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Pushing the Envelope Blog

Shedding a Light on USPS Service Performance

Date: 06/14/21 | Category: Delivery & Collection

You probably have heard a lot recently about the pandemic and other issues causing problems with mail delivery, with some people saying it takes weeks for packages and letters to arrive. Maybe you even experienced problems yourself. Maybe you’ve been getting your mail on time and wondering what all the complaints are about.

Did you ever wish you could get a better understanding of how the Postal Service is doing across the country? Well, now you can. We recently launched a new service performance webpage that includes an interactive map displaying quarterly data on the Postal Service’s service performance around the country.

You can filter the data by time period, geography, mail class, or service standard. Want to see on-time performance for presorted First-Class Mail that is supposed to be delivered in two days? You can. Maybe you’re interested in focusing on Marketing Mail in New York? You can filter the map to see that also.

We will continue to update this page quarterly as the Postal Service releases new data. The interactive map is not all the website features; it also functions as a one-stop-shop for all the OIG’s published and upcoming work on service performance. So, take a look and tell us what you think

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Your Name
Tim McCollum
Dec 18, 2021
Your Comment
Sorry but you are wrong about them being mandated to deliver to every house no matter what. I live in an apartment complex and we got mail delivered 3 times in a month. That’s it just 3 times. I called over and over to complain. Turns out the driver just wasn’t coming here because he didn’t like all the walking. So he was scanning packages and marking them delivered and then just taking them back to the post office where they sat or were returned. I had someone contact me about a package that was returned to them as “undeliverable” despite the tracking showing it as delivered. As for paying for the service you want, I have done that and it makes no difference. UPS and FedEx for the most part don’t deliver residentially in my city. So even when you send something via UPS it gets handed off to the USPS for actual delivery. I ordered a package from overseas and paid $26 for shipping to have it send priority via UPS and to have tracking. It got to my city, UPS handed it off to the USPS, who promptly send it to a different city 11 hours away where it has been sitting in a facility for over 3 weeks now. And when I open a case they just close it and say that it’s “moving within the USPS and on its way to its destination”. The USPS is absolute garbage and needs to be done away with entirely

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

        
Your Name
Tom
Feb 9, 2022
Your Comment
So why don't you complain to UPS to stop handing off packages to USPS and deliver their own stuff....

