United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

The Year in Review .....................................2

Investing in the Future.................................2

Letter from the Board of Governors’ 

Chairman and the Postmaster General .......4

The Board of Governors .............................6

The Executive Leadership Team .................8

Other Officers .............................................9 

PART 1 — FY2015 Annual Performance 

Report and FY2016 Annual Performance 

Plan..........................................................11

U.S. Postal Service FY2015 Results 

and FY2016 Targets for 

Corporate-wide Goals ..............................14

Deliver High-Quality Services ....................15

Provide Excellent Customer Experiences ..16

Ensure a Safe Workplace and Engaged 

Workforce ................................................17

Sustain Controllable Income .....................19

Key Financial and Operating Statistics ......23

PART 2 — FY2015 Comprehensive 

Statement on Postal Operations ..............29

Focusing on the Customer .......................30

Engaging and Empowering Employees to 

Better Serve Customers ...........................38

Investing in Future Platforms ....................44

Accelerating the Pace of Innovation..........53

Connecting Communities .........................59 

Maintaining Focus and Accelerating 

Growth .....................................................64

Table of Contents
2

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

The Year in Review

Investing in the Future

Financial Highlights

Years ended Sept 30 Percent change from preceding year

FY2015 FY2014 FY2013 FY2015 FY2014 FY2013

(in millions)

Total revenue $ 68,928 $ 67,830 $ 67,318 1.6% 0.8% 3.2%

Total operating expenses $ 73,826 $ 73,178 $ 72,128 0.9% 1.5% (10.9)%

Interest, net $ (162) $ (160) $ (167)

Net loss $ (5,060) $ (5,508) $ (4,977)

Purchases of capital property and equipment $ 1,222 $ 781 $ 667 56.5% 17.1% (5.4)%

Debt $ 15,000 $ 15,000 $ 15,000

Deficit since 1971 regulation $ (53,523) $ (48,463) $ (42,955)

Total net deficiency $ (50,391) $ (45,331) $ (39,823)

(in actual units indicated, unaudited)

Number of career employees 491,863 488,300 491,017 0.7% (0.6)% (7.1)%

Mail volume (pieces in millions) 154,157 155,539 158,222 (0.9)% (1.7)% (0.9)%

New delivery points served 1,059,852 971,543 773,882

Never underestimate the power of mail, as a 

way to connect people, conduct commerce 

and merge the hard-copy and digital worlds 

in innovative and impactful ways. The mailing 

industry continues to help power our nation’s 

economy. Contrary to reports of mail’s imminent 

demise, revenue attributed to the mailing 

industry is growing. Here at the Postal Service, 

we’re not standing still — we never have. We 

have a long history of adaptation, embracing 

new technologies and innovating to meet the 

evolving needs of the people we serve. We’ll 

keep investing in the future because we’re always 

looking forward.

While we continue to face financial challenges, 

our FY2015 results reflect our progress. 

The Postal Service continues to work with 

Congress and other key stakeholders to 

develop comprehensive legislation that results 

in meaningful, beneficial reforms to improve our 

business model and ensure long-term financial 

stability. At the same time, we’re taking steps to 

help us succeed in a growing and competitive 

marketplace. For years, we’ve been upgrading our 

information technology platform, equipment and 

processes to generate accurate and high-quality 

data. In many ways, the entire organization is 

going through a data-driven transformation. How 

we use this information is changing the way we 

manage the organization. We’re empowering 

employees with actionable, real-time data and 

analytics, and we’ll continue to refine and improve 

the information and tools we use.

The continued double-digit growth of shipping 

and packages services is a direct result of our 

efforts to offer consumers more choice, excellent 

value and reliable service. The digital economy 

offers an unprecedented opportunity to address 

the needs of our customers, and we’re making 

improvements to our network and infrastructure. 

However, the combination of package revenue 

growth and improved productivity gains are 

still not sufficient to offset mail volume declines 

and inflationary pressures, largely due to 

contractual increases in operating expenses. 

This underscores the need for a combination of 

continued revenue growth, increased efficiency 

and legislative reforms to ensure we can restore 

our financial viability, while continuing to meet our 

public service obligations.
3

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

We’re focusing on our customers.

It’s Sunday. Here’s your package. Grocery 

shopping online? We can deliver it. Have a smart 

phone? You can track it.

We’re in America’s cities and towns six days 

a week, sometimes seven. We’re open 

24/7 online. We’re delivering your letters and 

packages, picking up your returns, helping you 

communicate and conduct commerce in the 

digital economy. Whether you’re a consumer or 

business, nonprofit or government, we help you 

connect, and let you know that you have options 

when you mail and ship with USPS.

Priority: You.

We’re engaging and empowering our 

employees.

New cargo vans and delivery vehicles. Scanning 

packages with new mobile devices. Deploying 

advanced package sortation equipment. Want 

us to hold that package at the Post Office? 

Leave it with a neighbor? Intercept it?

Our employees are part of the fabric of American 

life. They’re committed to delivering excellent 

service that’s trusted and affordable. We’re 

providing our people with new tools, training and 

resources to serve you even better.

Our service mission is more than 200 years old. 

It’s deeply ingrained.

We’re innovating and investing to meet our 

— and your — future needs.

What’s in your mail? Get an electronic preview. 

Geo-fencing means digital addresses. A bigger 

mailbox? Your packages will thank us.

Innovation has always been part of the postal 

DNA. Adaptation is the key to our success. 

