream that each of these First-Class Mail segments represents.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ See https://www.usps.com/financials/_pdf/RPW_FY_2007.pdf.
Table 3.--First-Class Mail Volume
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Single-Piece Presort
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letters Flats Parcels Letters Flats Parcels Total
(percent) (percent) (percent) (percent) (percent) (percent) (percent)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First-Class Mail............................................. 38.0 3.3 0.4 57.1 1.0 0.2 100
Overall Mailstream........................................... 17 1.5 0.2 25.8 0.4 0.1 45.2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.2 First-Class Mail Single-Piece Letters and Flats
Collection boxes and office building chutes are the primary methods
for entering First-Class Mail single-piece letters and flats. Combined,
this mail represents 18.7 percent of the total mailstream. Service
performance is measured though EXFC.
EXFC continuously measures nearly all 3-digit ZIP Code service
areas. EXFC mail pieces are designed to resemble the rest of the
mailstream; pieces are hand-or machine-addressed, stamped or metered,
and are of different colors, sizes, and weights. Quality reviews are
conducted for droppers and reporters, and data are reviewed on a daily,
weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis.
3.2.1 ``Start-the-Clock''
The date and time that the mail piece is dropped into a collection
box or business mail chute is the ``start-the-clock''. Mail piece
droppers report the ``start-the-clock'' directly to the external
service measurement contractor. If a mail piece is dropped at a
collection box, business mail chute, or Post Office location after the
last posted pickup time or on a day when pickup does not occur, the
next pickup day is the ``start-the-clock''.
The induction points for the ``start-the-clock'' are determined
before the start of each fiscal quarter. External droppers are provided
with a listing of collection boxes that they are allowed to use for
their assigned inductions in a given 3-digit ZIP Code service area.
Enough locations are chosen to ensure a certain amount of coverage, to
accommodate any unforeseen issues that may arise with the selected
induction points. The collection boxes are chosen in a random selection
process with replacement, meaning that the same induction location may
be chosen multiple times. The induction points are weighted going into
the selection process, so that locations in 5-digit ZIP Code areas with
a larger number of collection boxes have a greater chance of being
selected than locations in ZIP Codes areas with a smaller number of
collection boxes. The external contractor monitors drop compliance
continuously throughout the quarter to ensure proper diversification of
mail locations.
EXFC origin-destination mail flows are based on estimated 3-digit
ZIP Code origin-destination pair volume flows for corresponding 3-digit
ZIP Code pairs over the past 12 quarters. The number of pieces entered
from each postal administrative district is proportionate to the
corresponding origin-destination volumes by service standard.
3.2.2 ``Stop-the-Clock''
The date that the mail piece is received at a household, small
business, or Post Office Box is reported by the recipient as the
``stop-the-clock'' event directly to the external contractor for
purposes of EXFC. The service
[[Page 36141]]
performance is the number of calendar days from the ``start-the-clock''
to the ``stop-the-clock''. However, if the day of the stop-the-clock
event occurs immediately after a non-delivery day (Sunday or a
holiday), then one day is subtracted from the service performance
calculation for each consecutive non-delivery day.
3.3 First-Class Mail Presort Letters and Cards
The primary induction method for Presort letters and cards is bulk
entry at postal mail processing plants and Business Mail Entry Units
(BMEUs) across the United States. Presort First-Class Mail letters and
cards represent 25.8 percent of the total mailstream. The Postal
Service's measurement approach uses externally generated delivery scans
of mail pieces containing IMb's by reporters to record delivery dates.
In combination with Intelligent Mail scan data collected by the Postal
Service, this approach enables the granular level of reporting being
sought by the mailing industry.
3.3.1 ``Start-the-Clock''
Full Service IMb mailers are required to submit electronic mailing
documentation listing the IMb's used. Mail is verified to ensure it
meets mail preparation requirements. Mail that does not meet mail
preparation standards is excluded from service performance measurement.
If a mailer decides to rework the mail so that it meets preparation
requirements or decides to pay additional postage, the mail will be
included in service performance measurement but it may have a new
``start-the-clock'' Day-0. Mail ``start-the-clock'' times and mail
preparation quality information are made available to Full Service IMb
mailers.
3.3.2 ``Stop-the-Clock''
External reporters use scanners capable of reading IMb's to record
the ``stop-the-clock'' delivery event for individual mail pieces they
receive and to transmit scan data to the external reporting system. By
comparing the date of the final Postal Service processing scan with the
actual receipt date for these pieces, the external measurement
contractor calculates a delivery factor for the service performance of
First-Class Mail Presort letters and cards. This delivery factor is
combined with postal mail processing data to determine the end-to-end
service performance measurement for mail that may not receive an
external reporter scan.
