SIOUX FALLS, SD - Postal Service customers in the Dakotas District, which covers North and South Dakota and the northwest portion of Minnesota, received some of the best overnight mail delivery service in the nation for the third quarter of fiscal year 2007. With 97 percent on-time delivery of First-Class Mail, the Dakotas District tied a number of other postal districts for the nation's highest delivery performance.

"We are very pleased to have posted the nation's top score in overnight delivery service for the second straight quarter," said Dakotas District Manager Clem Felchle.

"Leading the nation in on-time delivery is the result of efficient mail processing and delivery operations coupled with our employees' strong dedication and commitment to providing stellar service to our customers," said Sioux Falls Postmaster/Senior Plant Manager Kim Pritchard. "This is the level of service our customers deserve and have come to expect, and it's the level of service our outstanding postal employees are happy to provide."

The Dakotas District employs more than 5,000 people, working in nearly 800 postal facilities, who process and deliver an average 4 million pieces of mail each day to more than 800,000 addresses.

National on-time performance scores for the delivery of First-Class Mail were at all-time highs for all three of the categories the Postal Service tracks. Overnight service was 96 percent on-time, up from 95 percent the same period last year. Two-day service was 93 percent on-time, and three-day service was 91 percent on-time.

First-Class Mail performance, presented last week during the Postal Service Board of Governors meeting, is measured independently by IBM Global Business Services. The process measures First-Class Mail from the time it is deposited into a collection box or lobby mail chute until it is delivered to a home or business.

During the same period, national residential customer satisfaction was at 92 percent, as measured by the Gallup Organization. The Dakotas was one of eight Postal Service districts that led the nation by earning scores of 96 percent for customer satisfaction.

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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, six days a week. 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 $73 billion and delivers nearly half the world's mail.