The Postal Service was out front in adopting 

automation and eco-friendlier transportation, 

among many examples. We’ll keep testing 

— and launching — new approaches to better 

serve your changing needs. We’ll continue to 

focus on our retail, delivery, network, digital 

and enterprise platforms to deliver world-class 

service.

We’re always moving forward.
United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

4

Over the past year, the Postal Service made 

a commitment to invest in the future — of the 

organization, our employees, our customers 

and the industries we serve. We made this 

commitment to ensure that we focus relentlessly 

on anticipating and preparing for tomorrow’s 

marketplace, and that we embrace the challenge 

of continuous change and improvement to best 

serve the American public. 

As you’ll see in this report, we established 

important initiatives and strategies designed 

to strengthen core areas of our business and 

improve our long-term competitiveness. As 

we did so, we sought to leverage our core 

strengths: our people, our network, the universal 

service we provide and the value of the products 

and services we offer to our residential and 

business customers. 

First and foremost, we’re investing in our most 

important asset: our people. The demands 

of tomorrow’s marketplace require a renewed 

commitment to customer-centricity and customer 

service. To meet those demands, we’re 

developing tools and training to better enable our 

employees to provide customers with efficient, 

valued services, and to be in the best position 

to compete for America’s mailing and shipping 

business. 

Our mail processing, delivery and retail 

networks are being transformed. We’re building 

an infrastructure to meet tomorrow’s needs 

by investing in equipment and vehicles and 

systems. And the efficiencies we’re creating 

today will ensure the long-term affordability of the 

delivery services we provide to the nation.

We’ve put information and technology at the 

center of our business strategies. We’re finding 

ways to harness analytics and insights and 

information to empower our employees and our 

customers. We’re also speeding the pace of 

innovation, and developing mobile and digital 

tools to play a larger role in the daily digital lives 

of our customers. 

The Postal Service is already a technologycentric organization. We use the world’s most 

advanced tracking and information systems 

to speed the flow of mail and packages 

throughout our network, creating literally billions 

of data points every day. We’re leveraging the 

information derived from that robust scanning 

and tracking to add value to the senders and 

receivers of mail and packages — and to create 

new products and services to spur growth in the 

mailing industry and drive American commerce.

Letter from the Board of 

Governors’ Acting Chairman 

and the Postmaster General
5

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

Despite the legislative constraints on our 

business model, our financial, operational and 

marketing results for fiscal year 2015 reflect 

strong momentum and progress. We would 

like to thank the more than 600,000 dedicated 

Postal Service employees who helped achieve 

our success and make our organization 

more responsive and proactive in a dynamic 

marketplace. 

America needs a strong Postal Service that 

can continue to play an indispensable role as a 

driver of commerce and as a provider of delivery 

services that connect the public to one another 

— reliably, affordably and securely, and to every 

residential and business address. We’re proud 

of the progress we’ve made in 2015 and we 

will continue investing in a strong and sustaining 

future for the United States Postal Service in 

2016. 

Megan J. Brennan

Postmaster General 

and Chief Executive Officer

James H. Bilbray

Acting Chairman, 

 Postal Service Board of Governors
6

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

As the governing body of the Postal Service, the 11-member Board of Governors has responsibilities 

comparable to the board of directors of a publicly held corporation. The Board is made up of nine 

Governors appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the Senate. 

No more than five Governors can be members of the same political party.

The other two members of the Board are the Postmaster General and the Deputy Postmaster General. 

The Governors appoint the Postmaster General, who serves at their pleasure without a specific term of 

office. The Governors, together with the Postmaster General, appoint the Deputy Postmaster General.

In 2015, the President of the United States made five Governor nominations, each of which awaits 

Senate action. If the Senate does not confirm any of the Governor nominees prior to December 8, 

2015 — the date on which two of our three active, independent Governors’ terms expire — our Board 

will consist of only one Governor plus the Postmaster General and Deputy Postmaster General.

The critical responsibilities of our Governors include setting our rates and appointing our Postmaster 

General and Deputy Postmaster General. In the event that no Governors are in place, these critical 

responsibilities may not be completed, leaving us without the ability to adjust our rates as needed, and 

without the ability to appoint or replace our two most senior executive officers as needed.

The Board of Governors

James H. Bilbray

Acting Chairman of the Board of Governors. Member of the 

Compensation and Management Resources Committee. 

Attorney at the law firm of Kaempfer Crowell Renshaw 

Gronauer & Fiorentino in Las Vegas, NV. Former member, 

U.S. House of Representatives from Nevada. Former 

member, Nevada State Senate. Former Deputy District 

Attorney in Clark County, NV. Member of 2005 Defense 

Base Closure and Realignment Commission.
7

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

Megan J. Brennan

In February 2015 was named the 74th Postmaster General of the United States and the Chief 

Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Governors. Chief Operating Officer and Executive 

Vice President of the Postal Service from December 2010 through January 2015. Vice President 

of the Eastern Area Operations from April 2005 through December 2006, and Vice President of the 

Northeast Area Operations from December 2006 through December 2010. Started her career as a 

letter carrier in 1986, and is the first female Postmaster General for the Postal Service.

Ronald A. Stroman

20th Deputy Postmaster General and member of the Board of Governors of the United States 

Postal Service since April 2, 2011. Served as Minority Staff Director, Committee on Oversight and 

Government Reform at the U.S. House of Representatives from 2009 to April 2011. Prior to this, 

served as Managing Director, Office of Opportunity and Inclusiveness, U.S. General Accounting Office, 

from 2001 to 2009.

Louis J. Giuliano

Past Chairman of the Board of Governors, 2010 and 

2011. Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors, 2009. 