The use of external reporters allows for mail that is manually
processed and that falls out of automation to be included in service
performance measurement. In these cases, the external reporters record
the actual ``stop-the-clock'' event and provide that information to the
external measurement contractor, which calculates the service
performance for those pieces.
3.4 First-Class Mail Presort Flats
Presort First-Class Mail flats represent only 0.4 percent of the
total mailstream, producing one of the smallest mail categories. The
Postal Service uses the EXFC measurement of single-piece First-Class
Mail flats as a proxy for Presort flats. In order to determine a more
accurate estimate for First-Class Mail Presort flats, the portion of
EXFC that reflects this mail category, i.e., machine-addressed flats,
rather than hand-addressed, is used. If the external measurement
contractor determines that sufficient volume of Presort Flats contains
IMb's, the measurement system for Presort letters will be employed for
Presort flats.
3.5 First-Class Mail Retail Parcels
The Postal Service measures service performance for this mail via
Delivery Confirmation barcode scans. For reporting purposes,
performance results are sent to the external measurement contractor for
inclusion in aggregate First-Class Mail service performance results.
First-Class Mail Retail parcels represent 0.4 percent of all First-
Class Mail and less than 0.2 percent of the total mailstream.
3.5.1 ``Start-the-Clock''
Primarily, the ``start-the-clock'' event occurs at retail counters
when customers purchase Delivery Confirmation for parcels they intend
to mail. When postal retail personnel apply the Delivery Confirmation
PS Form 152 to these parcels, they scan the unique Delivery
Confirmation barcode on each form. The scan is captured via either a
Point of Sale (POS) or Integrated Retail Terminal (IRT) at the retail
counter or an Intelligent Mail scanning device. Since the customer is
present at the ``start-the-clock'' event and receives a time-stamped
receipt with purchase, there are several validation points for the
``start-the-clock'' event.
3.5.2 ``Stop-the-Clock''
At delivery, postal personnel scan the Delivery Confirmation PS
Form 152 barcode to denote delivery or that delivery was attempted,
either of which serves to ``stop-the-clock'' for service performance
measurement. More information on delivery and attempted delivery can be
found in the Appendix.
3.6 First-Class Mail Presort Parcels
First-Class Mail presort parcels represent under 0.2 percent of all
First-Class Mail and less than 0.1 percent of the total mailstream. One
differentiating characteristic of First-Class Mail Presort parcels is
the propensity of senders to purchase Delivery Confirmation service.
Using Delivery Confirmation scan data, performance results are
calculated by the Postal Service and then sent to the external
measurement contractor for inclusion into the First-Class Mail service
aggregate performance results.
3.6.1 ``Start-the-Clock''
For service performance measurement of First-Class Mail Presort
parcels, mailers use Delivery Confirmation and will submit electronic
mailing documentation listing the unique Delivery Confirmation barcodes
used. Mail is verified to ensure it meets applicable mail preparation
requirements. Mail that does not meet mail preparation requirements is
excluded from service performance measurement. If a mailer decides to
rework the mail so that it meets preparation requirements or decides to
pay additional postage, the mail will be included in service
performance measurement but it may have a new ``start-the-clock'' Day-
0. The ``start-the-clock'' event is the documented arrival time of the
mailing at the Postal Service acceptance facility. Arrival times are
made available to mailers.
3.6.2 ``Stop-the-Clock''
Postal personnel scan the Delivery Confirmation barcode upon
delivery and can denote the delivery or attempted delivery, either of
which serves to ``stop-the-clock'' for service performance measurement.
3.7 Reporting for First-Class Mail
3.7.1 Quarterly Reporting
For Single-Piece First-Class Mail, the Postal Service reports on-
time service performance separately by day (i.e., overnight, 2-day, and
3-day/4-day/5-day), for each postal district on a quarterly basis. This
greatly expands the number of performance measures reported, yet is
consistent with the way EXFC currently reports single-piece First-Class
Mail service. The use of data from the final Intelligent Mail scans
allows reporting at a higher degree of granularity. The Postal Service
sends performance data for First-Class Mail parcels to the external
service performance contractor for consolidated reporting purposes.
[[Page 36142]]
The quarterly report format for on-time performance of Single-Piece
First-Class Mail is as follows:
Table 4.--Quarterly Performance for Single-Piece First-Class Mail; Sample Quarterly Report Format for Single-
Piece First-Class Mail
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overnight Two-day Three-day/four-day/
---------------------------------- five-day
District ----------------------
% On-time % On-time % On-time
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Capital Metro Area..................................... xx xx xx
Baltimore District..................................... xx xx xx
Capital District....................................... xx xx xx
South Carolina District................................ xx xx xx
Greensboro District.................................... xx xx xx
Mid-Carolinas District................................. xx xx xx
No. Virginia District.................................. xx xx xx
Richmond District...................................... xx xx xx
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A similar report is produced to report quarterly service
performance for Presort First-Class Mail.