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Your Name
rene stanley
Nov 10, 2021
Your Comment
I sent a priority package and 6 days later placed a case because it had not even left the first facility. Frustration is the case worker just says it is what it is can take up to 30 days to send the package even after asking the agent to ensure i have a 2 day delivery. It says on my USPS slip - Priority Mail @ 2 days - so why would I just accept then 30 days when i know it is an urgent package. How do i know it is not lost at this point and not just delayed. The feedback I received with the attitude of it is what it is when I specifically asked for it to be delivered in 2 days because of its urgency - makes me so very disappinted in the USPS services!
Your Name
kk
Nov 1, 2021
Your Comment
For 2 yrs and multiple complaints to many USPS people in different departments, they still won't fix their website so you can make changes to your mail forwarding order. I filed a temporary change of address order online back in July for which they charged me $1.00+ for and they are supposed to allow you to make changes to it as needed because no one can predict the future and know 6 months ahead of time what the exact date they will be returning home, however, every time I keep trying to make the change to my order from Nov to Oct, it keeps giving me an error notice that says "we are unable to modify your change-of-address at this time because it is still being processed. Please come back after 72 hours.". Well it's been months, well past 72 hours, so what's the problem that you can't fix this issue? When I call the local post office, I just get the run around telling me that I have to go in and fill out a different form in person to make the change, then it has to be sent to Virginia to be processed. Well that would take a week or more. In the meantime, my bills and checks are not showing up and bills go past due because of lack of delivery by USPS. So then I called the 800 customer service number for which I had to wait over an hour of my time for (time is money that I'm losing due to waiting on a mis-managed postal system that can't take calls in a timely manner and make you jump through a million hoops just to get to speak to a live person), and that rep tried accessing my order online as well and saw the same error message so she said she would send an email directly to the post office that's forwarding my mail and tell them to stop it and start normal delivery back up. However, this local post office still refuses to stop the temp mail forwarding and resume my normal delivery. I asked the rep to please pass on my complaint about the error message as this happened the previous year too. She said they already know of the problem, but it's still not fixed 2 yrs later. Ridiculous!! In the meantime, I have no idea what the local post office is even doing with my mail as they won't even tell me if they even got the email from customer service, and if they are still mail forwarding it, holding it, returning to sender or what. The USPS is so out of control and they are making people miserable and affecting people's lives drastically with incompetence, lack of cooperation and red tape bureaucracy. Someone needs to clean house and revamp the postal system with common sense procedures instead of being difficult to deal with!
Your Name
Adam weills
Oct 30, 2021
Your Comment
Why is it so hard to walk my packages to my covered front porch instead of leaving on a rock or wet leaves☹️☹️
Your Name
Jaime P
Oct 29, 2021
Your Comment
My package left Boston last week and has been sitting in Jersey City, NJ for a week! Several customer service reps told me a different story about it! Why freaking lie? The Postal Service in my opinion has become a complete joke and the most unreliable form of all the shipping services out there! It's about time to do something about it! What ever happened to pride in a job well done?
Your Name
Logan skeen
Oct 28, 2021
Your Comment
I've had one to many packages say they have been delivered and they are not being delivered. I'm getting a Camara installed to show how much the USPS mail person lies when they say they left it on my door step. Most of the time they refuse to deliver and have me come to the post office which is all the way across town I get there and they don't have my packages. I really think they are being scanned and the mail person is stealing our packages.
Your Name
Anonymous
Oct 28, 2021
Your Comment
It took TWELVE DAYS for a freaking card to go from NY to VA. On top of that, it arrived looking like it had gone through the wringer and was completed smashed and folded. Get it together you imbeciles.
Your Name
Robert W Kelly
Oct 27, 2021
Your Comment
I find the tracking information nearly useless, first class packages, even small ones never seem to arrive on time, and tracking often shows the packages to spend more than two days in a postal facility. I recently had one package bounce around more or less local distribution centers, first one, then another and back to the original and I still do not have the package. I try to avoid USPS service, when once it was reliable and reasonable, it is now a joke. No one seems to know or care about what they are doing. I see probably half a dozen different mail carriers serving my neighborhood, when we used to have one, who seemed to know the route and the people in it to keep mail going to the right addresses. Now, mail is mis -routed all the time. The post office, as a service, seems to be drifting further and further behind in its usefulness.
Your Name
Sima
Oct 25, 2021
Your Comment
Mail is not in yet to Hollywood from nc over 10 days sham on postal service we are in u s a sham on all postel no excuses please??????
Your Name
Diane Barefoot Terry
Oct 18, 2021
Your Comment
Over the past 3 months, we have had more of our first-class mailings go missing than in the previous 10 years combined. We started using stamps.com to mail our fabric samples by first class mail, so that bar codes would be printed and hopefully speed up delivery. We now have had to mail out replacement samples at least once a week because our customers never receive their first ones. We depend on people getting their samples in a timely manner so that they can make a decision on purchasing. It reflects badly on us when they have to ask twice and I am sure we have lost sales because of this. What is going on? Is there something amiss with stamps.com (they say no)? Are USPS machines not reading the bar codes correctly? Should I go back to addressing by hand? I'm at my wits end. Thanks, Diane
Your Name
C Wong
Oct 15, 2021
Your Comment
USPS delivered a box whose top had been broken so the label was ripped, and the bottom cut open, but then refolded/tucked so it would hold the contents. There was a handbag shipped in the box, with 2 small packets tucked in the handbag at the time it was shipped. the small packets were in the box but the handbag had been stolen. i waited in 3 different post office lines over 3 hours to get some resolution and was sent from one office to the other, only to be told it was the senders fault because it wasn't "packaged' properly. whether it was packaged proprly or not does not give the USPS to steal the contents of a box!!!! was finally told to file a claim on USPS.com. Really upset about this theft - its not ok that USPS be allowed to steal with no repercussions. There needs to be an investigation because if this person stole once, they're stealing again and again.
Your Name
J.R. Palermo
Oct 14, 2021
Your Comment
Yes, I order my breathing meds through a Canadian pharmacy that directs it to the overseas manufacturers. The recent shipment received at end of September was so mangled I contacted Canada who confirmed that the shipment was in perfect condition when it left Singapore. The damage was caused after the carton reached the United States airport to be transfered to USPS for delivery. It’s bad enough that USPS takes an unusually extended delivery time on everything but the condition of this carton was the worst I have ever received one of my medication refills. I am so fed up with USPS but I know this is widespread here in the U. S. This is not acceptable!
  