Chairman, Audit and Finance Committee and Operations 

Subcommittee, and member, Compensation and 

Management Resources Committee. Former Chairman of 

the Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer and President 

of ITT Corp. Senior Advisor to The Carlyle Group. Member 

of the Board of Accudyne Industries. Active member of 

the CEO Forum and the Advisory Board for the Princeton 

University Faith and Work Initiative and a Founder of 

Workforce Ministries. Prior Board positions include Engelhard 

Corp., ServiceMaster and JMC Steel Group. Non-executive 

Chairman of the Board of Vectrus Corporation and Chairman 

of Meadowkirk Retreat Center.

Ellen C. Williams

Chairman of the Compensation and Management Resources 

Committee and a member of the Audit and Finance 

Committee. Partner in MML&K, a government relations firm 

with offices in Frankfort, KY, and Washington, DC. Former 

owner and CEO of Capital Network. Former Vice Chairman 

of the Kentucky Public Service Commission from 2004 to 

2005. Former Commissioner of the Governor’s Office for 

Local Development in Kentucky from 2005 to 2006. Former 

Chairman of the Republican Party of Kentucky from 1999 to 

2004. Former executive assistant to Senator Bob Kasten.
8

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

The Executive Leadership Team (ELT) of the United States Postal Service is a decision-making body 

whose members serve as senior advisors to the Postmaster General. The ELT considers and sets the 

strategic agenda.

The Executive 

Leadership Team

Megan J. Brennan

Postmaster General 

and Chief Executive 

Officer

Ronald A. Stroman

Deputy Postmaster 

General and Chief 

Government Relations 

Officer

David E. Williams

Chief Operating Officer 

and Executive Vice 

President

Randy Miskanic

A/Chief Information 

Officer and Executive 

Vice President

Joseph Corbett 

Chief Financial Officer 

and Executive Vice 

President

James Cochrane

A/Chief Marketing 

and Sales Officer 

and Executive Vice 

President

Thomas J. Marshall

General Counsel 

and Executive Vice 

President

Jeffrey C. 

Williamson

Chief Human 

Resources Officer 

and Executive Vice 

President
9

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

Drew T. Aliperto

Vice President, Area Operations (Western)

Michael J. Amato

Vice President, Engineering Systems

Susan M. Brownell

Vice President, Supply Management

William A. Campbell

Judicial Officer

Brian W. Carnell

A/Vice President, Information Technology

Robert Cintron

Vice President, Enterprise Analytics

Joshua D. Colin

Vice President, Area Operations (Eastern)

Guy J. Cottrell

Chief Postal Inspector

Gregory S. Crabb

A/Vice President, Chief Information Security 

Officer and Digital Solutions

Jo Ann Feindt

Vice President, Area Operations (Southern)

Dean J. Granholm

Vice President, Area Operations (Pacific)

Elizabeth A. Johnson

A/Vice President, Corporate Communications

Jacqueline Krage Strako

Vice President, Area Operations (Great Lakes)

Linda M. Malone

Vice President, Network Operations

Maura A. McNerney

Vice President, Controller

Pritha N. Mehra

Vice President, Mail Entry and Payment 

Technology

Julie S. Moore

Secretary of the Board of Governors

Shaun E. Mossman

Vice President, Finance and Planning

James A. Nemec

Vice President, Consumer and Industry Affairs

Edward F. Phelan, Jr.

Vice President, Delivery Operations

Gary C. Reblin

Vice President, New Products and Innovation

Nancy L. Rettinhouse

A/Vice President, Employee Resource 

Management

Cliff Rucker

Vice President, Sales

Tom A. Samra

Vice President, Facilities

Cynthia Sanchez-Hernandez

Vice President, Pricing

Kristin A. Seaver

Vice President, Area Operations (Capital Metro)

Kelly M. Sigmon

Vice President, Retail and Customer Service 

Operations

Douglas A. Tulino

Vice President, Labor Relations

Richard P. Uluski

Vice President, Area Operations (Northeast)

Giselle E. Valera

Vice President, Global Business

Other Officers*

*

As of September 30, 2015.
United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

A universal 

delivery service 

that connects 

people.

Mission — The Postal Service mission is to provide a reliable, 

efficient, trusted and affordable universal delivery service that 

connects people and helps businesses grow.

Vision — The Postal Service is dedicated to improving its services, 

products and capabilities to adapt to the changing needs of 

customers in the digital age.

10
United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

PART 1

FY2015 Annual Performance Report 

and FY2016 Annual Performance Plan

11

U.S. Postal Service FY2015 Results and 

FY2016 Targets for Corporate-wide Goals

Deliver High-Quality Services

Provide Excellent Customer Experiences

Ensure a Safe Workplace and 

Engaged Workforce

Sustain Controllable Income

Key Financial and Operating Statistics
12

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

Mission and Vision

Our mission of providing a universal delivery 

service to bind the nation together was 

established in the U.S. Constitution. It’s been 

the foundation of Postal Service policy for 

over 200 years and it focuses our vision of the 

future where we must continually adapt to best 

meet the changing needs of the nation and our 

customers.

Mission — The Postal Service mission is to 

provide a reliable, efficient, trusted and affordable 

universal delivery service that connects people 

and helps businesses grow.

Vision — The Postal Service is dedicated to 

improving its services, products and capabilities 

to adapt to the changing needs of customers in 

the digital age.