The service variance for Single-Piece First-Class Mail pieces is
reported separately as the percentage of mail that is delivered within
one-day, two-days, and three-days of the applicable standard. The
quarterly service variance report format for Single-Piece First-Class
Mail is as follows:
Table 5.--Quarterly Performance for Single-Piece First-Class Mail Service Variance; Sample Quarterly Report Format with Service Variance for Single-
Piece First-Class Mail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overnight Two-day Three-day/four-day/five-day
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
District Within + 1- Within + 2- Within + 3- Within + 1- Within + 2- Within + 3- Within + 1- Within + 2- Within + 2-
day days days day days days day days days
(percent) (percent) (percent) (percent) (percent) (percent) (percent) (percent) (percent)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Capital Metro Area.......................... xx.x xx.x xx xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x
Baltimore District.......................... xx.x xx.x xx xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x
Capital District............................ xx.x xx.x xx xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x
South Carolina District..................... xx.x xx.x xx xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x
Greensboro District......................... xx.x xx.x xx xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x
Mid-Carolinas District...................... xx.x xx.x xx xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x
No. Virginia District....................... xx.x xx.x xx xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x
Richmond District........................... xx.x xx.x xx xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x xx.x
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A similar service variance report is produced to report quarterly
service performance for Presort First-Class Mail.
3.7.2 Annual Reporting
Separate national measures are compiled per fiscal year for each
First-Class Mail segment (Single-Piece and Presort) and by service
standard (one-day, two-day, and three-day/four-day).
Annual performance consists of a weighted average for each First-
Class Mail segment that allots weight based on the volume of mail in
each district. If the segments are not representatively distributed,
the weighting ensures that each district counts for the appropriate
portion of the national aggregate.
Table 6.--Annual Compliance Report; Sample Annual Report Format for
First-Class Mail
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Target Percent on-
Mail class (percent) time
------------------------------------------------------------------------
First-Class Mail:
Single-Piece Overnight............ xx xx
Single-Piece Two-Day.............. xx xx
Single-Piece Three-Day/Four-Day... xx xx
Presort Overnight................. xx xx
Presort Two-Day................... xx xx
Presort Three-Day/Four-Day........ xx xx
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 36143]]
4 Single-Piece First-Class Mail International
4.1 Background
The United States Postal Service accepts outbound single-piece
First-Class Mail International pieces for processing and transfer to
foreign postal administrations for delivery to their destination
address. The service standard for the outbound domestic transit of this
mail is the same as for First-Class Mail pieces from the domestic 3-
digit ZIP Code of origin to the domestic 3-digit ZIP Code area in which
the Postal Service International Service Center (ISC) designated for
that origin is located.\14\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ The postal mail processing network includes a handful of
ISCs, each of which serves a region of the postal network and is
responsible for conducting the initial international processing for
outbound international mail or the final international processing
for inbound international mail. For outbound mail, the ISC for a
postal network region may be the gateway facility from which mail is
transported from the postal network to the custody of a foreign
postal administration. In a small percentage of cases, outbound mail
may be transported from its designated ISC to another ISC for the
outbound gateway processing that precedes its exit from the postal
network.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inbound single-piece First-Class Mail International originates from
other countries and is destined for delivery to addresses in 3-digit
ZIP Code areas of the United States. The service standard for the
inbound domestic transit of this mail is the same as for First-Class
Mail that originates from the 3-digit ZIP Code in which the designated
ISC is located to the 3-digit ZIP Code area of the delivery address.
Service performance for the domestic transit of both inbound and
outbound single-piece First-Class Mail International is measured
through the International Mail Measurement System (IMMS), which is
operated by an external service performance measurement contractor.
IMMS utilizes only letter-shaped mail pieces, which is the
predominant shape of both outbound and inbound single-piece First-Class
Mail International. The processing of single-piece First-Class Mail
International--during either outbound transit from domestic origin to
the designated ISC or inbound transit from the designated ISC to the
domestic delivery address--is the same as for domestic single-piece
First-Class Mail letters and parcels, which are discussed above in
sections 3.2 and 3.5, respectively. The domestic transit service
standards are the same. Accordingly, the Postal Service will use
service performance data for domestic single-piece First-Class Mail
flats (EXFC) and parcels (Delivery Confirmation) as a proxy for
estimating the service performance for outbound and inbound single-
piece First-Class Mail International flats and inbound surface parcels.
4.1.1 ``Start-the-Clock''
To measure outbound single-piece First-Class Mail International
letters service performance, the external contractor arranges for
sample international pieces to be commingled with pieces created for
the domestic EXFC testing program, which is described above in section
3.2. The date and time that the test pieces are dropped into collection
boxes or business mail chutes is the ``start-the-clock'' event reported
by droppers directly to the independent contractor.
