Chicago Post Office Continues Service Improvement

New score marks five-point increase over last year

CHICAGO — First-Class Mail in Chicago was delivered overnight 94 percent of the time, according to an independent survey of postal performance in the first quarter of the fiscal year, the U.S. Postal Service announced today.

The performance score, measured by IBM Global Business Services, is a five-point improvement over last year. Two-day service improved 11 points to 92 percent on-time and three-day service was 15 points higher than a year ago at 86 percent, marking a dramatic turnaround for Chicago-area postal facilities.

“I’m proud of our hard-working employees in Chicago, and I salute District Manager Gloria Tyson and Senior Plant Manager Todd Hawkins for their leadership in bringing about this change,” said Postmaster General John Potter.

The delivery area measured by the performance score includes more than 1.2 million homes, businesses and Post Office boxes in the city of Chicago and six surrounding suburbs. IBM’s process measures First-Class Mail from the time it is dropped into a collection box until the time it is delivered.

“The gains we’ve made show we’re doing the right things to improve the service we give to our customers,” said Tyson. “Our employees are committed to doing what it takes to make our service even better.”

During the past year, the district has reviewed every aspect of postal operations to improve mail flow, transportation, collections, delivery and retail services. Among the changes made in Chicago, the Postal Service has:

Hired, trained and placed 346 new letter carriers at delivery offices across Chicago.
Overhauled all automated letter mail and large envelope and magazine equipment.
Examined all 2,464 Chicago delivery routes and corrected more than 143,000 addresses in its database.
Launched eight Customer Advisory Councils, representing 22 ZIP Codes, to facilitate communication and problem-solving among local station managers, neighborhood customers and their elected representatives.
Placed Customer Care Representatives at 14 locations to speed resolution of customers’ concerns.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation — 146 million homes and businesses. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.