Report Purpose and Structure

The Postal Service is dedicated to transparency 

and effectively communicating to our numerous 

stakeholders. Key among these stakeholders 

are the commercial and residential customers 

whom we serve, legislators and regulators who 

provide oversight and ensure transparency and 

performance, and employees who deliver worldclass service.

In addition to communicating performance 

to our stakeholders, this report satisfies the 

public reporting requirements contained in Title 

39 U.S.C. § 2401(e), § 2402, § 2803 and § 

2804, along with the Postal Accountability and 

Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006 Section 3652. 

These regulations require the Postal Service 

to provide an Annual Report to Congress, 

an Annual Performance Report, an Annual 

Performance Plan and a Comprehensive 

Statement of Postal Operations. This report 

covers Postal Service performance for the 2015 

fiscal year (October 1, 2014, to September 30, 

2015) and reviews the Postal Service’s plans 

for the 2016 fiscal year (October 1, 2015, to 

September 30, 2016).

The FY2015 Annual Performance Report and 

FY2016 Annual Performance Plan present an 

array of metrics the Postal Service uses to 

measure performance across the organization. 

These metrics provide visibility across the 

following critical functions: delivery service, 

financial performance, workplace environment 

and customer experience.

The FY2015 Comprehensive Statement 

on Postal Operations provides a more 

detailed description of the key organizational 

developments during last fiscal year and the key 

initiatives underway that support the corporate 

goals for the next fiscal year.
13

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

Related Reporting Requirements

The Postal Service is among the most 

transparent organizations in the world. Legislation 

and regulation require the Postal Service to 

disclose operational and financial information 

beyond that demanded of federal government 

agencies and private sector companies.

The Postal Service is not a reporting company 

under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the 

Exchange Act), as amended, and is not subject 

to regulation by the Securities and Exchange 

Commission (SEC). However, it’s required under 

P.L. 109-435 to file with the Postal Regulatory 

Commission (PRC) certain financial reports 

containing information prescribed by the SEC 

under Section 13 of the Exchange Act. These 

reports include annual reports on Form 10-K 

(which are audited by an Independent Registered 

Public Accounting Firm), quarterly reports on 

Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. 

These reports are available at about.www.usps.

com/who-we-are/financials/welcome.htm.

Title 39 of the United States Code and the 

PRC mandate further disclosures of the Postal 

Service, its operations and finances. These 

requirements include Cost and Revenue 

Analysis, Revenue, Pieces and Weight reports 

and financial and strategic plans. These 

disclosures are reviewed by the PRC but are 

outside the scope of our Independent Registered 

Public Accounting Firm. These can be found 

online at www.about.usps.com.

U.S. Postal Service FY2015 Results and 

FY2016 Targets for Corporate-wide Goals

The Postal Service has established a core set 

of enduring goals that provide a guide for all our 

strategic initiatives and continuous improvement 

efforts:  Deliver High-Quality Services  Provide Excellent Customer Experiences  Ensure a Safe Workplace and an Engaged 

Workforce 

 Sustain Controllable Income 

These goals not only serve to guide how we 

measure corporate performance, but form the 

foundation of our employee pay-for-performance 

system.

Service is measured by transit time with 

regard to mail. Customer insights are based 

on a composite set of measurements, which 

taken together, present an improved view of 

customer satisfaction. The new survey metrics 

are both relational- and event-based. Financial 

performance is evaluated using operating 

income and deliveries per hour. Occupational 

Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Illness 

and Injury rates and the Gallup Q12 Employee 

Engagement Survey, known internally as the 

Postal Pulse Survey, are used to assess the 

workplace environment.

With intricate metrics established to track 

performance and report results, leadership is 

able to continuously monitor and identify specific 

opportunities to improve operations and the 

workplace environment. FY2015 performance 

results and targets for FY2016 are provided on 

the next page.
14

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

U.S. Postal Service FY2015 Results and FY2016 Targets for Corporate-wide Goals

Goal Measure FY2016 

Target

FY2015 

Actual

FY2015 

Target

FY2014 

Actual

FY2014 

Target

FY2013 

Actual

FY2013 

Target

FY2012 

Actual

FY2012 

Target

Deliver High-Quality 

Service (% on-time)

Single-Piece First-Class Mail

Overnight1 N/A 95.55 96.80 96.00 96.80 96.14 96.70 96.48 96.65

Two-day 96.50 93.28 96.50 94.90 96.50 95.26 95.10 94.84 94.15

Three-to-Five-day 95.25 76.56 95.25 87.70 95.25 91.60 95.00 92.29 92.85

Presort First-Class Mail

Overnight 96.80 95.74 96.80 97.00 96.80 97.20 96.70 96.80 N/A

Two-day 96.50 93.56 96.50 96.40 96.50 97.00 95.10 95.70 N/A

Three-to-Five-day 95.25 87.78 95.25 92.20 95.25 95.10 95.00 95.10 N/A

First-Class composite2 96.00 89.64 96.00 94.11 96.00 N/A N/A N/A N/A

Standard composite3 91.00 89.58 91.00 90.09 91.00 N/A N/A N/A N/A

Provide Excellent 

Customer 

Experiences (%)4

CEM composite (2011–2013) N/A N/A N/A CEM 

Sunset

CEM 

Sunset

78.40 82.50 79.00 82.00

Residential (2011–2013) N/A N/A N/A CEM 

Sunset

CEM 

Sunset

82.00 85.00 82.50 85.00

Small/medium business 

(2011–2013)