Your Name
Anonymous
Oct 19, 2021
Your Comment
unless that pharmacy can verify that the package was intact when it was loaded onto the aircraft or ship that brought it over, they can't "confirm" that the package was intact when it left Singapore.

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Your Name
alexander bontempo
Oct 1, 2021
Your Comment
Looks like delivery the package is an option for you. I lost 2, several go-to out of the map for weeks. You don't treat each parcell as a contract that need to be fulfilled you just work on big numbers and if some got lost who cares.... you have so many customers that you don't need all of them happy. start paying for your errors...tou are not making a favour. You are a shame and your justifications make the thing even worse. Start working as is supposed to be...so as simple.
Your Name
Terry A. Medina
Sep 26, 2021
Your Comment
Where should I start with so many unfortunate choices? Hmmm...the rest of us can't fail so miserably at our jobs, blame covid (here's your related comment per the request in red:), and continue getting paid. Hey, here's a good one..."delivery attempted"... in my case, it's a lie. Every time I receive such a message in lieu of my package(s) is literally a lie. I know. I can prove it. I call appropriate numbers and I inform & complain. I write emails...blah, blah, blah....inform/complain. I get the cheap excuse/form letter saying the issue has been remedied. My own small town post mistress (95684) with her puffed up willingness to abuse the power she wields is complained about often...she has followed me outside to my vehicle screaming and thrown my mail through a passenger window hitting my mouth with my mail...I inform/complain to superiors and what happens a few months ago? She (my abuser)[] calls MY HOME (I can prove this) even though no longer the post mistress and leaves no voicemail. I did not solicit a call from her nor my local post office. In my continued wasted efforts to simply get the things belonging to me, I again attempt requesting redelivery - your website insists my email address is "invalid" and now I suppose I will NEVER get my things. I cannot call like a normal person because I fear more attacks...Even if only verbal the next time. The icing on my cake is they will keep my items WAY PAST the date they originally claimed they would return them....up to two months historically! And this successfully ties up my money preventing me from a timely refund until their mood changes/they grow bored/find another victim/whoever is inspiring this treatment of my things has also provided me company...read the reviews, I am not alone. In the past few weeks alone, 12+ items never reached me after I paid for them. Even the lady from the Office of the Inspector General said there was nothing she could do about the postmistress striking me angrily with my own mail. And yes, she said this AFTER I informed her of the physical attack on me and the oddity of that same abusive person calling my home from her HOME PHONE NUMBER occured and I pointed out the obvious PRIVACY BREACH within that tiny post office where only a few people work....I was told nothing could be done. I get no packages. I get no redelivery. I get no apology. I get no recourse. I simply lose. I have lived in this town for 17 years....and I once received large, heavy packages delivered to my home....incidentally, the same location now occasionally claimed to not be a safe place to leave my things. Or was it my "mail box is too small"? Actually the majority of excuses are not excuses....they are blatant lies claiming "delivery was attempted". They know I live across the street from my mailbox as I have offered this information in a clear, ongoing manner, they have successfully delivered to me multiple times in the past and less than 1 year ago. But now? Who really knows why this is happening or who can change it? I have tapped every resource I have found to assist me in getting my things delivered. Still-no progress.

By the way, in the past when I requested redelivery this website never rejected my email address with its current claim of absent validity.

It's definitely a conundrum (at best.)
  
Your Name
Latonya
Oct 20, 2021
Your Comment
Organize a sting with people in your community. Order something very large from wherever and track it down to its delivery day. There is a 99% chance your carrier refuses to even load it into their vehicle so they’ll write the tracking number down, wait until they are remotely near your dress, feed the tracking number into their scanner, and scan as ………… anything but delivered. Point is, customers are a joke to this company. I am fortunate in that my carrier is dead honest with me regarding all of the shenanigans that takes place at local Chicago post office. They average one $80k a year supervisor for every 5 to 7 employees in the city of Chicago. They need to go private and give up a few days of garbage mail delivery in order to deliver packages the right way like every other company

