SPOKANE — The men and women of the U.S. Postal Service’s Spokane District, which covers Eastern Washington and the state of Idaho, led the nation in overnight delivery performance and received a prestigious customer service award for the second quarter of fiscal year 2007.

The Spokane District attained a 97 percent on-time performance score for overnight delivery of First-Class Mail. That score tied with five other districts (out of 80) for the nation’s highest score. The national average was 95.

Measured independently by IBM Consulting Services, the national assessment measures the time it takes a piece of First-Class Mail, once it's deposited into a collection box in a metropolitan area, to be delivered to a home, business, or Post Office box in that area.

The Spokane District also earned a Bronze Star Award for its second quarter performance. Under the Postal Service’s 5 Star Customer Service Program, the Bronze Star is given for four consecutive quarters of 5 Star ratings.

The 5 Star program rates postal districts and Post Offices on a combination of residential and small business Customer Satisfaction Measurement questions — clerk information and efficiency, delivery accuracy, delivery time-of-day, and Mystery Shopper wait-time-in-line score.

In addition to the overall district award, 51 Spokane District Post Offices earned 5 Star Awards and 15 Post Offices earned Bronze Star Awards. Of the nation’s 80 districts and nearly 37,000 Post Offices, only three districts and 87 Post Offices won the second-quarter Bronze Star.

“The postal employees in Idaho and Eastern Washington demonstrate their commitment to providing a high level of customer service every day,” said Spokane District Manager Lloyd Wilkinson. “This recognition is the direct result of that continual commitment to our customers.”

- 30 -

An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits 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 cover its operating expenses. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $73 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.