N/A N/A N/A CEM 

Sunset

CEM 

Sunset

76.40 81.00 77.17 81.00

Customer Insights5 86.70 85.73 86.70 Baseline Baseline N/A N/A N/A N/A

Business Service Network (BSN) N/A 94.32 N/A Baseline Baseline N/A N/A N/A N/A

Point of Sale (POS) N/A 86.28 N/A Baseline Baseline N/A N/A N/A N/A

Delivery N/A 77.49 N/A Baseline Baseline N/A N/A N/A N/A

Customer Care Center N/A 76.00 N/A Baseline Baseline N/A N/A N/A N/A

Ensure a Safe 

Workplace and 

Engaged Workforce

OSHA illness and injury rate6 6.05 6.55 5.10 6.68 5.10 5.63 5.20 5.44 5.72

Voice of the Employee Survey (%) N/A N/A 65.10 65.01 65.10 64.70 64.95 64.70 64.90

Sustain Controllable 

Income7

Deliveries per Hour (calculated rate) 42.00 41.50 42.40 42.00 42.90 41.60 42.70 41.00 42.20

Net Controllable Income (Loss) 

($ in billions)

0.10 1.19 1.10 1.35 1.10 (1.00) (2.00) (2.40) (3.00)

1

In FY2016 the service performance target for Overnight Single-Piece First Class Mail was removed due to the service standard changes of 2015. 2

For FY2015 the service performance target will be a combination of Single-Piece First-Class and Commercial First-Class performance for an aggregate of overnight, Twoday and Three-day service.

3

For FY2015 there is a service performance target that is a combination of Standard Mail destination entry for Sectional Center Facility (SCF) letters and National Distribution 

Center (NDC) letters and flats.

4

In FY2013 the Customer Experience Measurement (CEM) was replaced with a refined Customer Insights (CI) measurement system as the key measure of customer experience for our National Performance Assessment (NPA) system and our employee Pay for Performance System (PES). Last year served as the baseline measure for this new 

metric and compensable targets were established for FY2015.

5

Customer Insights is a corporately approved and compensated composite performance measure. Targets for the four subcomponent categories of Customer Insights (BSN, 

POS, Delivery, and Customer Care Centers) are set and compensated at unit level.

6

Injury and illness rate is calculated using an industry-wide formula recommended by OSHA: Total number of OSHA injuries and illnesses (multiplied by 200,000 hours 

divided by the number of exposure hours worked by all employees). The 200,000 hours represent 100 employees working 2,000 hours per year. It provides the standard 

base for calculating incidence rates.

7

FY2014 targets adjusted to reflect deferral of Network Rationalization, Phase 2.
15

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

Deliver High-Quality Services 

The Postal Service measures service performance 

in terms of speed and reliability as part of our 

commitment to deliver high quality service to 

customers. Of particular focus are First-Class 

Mail Overnight, Two-day and Three-to-Five-day 

services, which are among the most widely used 

mail categories. Individual consumers, small 

businesses and larger commercial firms all rely on 

First-Class Mail, which comprises nearly all parts 

of the Postal Service’s operations and supply 

chain, from collection boxes and retail counters 

to final delivery. In FY2015, the Postal Service 

continued to measure service performance 

through a combination of both Single-Piece FirstClass and Commercial First-Class performance 

for an aggregate of Overnight, Two-day and 

Three-to-Five-day services. Single-Piece FirstClass Mail International provides a measure of the 

domestic leg of travel for Single-Piece International 

mail. 

The Postal Service has contracted an 

independent third-party entity since 1990 to 

objectively measure performance for Single-Piece 

First-Class Mail via the External First-Class Mail 

(EXFC) system. This external sampling system 

measures the time it takes from when mail is 

deposited in a collection box or lobby chute 

to when it’s delivered at a home or business. 

Performance is measured in 892 ZIP Codes for 

Single-Piece First-Class Mail cards, letters and flat 

envelopes. Service performance for Single-Piece 

First-Class Mail parcels, which is measured using 

an internal Postal Service system, is combined 

with EXFC performance to generate overall SinglePiece First-Class Mail results.

Similarly, Presort First-Class Mail in FY2015 

was measured through a hybrid measurement 

approach that combined Full-Service Intelligent 

Mail data from commercial mailers and relied on 

data collection by an external entity. This process 

measured the time from mail acceptance to 

final processing, which involved the collection 

of data on transit time from final processing 

to mail processing equipment and through to 

delivery. The processing and delivery data were 

aggregated, combined and reviewed by the 

external entity to measure overall commercial mail 

performance.

FY2015 Performance Report — For FY2015, 

the Postal Service did not achieve its targets 

for First-Class Mail. Service performance 

achievement for Overnight mail in both SinglePiece and Commercial categories remains strong 

with minimal slippage compared to FY2014 

performance. The ongoing growth in package 

mail has resulted in continual balancing between 

air and surface networks, impacting Two-day 

and Three-to-Five-day categories. Weather 

incidents continue to affect performance and 

comparison to previous years. During FY2015, 

the Postal Service implemented major changes to 

create efficiencies in processing that resulted in 

complement shifts and initially impacted our ability 

to achieve the targets. We deferred any additional 

processing network changes to provide a period 

for stabilization of our workforce and service 

performance. Since then, we’ve shown continual 

improvements in overall service performance. 

FY2016 Performance Plan — We believe that the 

eventual completion of the second phase of the 

network consolidation project in FY2016, coupled 

with our current efforts to re-balance our air and 

surface networks, will improve overall service 

performance and allow the Postal Service to meet 

its targets. The Postal Service will also continue 

our evolution of Lean activities in processing and 

delivery along with customer-focused operations 

to provide an efficient and consistent experience. 

