• First-Class Mail delivery performance showed a 9.5 percent improvement with 87.6 percent delivered on-time against the USPS service standard for the month of May compared against the second quarter that ended March 31

• Marketing Mail and Periodicals also showed gains since the second quarter. Marketing Mail improved 5.5 percentage points and Periodicals improved by 7.4 percentage points since the second quarter

• Postal Service continues to address ongoing staffing challenges as agency emerges from pandemic

• Service improvement remains a core priority under “Delivering for America,” the Postal Service’s 10-year plan to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence

• Once fully implemented, the Plan includes goal of meeting or exceeding 95 percent network-wide, on-time delivery for all mail and package classes

• Investments and network enhancements currently underway for the upcoming 2021 holiday peak season

June 7, 2021 - WASHINGTON, DC — The United States Postal Service has announced improved deliveries of First-Class Mail, Marketing Mail and Periodicals since the second quarter as its operations continue to recover from challenges experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the second quarter, delivery performance against existing USPS service targets showed the following improvements:

• A 9.5 percentage point improvement in First-Class Mail deliveries, as 87.6 percent were delivered on-time against the USPS service standard in May. On average, a first-class mailpiece took 2.4 days to be delivered so far this quarter.

• A 5.5 percentage point improvement in delivery of Marketing Mail to 90.6 percent against the USPS service standard in May. On average, a marketing mailpiece took 2.9 days to be delivered so far this quarter.

“While we are encouraged by the progress we have made on service performance so far this year, there is more work to be done to meet and exceed the expectations of our customers for service reliability,” said Postmaster General and CEO Louis DeJoy. “The entire United States Postal Service is fully committed to addressing long-standing challenges head-on as we emerge from the pandemic.”

While mail delivery operations and package processing continue to improve, the Postal Service reported staffing issues, including employee absenteeism, continue to be a challenge as the agency recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. During the month of May, national employee availability was 78 percent.

Aligned with its goal of achieving the 95 percent service performance delivery target, 
Source: USPS