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

  
Your Name
kk
Nov 1, 2021
Your Comment
I completely agree with all you said. I too have made many legitimate complaints over the years for many problems with the system and mail carrier mistakes and it always falls on deaf ears. I might as well be dealing with one of those out of country customer service reps from other companies that just give you lip service and nothing ever gets done. Problem is this is our gov runs the USPS and there is NO accountability. We can't even sue them because the gov protects itself from it so they basically give themselves a permission slip to abuse the public. When I've complained in the past about legitimate problems with the postal service, I get nasty notes in my mailbox from the carrier complaining about the height of my mailbox or deep ruts in front of my box (caused by them peeling out), or my mail suddenly gets returned to sender or mail box left open for people to steal my mail, or deliver my mail when it's on hold, or delivery suddenly stops for weeks and no one knows where my mail is going to which I suspect is just getting tossing it their trash. Isn't it illegal for them to retaliate on the public when they are "tampering" with people's mail? Anyone else in the general public would be prosecuted for tampering with mail. If we can't sue the USPS, why can't we sue the individual employed by the USPS for tampering with our mail or assaulting us by throwing mail at our face? That person should have been fired. There should be a "standard" of behavior within the USPS that should be upheld and if they break it, then they should be fired. Customers have legitimate complaints that should be heard and DEALT with properly, not retaliate against the customers! They basically are holding our mail hostage to retaliate!!

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

     
Your Name
Terry Again
Nov 22, 2021
Your Comment
I agree Kk!! Without a doubt all of my complaints have fallen on deaf ears. Frankly, I am beyond disgusted with the lack of appropriate response, these people who grossly fail their commitment to USPS 665 should be immediately removed. It doesn’t require a high I.Q. to see that when an individual (such as a postmistress) is willing to abuse their power and cause a customer deliberate harm…and NO action is taken against them for customer complaints…it serves only to empower the abuser. Duh. We’re talking basic 5th grade playground politics here. At this point, I also hold OIG partially responsible for the ongoing harassment I am forced to live with. People like these abusers and do-nothings make me feel ashamed as an American citizen. I will never again assume USPS possesses or values real integrity.

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Your Name
Juan Davila
Sep 24, 2021
Your Comment
Station at Crenshaw 90008 does not pick up even when scheduled. They lose packages that arrive at the PO Box and are marked as “ready for pickup” and 1 out of 3 times, they don’t even attend you at the pickup window. Please change this.
  
Your Name
Cartero
Oct 2, 2021
Your Comment
On a good day the Los Angeles district can man just over half of its routes. The service is trying to hire if you are interested. Any problem from no supervisor reporting for early morning duty who has the codes to open up the computer and print out the emails alerting the carrier that he has a pick up. To lack of carriers to prepare a vacant route thus that mail with the email alert is left in the station pending someone to prep it. will stop someone even knowing that their is a pick up out there. If a carrier is actually delivering that route with a pick up on the scheduled day, vacant routes due to broken bones, retirements and COVID family leave as dictated by federal law will see a remaining healthy carrier on his 8th to 12th working hours on any given day rotate to half of it every 3 days or so. No matter what you do or who is the boss it is physically impossible for 20 carriers to service 40 routes. At 30 routes you run out of man hours. Delivering parcels, because of the medications for our veterans and the dead baby chicks from the 2020 newscast get priority.

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Your Name
SML
Sep 24, 2021
Your Comment
Our courier won't even deliver packages anymore. They just leave a slip that says no Redelivery and require you to go to the Post Office to pick it up. We even have parcel lockers in our complex and they won't use those anymore. Thinking about going to get a box at the UPS Store. I stopped ordering everything online that ships with USPS.
  
Your Name
Kasey Gable
Sep 26, 2021
Your Comment
Haha. At least you can go pick yours up. I haven't received mail in over a month. I've gone to the post office twice a week every week and they don't know where mine is.

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Your Name
Mark S. Geiger
Sep 21, 2021
Your Comment
I don't need another app, I need my mail delivered.
Your Name
Peter Walker
Sep 17, 2021
Your Comment
I appreciate that USPS is in difficult circumstances re Covid - but so is Australia Post. The difference is that USPS has no sensible mechanism to provide feedback, other than the laughable suggestion that you file a complaint by email. I have done so on several recent occasions - at best, a form letter response. At worst, no response at all. Here's an example: We sent a small parcel from Atlanta to Canada. It spent two weeks in Miami, then two weeks in Jacksonville... then was returned to Atlanta. The official response: "There was no issue, try re-sending the parcel". No apology, no refund, no explanation. That may be acceptable in the USA as an adequate response. In Australia, that would merit a flogging. Appalling.