We will continue to drive service performance and 

increase product value for all customer segments 

of our country.
16

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

Provide Excellent Customer Experiences

The Postal Service is dedicated to delivering 

excellent customer experiences. The Customer 

Insights (CI) measurement system provides a 

comprehensive view of the customer experience 

across the most frequently used customer 

contact channels. Touch points of customer 

contact are:  Business Service Network (BSN) — The BSN 

survey is event based and measures the 

customer’s level of satisfaction with their BSN 

account representative. 

 Point of Sale (POS) — The POS survey is 

event based and measures the customer’s 

experience at retail locations. 

 Delivery — The delivery (receiving) survey is 

a hybrid relational/event-based measurement 

of the level of satisfaction with how residential 

and small/medium business customers 

receive their mail.

 Customer Care Center (CCC) — This live 

agent survey is event based and measures 

the customer’s satisfaction with dealing with a 

CCC agent.

Customer experience is measured across four 

touch points, then weighted and aggregated 

to create a national composite CI score. The 

modular components and flexible design of the 

national composite CI score allow expansion and 

inclusion of additional points of contact to meet 

the quickly changing customer landscape. To 

support the USPS mission of delivering excellent 

customer service, the CI composite score is a 

component of the USPS National Performance 

Assessment (NPA) system which links the CI 

performance score and the employee Pay for 

Performance system. This emphasizes that each 

and every employee is responsible for ensuring 

our customers receive exceptional service. 

FY2015 Performance Report — Customer 

Insights ended the fiscal year achieving a 

composite score of 85.73 percent compared 

to its target of 86.70 percent. Even though this 

narrowly missed the target by about 1 percent, 

the Postal Service can point to substantial 

improvements in the response rates of various 

CI components. The response rate for the 

retail POS survey, for example, increased 

significantly — approximately 500 percent. To 

achieve this, we provided additional training 

for our retail employees in key markets and 

asked customers for their feedback by circling 

the Web address on their receipts. We also 

rolled out training that focused on improving 

key elements of our retail customers’ visits. By 

using QR codes and interactive voice response 

systems, and fostering an environment of 

effortless accessibility for our customers, we’ve 

been able to make notable strides in capturing 

additional customer insights. Expanding the ways 

customers could respond to both the POS and 

Delivery surveys has increased opportunities for 

customers to share their experiences. (See table 

on next page.)
17

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

FY2016 Performance Plan — In the next 

fiscal year, the Consumer and Industry Affairs 

department will build on its cross-functional 

collaboration with stakeholders from all customer 

contact channels to improve customer focus 

and drive performance. The CI program will 

continue to be used to measure performance 

and drive improvements at our customer 

touch points. Our CCCs are well-positioned to 

improve FY2016 performance by addressing 

the three key drivers of customer satisfaction — 

accessibility, knowledge and professionalism. 

The call centers will make even better use of our 

agent quality program, enhanced agent refresher 

training, technological advances in integrated 

voice recognition software and immediate agent 

coaching. Also, a revamped delivery survey 

will provide more visibility into the customer’s 

experience with mail delivery so we can better 

address possible carrier-related issues and 

identify areas for improvement.

Additionally, we’ll continue to develop videos, 

publications, service talks and training for 

employees to provide education and highlight 

elements of our customers’ visits that matter 

most to them. We’ll continue to work to improve 

response rates to our surveys. 

Ensure a Safe Workplace and Engaged 

Workforce 

Keeping employees safe is a priority of the 

Postal Service. USPS tracks two metrics as an 

indication of our performance in ensuring a safe 

workplace and an engaged workforce. The first 

metric is OSHA’s Illness and Injury (I&I) rate and 

the second is the Postal Pulse Survey.

OSHA Illness and Injury Rate

FY2015 Performance Report — OSHA 

requirements are designed to protect Postal 

Service and contract employees from safety 

and health hazards in the workplace. All private 

and public sector employers are subject to 

OSHA regulations; however, the Postal Service 

is the only federal agency that can be assessed 

penalties and fines for noncompliance. The 

USPS measures performance on two levels.  

The first is by establishing a target injury and 

illness frequency rate and the second is by 

establishing performance improvements over the 

prior year.  In FY2015, the OSHA I&I frequency 

rate for the Postal Service as reported to NPA 

was 6.55 — nearly a 2 percent decrease over 

the revised actual rate reported for FY2014. The 

FY2014 performance reported as of September 

30, 2014, was 6.34 which was later restated 

to 6.68 due to employee claims filed after the 

Goal Measure FY2015 

Actual (%)

FY2015 

Target (%)

FY2015 Total 

Surveys Initiated 

(actual numbers, 

unaudited)

FY2015 

Total 

Surveys 

Returned 

(actual 

numbers, 

unaudited)

FY2014 Total 

Surveys 

Returned 

(actual 

numbers, 

unaudited)

Provide Excellent 

Customer Experiences

Customer Insights 85.73 86.70 N/A N/A N/A

 Business Service Network (BSN) 94.32 N/A 21,933 4,343 1,904

 Point of Sale (POS) 86.28 N/A 1,154,499,008* 870,501 173,290

 Delivery (Combined) 77.49 N/A 5,715,453 78,635 Baseline

 Delivery (Residential) 80.32 N/A 2,148,428 38,034 Baseline

 Delivery (Small/Medium Businesses) 74.65 N/A 3,567,025 40,601 Baseline

 Customer Care Center (CCC) 76.00 N/A 1,280,652 111,227 11,362

Note: Customer Insights is a corporately approved and compensated composite performance measure.Targets for the four subcomponent categories of Customer Insights (BSN, POS, Delivery and Customer Care Centers) are set and compensated at unit level.

