Chapter 2: Our Customers
As a proactive measure aimed at further deterring fraud, domestic and international money orders were redesigned on October 27, 2008. The new money orders include a new color scheme and additional security features. When the money order is held up to a light, repeating images of the first Postmaster General, Benjamin Franklin, can be seen, making it easier for banks and Post Offices to detect counterfeits. A new holographic, multi-colored security thread also now weaves in and out of the paper to thwart counterfeiting.
Post Office Box service is offered for a fee to any customer requiring an alternative to free carrier delivery or general delivery. The fees vary by box size and postal facility location. As of August 2008, customers can now search, select, apply, and pay for new Post Office Boxes online. Current customers can sign up for one-time or automatic payments using their credit card. Customers can also renew their semi-annual or annual Post Office Box payments (excluding caller service boxes) at any Automated Postal Center.
Premium Forwarding Service (PFS) reships all mail from a household customer’s primary address to a temporary address weekly via Priority Mail service, for a minimum of two weeks and up to one year. PFS was created to meet customer demand for an alternative to temporary forwarding service. Originally launched as a two-year experiment in August 2005, PFS became permanent in March 2008. The service is popular with customers, and volume has been growing steadily.
PASSPORTS Application acceptance
More than 900 additional Post Offices began accepting passport applications in 2008. However, total passport-related revenue declined from $360 million to $283 million this year due to a $5 reduction in the Department of State’s fee per application.
Postal employees accept passport applications from new U.S. citizens following the Citizenship and Immigration Service's naturalization ceremony in Orlando, Florida.
Mailing Services Performance Measurement
The Strategic Transformation Plan 2006 – 2010 included a commitment to measure service performance for all classes of mail. The process began this year with the establishment of updated service standards for Mailing Services products. The service measurement procedures were implemented at the start of fiscal year 2009 after extensive dialogue with customers and consultations with the PRC. Reporting begins January 2009.
In designing the service standards and the measurement processes, the Postal Service engaged in unprecedented outreach to identify customer needs and preferences, and solicited input from postal unions and management associations. Two main themes emerged from this outreach: customers want reliable, consistent, realistic, and attainable standards; and customers support a cost-effective approach to service measurement that provides actionable information for both mailers and the Postal Service. The Postal Service submitted a draft Service Performance Measurement document to the PRC in November 2007 and in June 2008, followed with a revised version which provided detailed information about the proposed measurement systems.
The measurement systems are designed as a cost-effective means to provide reliable operating data for managing mail service. Service performance measurement will be an evolutionary process as the data and technology become more robust.
Measurement Approach
Two critical elements of service performance measurement are the date and time when the Postal Service takes possession of a mailpiece (otherwise known as the “start-the-clock”) and the date when delivery occurs or is attempted (otherwise known as the “stop-the-clock”). The mailpiece service performance is the time elapsed between “start-the-clock” and “stop-the-clock,” excluding non-delivery days. This performance is then compared to the established service standard for the mail category.
For service performance measurement, the Postal Service will continue to use the External First-Class Measurement system (EXFC) for single-piece First-Class Mail cards, letters, and flats and the International Mail Measurement System (IMMS) for single-piece First-Class Mail International letters. For letter, card, and flat-shaped Presorted First-Class Mail, and Standard Mail services, the Postal Service uses data collected from the IM barcode combined with externally collected delivery data. Periodicals measurement uses two external industry-based systems until IM barcode adoption increases sufficiently to measure similarly to Standard Mail. For parcel-shaped mail, the Postal Service uses an internal solution based on Delivery Confirmation scans obtained at acceptance and delivery. The sender also has access to the Delivery Confirmation information from the Track & Confirm function at usps.com. Performance measurement of various domestic special services uses internal measurement approaches.