To test inbound single-piece First-Class Mail International letter
service performance, sample letters addressed to reporters in the
United States employed by the external contractor are mailed from
foreign countries by droppers also employed by the IMMS service
performance measurement contractor, which has worldwide operations. To
maintain the confidentiality of the program, the identities and
addresses of the reporters and droppers (as well as the participating
foreign countries of the droppers and receivers) are known only to the
contractor. The inbound ``start-the-clock'' tracking begins with the
date and time of the first Postal Service scan of the PLANET Code
barcode \15\ on a piece at the ISC that first handles the mail.
Mailpieces received at the designated ISC on a Sunday or holiday have a
``start-the-clock'' date of the next processing date.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\15\ The PLANET Code is a barcode printed on mail pieces by
mailers participating in the CONFIRM program. CONFIRM enables
mailers to receive detailed scan information about the pieces they
mail in order to track mail through the postal network. The PLANET
Code will be phased out by May 2010 and replaced by the IMb.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1.2 ``Stop-the-Clock''
As an outbound international mail letter travels through the Postal
Service's mail processing system, the PLANET Code information on the
piece is captured and used to measure its progress. When the letter is
sorted at the designated ISC, it receives an ID tag and/or PLANET Code
scan. The ``stop-the-clock'' for an outbound mail piece is the date of
the last scan at this facility. The number of transit days for outbound
mail is the difference between the induction date and the last PLANET
Code read at the designated ISC. Because the ``stop-the-clock'' event
takes place at an ISC, as opposed to a delivery point, the transit days
calculation includes Sundays and holidays.
An inbound international mail letter flows through the USPS network
from the ISC to the delivery addresses. The ``stop-the-clock'' event
data for inbound mail pieces are the dates on which they are delivered
to reporters employed by the service measurement contractor. The
reporter is part of the EXFC survey group and is responsible for
receiving the mail and reporting the date of delivery. The number of
transit days for inbound test mail is the difference between the
delivery date and the date of the first PLANET Code read or ID tag at
the designated ISC. The service performance is calculated in the same
method as described in the Glossary.
Because the service standards for both outbound and inbound single-
piece First-Class Mail International flats and parcels are based on the
domestic transit of such mail, on-time performance is measured against
the same set of origin-destination 3-digit ZIP Code area service
standards as domestic First-Class Mail.
4.2 Reporting Single-Piece First-Class Mail International
4.2.1 Quarterly Reporting
Since not all postal administrative districts have sufficient
international volumes for statistically representative reporting, the
Postal Service reports international quarterly service performance at a
postal administrative area level. Each measurement includes the percent
delivered on time for outbound and for inbound single-piece First-Class
Mail International. All scores are weighted at the area level using
proportions derived from a rolling average of estimated volumes for 12
fiscal quarters.
The quarterly report format for Single-Piece First-Class Mail
International is as follows:
[[Page 36144]]
Table 7.--Quarterly Performance for Single-Piece International Mail;
Sample Quarterly Report Format for Single-Piece First-Class Mail
International
------------------------------------------------------------------------
% On-time % On-time
Area inbound outbound
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northeast Area........................ xx.x xx.x
New York Metro Area................... xx.x xx.x
Eastern Area.......................... xx.x xx.x
Capital Metro Area.................... xx.x xx.x
Southeast Area........................ xx.x xx.x
Great Lakes Area...................... xx.x xx.x
Western Area.......................... xx.x xx.x
Southwest Area........................ xx.x xx.x
Pacific Area.......................... xx.x xx.x
------------------------------------------------------------------------
National.......................... xx.x xx.x
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The service variance for Single-Piece First-Class Mail
International is reported separately as the percentage of mail that is
delivered within one-day, two-days, and three-days of the applicable
service standard. The quarterly report format is as follows:
Table 8.--Quarterly Performance for Single-Piece International Mail Service Variance; Sample Quarterly Report Format with the Service Variance for
Single-Piece First-Class Mail International
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inbound Outbound
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Area Within + 1-day Within + 2-days Within + 3-days Within + 1-day Within + 2-days Within + 3-days
(percent) (percent) (percent) (percent) (percent) (percent)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northeast Area.................................... xx.x xx.x xx xx.x xx.x xx.x
New York Metro Area............................... xx.x xx.x xx xx.x xx.x xx.x
Eastern Area...................................... xx.x xx.x xx xx.x xx.x xx.x
Capital Metro Area................................ xx.x xx.x xx xx.x xx.x xx.x
Southeast Area.................................... xx.x xx.x xx xx.x xx.x xx.x
Great Lakes Area.................................. xx.x xx