*Represents total POS financial transactions.
18

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

close of the fiscal year. Although we did not meet 

our NPA target in FY2015, the Postal Service 

continues to reduce accidents and improve 

performance. The failure to meet the actual target 

rate reflects major changes to the business and 

a significant increase in new employees who are 

more at risk for injury.

The decrease in the OSHA I&I rate year over year 

is due primarily to comprehensive training and 

communication effort aimed at all employees with 

a focus on new, at-risk employees. In FY2015, 

our communication and training campaigns 

addressed the most frequent hazards of the 

workplace, such as dog bites, extreme heat, 

distracted driving and proper lifting and reaching. 

In addition, we developed an ergonomic strategic 

plan that outlines goals, objectives and key 

initiatives for developing and using quantitative 

tools to measure exposure to musculoskeletal 

disorder risk factors and ways to change job 

conditions to reduce the level of exposure — 

before an injury occurs.

A newly released safety statistical dashboard 

also provides targeted data to our field leadership 

that enables them to quickly identify the top 

causes of accidents at a facility level. This data 

provides direction for creating a tailored safety 

program.

FY2016 Performance Plan — In FY2016, the 

Postal Service will add an additional focus on 

prevention strategies and a more proactive 

approach to employee safety. This focus will be 

on all accidents, regardless of severity or OSHA 

record-keeping requirements, and will place 

additional emphasis on employees considered 

to be at higher risk for accidents. These atrisk employees are those who are new to the 

organization and less experienced with safe 

work practices, as well as experienced workers 

who are facing new challenges. Our safety 

initiatives for the next year will assist the field in 

establishing effective accident reduction plans, 

enlisting the cooperation and support of our 

employee partners and taking steps to address 

the increase in motor vehicle accidents. We also 

will implement programs to acknowledge leaders 

who demonstrate exceptional commitment to 

creating a safe work environment.

Postal Pulse Survey 

FY2015 Performance Report — Improving 

employee engagement is a top priority for our 

organization. Creating a dynamic, highly engaged 

workplace where employees work with passion, 

perform at consistently high levels and drive 

innovation benefits both our employees and our 

organization.

One way we measure our progress towards 

increasing employee engagement levels is by 

administering an employee survey. In FY2015, 

we replaced our longtime Voice of the Employee 

(VOE) survey with the Gallup Q12 Employee 

Engagement Survey, which was introduced to 

employees as the Postal Pulse. This twice-a-year 

survey is far superior to the VOE survey as an 

instrument for measuring employee engagement. 

It’s shorter, simpler to complete and includes 

actionable items. Moreover, the survey 

questions are research based and have proven 

to be statistically valid and reliable over time 

for measuring employee engagement and its 

relationship to key business indicators like overall 

employee well-being, profitability, customer 

service, accident reduction and employee 

retention.

In FY2015, we focused on the following 

objectives:  Establish executive level oversight of the 

USPS national employee engagement 

strategy;

 Establish a performance baseline by 

administering a census survey;

 Train USPS leadership at all levels of the 

organization — starting with the ELT — on 

the principles of employee engagement and 

leadership’s role in creating an environment 
19

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

that fosters high levels of engagement; 

 Provide officers, executives, managers and 

supervisors training and access to a robust 

reporting platform for assessing and acting on 

survey results; and 

 Establish a group of engagement leaders 

and champions to coach other leaders in 

workplace practices and behaviors that 

promote engagement and foster collaboration 

and teamwork deep within the organization.

FY2015 results:  Appointed an executive director of employee 

engagement who reports directly to the Chief 

Human Resources Officer, a member of the 

ELT.

 Delivered a census survey to 595,000 career 

and non-career employees. Forty-seven 

percent of employees completed and returned 

the survey. The grand mean engagement 

score result was 3.16 on a scale of 1 to 5. 

These results equate closely to the overall 

response rate and favorability ratings of our 

FY2014 end-of-year VOE survey results.

 Provided managers with access to an 

online application that enables them to view, 

understand and communicate their employee 

engagement results. The application also 

provides a wide range of tools to help them 

collaborate with their teams on developing 

solutions for improving the work environment.

 Trained over 400 engagement leaders and 

champions at every level of the organization on 

the principles of employee engagement.

FY2016 Performance Plan — Looking ahead, 

the Postal Service will provide more targeted 

training to executives, managers and supervisors 

to equip them to take concrete actions to create 

and sustain more engaged work environments. 

Leadership training and development programs 

will include content about employee engagement. 

We’ll implement communication and change 

management initiatives to help increase 

employees’ overall understanding of the purpose 

of employee engagement and the benefits to 

them and the organization. In our ongoing efforts 

to increase employee participation in the Postal 

Pulse Survey, the Postal Service will reach out to 

employees for their input on how to make it easier 

to take the survey.

While we recognize achieving a culture of high 

employee engagement will be challenging and 

require time, we are committed to making it 

happen. A highly engaged workforce is in the 

best interest of our employees, our business and 

our customers.

Sustain Controllable Income

The Postal Service tracks two metrics as an 

indication of our financial performance. The 

first metric is Deliveries per Hour (DPH) which 

summarizes the effectiveness of productivity 

improvement efforts. The indicator is relevant, 

especially as the organization manages a 

declining volume workload with a constantly 

increasing universal delivery network. The second 

metric is the Postal Service “Net Controllable 

Income (Loss).”

