In early October the Government Accountability Office put out a report questioning the accuracy of the U.S. Postal Service’s delivery reporting methods, complaining that only 55% of market-dominant mail was being tracked. The GAO asked the Postal Regulatory Commission to invite public comments on the situation from the mailing industry, and yesterday the PRC complied.
The PRC asks for interested parties to file comments with it by December 14 on the following topics:
- What deficiencies are inherent in the current service performance data with respect to accuracy, reliability, and representative nature of overall service?
- Should the percentage of mail being measured (in this case 55%) be the primary determinant of accurate, reliable, or representative service? Or should measurements focus on sampling fractions, confidence intervals, and margins of error at the district level?
- What specific actions can the Postal Service take to increase participation among bulk mailers in the Intelligent Mail bar code program? The GAO report holds that non-compliance with the IMb program is a key cause of incomplete measurement of bulk mail.
The PRC recently updated its website to allow instantaneous access to service performance reports under the “Reports/Data Service Reports” tab.
