Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Postal Service struggled meeting on-time delivery goals during the 2024 peak season despite lowering its performance targets, according to a July 21 report from the agency's Office of Inspector General.
- Service levels were hurt in part by the Postal Service not accurately anticipating how much package volumes would increase during the peak season, per the OIG. During the peak, volume for package shipping services increased from the previous peak, driven by significant growth in Ground Advantage demand.
- "Specifically, in certain markets it had to purchase extra transportation to move mail from over-capacity processing facilities and over-filled planes," the OIG said. USPS air cargo volume exceeded air container capacity every week of peak, it added.
Dive Insight:
While the USPS improved its on-time performance for Ground Advantage during the peak season — defined by the OIG as Nov. 9 to Jan. 10 — service levels declined for most other product lines. Postal Service management said it "generally agrees" with those findings in responses included in the OIG report.
The performance struggle happened even though the agency lowered its on-time delivery targets for several services compared to fiscal year 2024. Additionally, the Postal Service added an extra scheduled delivery day for packages delivered during peak, something it didn't do the previous year, per the OIG.
"This means that Postal Service reporting shows packages met service standards, even when they actually took an extra day to make it to their destination," the OIG said. "For example, a package with a three-day standard that took four days to arrive would show up as having met service or been delivered on time."
Postal Service management said the agency didn't communicate its plans to add an additional delivery day before peak to customers, since competitors don't make such an announcement when they do the same thing, per the report.
The Postal Service also experienced delays in some markets during the "post-peak" period of Jan. 11 to Jan. 31, per the OIG.
"Specifically, the respective scores for Ground Advantage and Priority Mail during the last two weeks of the post-peak season were well below FY 2025 targets as well as those observed during peak season," the report said.
While the OIG said the delays signaled that management didn't properly anticipate that volume levels would remain elevated, the USPS said "unexpected conditions" like weather were the culprit rather than inadequate planning.
