USPS Forecasts Nearly One Billion Holiday Deliveries
UNITED STATE – With the start of the holiday season, the United States Postal Service (USPS) indicated that increased shipping activity is expected, indicating that nearly one billion holiday deliveries are expected.
Service performance for periodicals remained above 82% for the first seven weeks of the first fiscal quarter.
“We are prepared and positioned to have a successful peak season. Americans should feel confident sending their holiday cards, mail and packages with the Postal Service. There is a spirit of excitement throughout the organization and our entire team is ready to deliver the holidays to the nation,” said Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
According to the statistic, from Oct. 1 through Nov. 19, 91.4% of First-Class mailings were delivered on time according to the USPS service standard, an improvement of 2.6 percentage points.
On the other hand, 92.4% of marketing mailings were delivered on time to the USPS service standard; and 83.2% of periodicals were delivered without mishap, a 0.5 percentage point improvement over the previous quarter.
The USPS anticipates 850 to 950 million packages will be delivered for the holidays. The total number of letters, cards and packages processed and delivered between Thanksgiving and New Year’s is estimated at more than 12 billion.
The Postal Service’s preparations for the 2021 peak vacation season include: the conversion of more than 63 thousand preload employees to career positions in the last fiscal year, a national hiring campaign for delivery and plant personnel that should add an additional 40 thousand seasonal hires by the end of the year.
Also contemplated is the leasing of 13 million square feet of additional space in more than 100 annexes, including more than 50 multi-year leases to address year-round volume constraints due to parcel growth; and the installation of new processing equipment to accommodate larger quantities to reflect customer delivery needs.
Since April, the Postal Service has installed 102 of 112 new package sorting machines, reflecting part of the $40 billion in investments planned in the Delivering for America 10-year plan.
The remaining 10 machines are scheduled to be installed by the end of November. Machines have recently been installed in Wilmington (DE), West Valley (AZ), Gainesville (FL), Seattle (WA), Lyndhurst (NJ), Mid-Florida, Fort Worth (TX), Indianapolis (IN), Boston (MA), NW Arkansas, Austin (TX), Cleveland (OH) Des Moines (IA), Lancaster (PA), Oklahoma City (OK), San Antonio (TX), Minneapolis (MN) and Grand Rapids (MI).