USPS: Mail Service Faster, More Reliable In Fiscal Year 2022

The United States Postal Service reported final service performance data for fiscal year 2022 (Oct. 1, 2021 – Sept. 30, 2022) showing significant year over year improvement across all mail categories. In addition to improved reliability, the new data showed mail and packages moving faster across the postal network with a year over year decrease in the average days to deliver across all categories.

• 2.5 days on average to deliver a First-Class mailpiece in FY2022
• FY2022 service performance targets exceeded for First-Class Mail, Marketing Mail and Periodicals
• FY2023 service performance targets filed with PRC reflect ongoing progress to improve service performance across all mail categories
• Drive towards 95 percent on-time service delivery continues as established in Delivering for America plan

“We’ve made tremendous progress improving our service performance in the past year thanks to investments under our Delivering for America plan and an organization-wide commitment to better serving our customers,” said Louis DeJoy, Postmaster General and CEO. “We are headed in the right direction but there is more work to be done to deliver the reliable service the American people expect and deserve.”

Final FY2022 USPS service performance scores showed:

• First-Class Mail: 91.0 percent of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an 8.3 percentage point improvement from FY21 (82.7 percent).
• Marketing Mail: 93.3 percent of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a 5.7 percentage point improvement from FY21 (87.6 percent)
• Periodicals: 83.7 percent of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a significant 8.1 percentage point increase over FY21 (75.6 percent).

In FY2022, USPS successfully exceeded its service performance targets for Single-Piece First-Class Mail (2-Day) (FY22 target: 90.25 percent), all categories of Presort First-Class Mail, Marketing Mail (91.84 percent) and Periodicals (82.67 percent).

Service performance is defined by the Postal Service as the time it takes to deliver a mailpiece or package from its acceptance into the USPS system through its delivery, as measured against published service standards.

Mail And Packages Are Moving Faster Across The Postal Network

With increased technology investments and an organization wide focus on operating precision improvements in FY2022, mail and packages moved faster through the network to reach their intended destination. In FY2022, the average days to deliver a First-Class mailpiece was 2.5 days, down from 2.6 in FY2022. Periodicals reached their intended destination on average in just 1.8 days in FY2022.

FY2023 Service Performance Targets

The Postal Service also announced it has filed FY2023 service performance targets with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). These targets demonstrate ongoing progress across all mail categories due to operational precision improvements and new investments in technology as the Postal Service strives towards its 10-year goal of 95 percent service performance. The full PRC filing is available here.

A Continued Focus on Improving Service Performance and Reliability for USPS Customers

One of the goals of Delivering for America, the Postal Service’s 10-year plan for achieving financial sustainability and service excellence, is to meet or exceed 95 percent on-time service performance for all mail and shipping products once all elements of the plan are implemented.

As national performance numbers continue to improve, the entire Postal Service team, from Postmaster General DeJoy and his leadership team to postmasters are focused on identifying and resolving local performance issues. Initiatives include increased hiring efforts and new technology to better process and track mail and packages through the network.

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