Deliveries per Hour

FY2015 Performance Report — In FY2015, the 

target for DPH was 42.4. The actual result was 

41.5 — a difference of 0.9. We didn’t achieve 

the target due to an overrun of the work hour 

plan. Factors included additional workload from 

volumes and delivery points in excess of the 

plan; strong growth in Sunday package delivery; 

delay in plant consolidations; not capturing all of 

Network Rationalization phase 2 savings; utilization 

of additional work hours to improve service; 

additional hours from hiring, training, learning 

curve and turnover rate of non-career workforce; 

and an arbitration award affecting Level 18 

Postmaster work rules. This non-career workforce 

is instrumental in providing flexibility while reducing 

salary and benefit costs for the organization based
20

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

on lower wage rates. However, the additional 

hours have a negative impact on the DPH metric.

FY2016 Performance Plan — Achievement of 

the FY2016 DPH target is based on capturing 

work hour reductions from decreased volume 

(offset by the projected growth in packages) 

along with capturing the savings from operational 

initiatives.

Net Controllable Income

FY2015 Performance Report — FY2015 had 

total revenue of $68.9 billion and total expenses 

of $74.0 billion, resulting in a net loss of $5.1 

billion.

Our operating results are impacted by items 

that are not under our control and that are not 

reflective of our normal operations. These items 

include the annual legally mandated Postal 

Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund (PSRHBF) 

prefunding expense, the non-cash expenses 

related to changes in the liability for participation 

in the federal workers’ compensation program, 

which include fluctuations in workers’ 

compensation expense due to changes in 

discount (interest) rates and the amortization 

of the unfunded liability for our portion of the 

Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). 

This amortization expense is calculated by the 

Office of Personnel Management (OPM) based 

on government-wide demographics and pay 

assumptions and is not reflective of what we 

believe our FERS liability would be if it were 

calculated using postal-specific demographics 

and pay assumptions. Because these items are 

not under management control, we believe that 

analyzing operating results without the impact 

of certain of these charges provides a more 

meaningful insight into current operations.

Thus, when the impact of the required 

prefunding payments, FERS amortization and 

non-cash expenses for workers’ compensation 

are excluded, the income from ongoing business 

activities or “controllable income” was $1.2 

billion. (See Financial Performance Results table 

on page 23.) 

The FY2015 controllable income target was 

revised from $0.5 billion to $1.1 billion to reflect 

additional savings from changes in the employee 

mix that were not reflected in the original plan.

For the third year in a row, revenue increased 

compared to the prior year, largely as a result of 

the PRC-approved Consumer Price Index (CPI) 

price change implemented in May 2015 and 

temporary exigent surcharge on market dominant 

products that was implemented beginning in 

January 2014 and was in effect for the entire 12 

months of FY2015. Mail volume continued to 

decrease in FY2015, most notably by First-Class 

Mail, which decreased by 1,420 million pieces.

Revenue in shipping and packages increased 

by 11.4 percent over the same period last year 

while Standard Mail revenue increased by 1.3 

percent. Overall, volume declined by 1,382 

million pieces.
21

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

Total expenses of $74.0 billion in FY2015 

increased 0.9 percent, from $73.4 billion in 

FY2014. The net $0.9 billion reduction in our 

non-cash workers’ compensation expense, 

mainly the result of changes in assumptions 

and actuarial valuation and revaluation of new 

and existing workers compensation cases, was 

more than offset by an increase for the year in 

compensation and benefits expense of $1.5 

billion, attributable to contractually obligated 

salary escalations, higher FERS contribution 

rates mandated by OPM and an increase in labor 

hours, primarily resulting from higher shipping 

and packages volume.

In January 2015, we revised our service 

standards for First-Class Mail and began a 

second phase of mail processing realignments, 

which resulted in consolidation activities affecting 

36 mail processing facilities, of which 21 were 

partially consolidated and 15 were completely 

consolidated during the year. In order to further 

assess operational considerations and to ensure 

that we continue to provide prompt, reliable and 

predictable service consistent with our published 

service standards, we’ve deferred further 

consolidations until 2016. We anticipate that the 

remainder of the consolidations associated with 

this phase of our realignment plan may impact 

the 21 partially consolidated facilities plus an 

additional 44 processing facilities that have been 

unaffected so far. We will not fully realize the 

projected cost savings of this consolidation effort 

until we are able to fully implement it as planned.

The Postal Service increased the number of 

career employees by approximately 4,000 in 

FY2015, compared to the year before.

The Postal Service still had only about 24 days 

of operating cash entering FY2016 despite the 

financial and operational efforts described above.

For a full description of the financial results of the 

U.S. Postal Service, see USPS 2015 Form 10-K 

located at http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/

financials/welcome.htm.
22

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

FY2016 Performance Plan — The Postal Service 

expects to be required to roll-back the exigent 

price increase on Market-Dominant products 

that was implemented in January 2014. The 

exigent surcharge generated $2.1 billion in 

additional revenue in FY2015 and is expected to 

generate another $1.1 billion by April FY2016, 

absent a successful appeal of one aspect of 

the PRC’s July 2015 decision. The roll-back of 

the exigent price increase is the primary reason 

that controllable income is expected to decrease 

from $1.2 billion in FY2015 to $0.1 billion in 

FY2016. The Postal Service projects revenue 

growth of $0.4 billion, or 0.6 percent, compared 

to FY2015 despite the loss of $1.0 billion in 

revenue from the exigent roll-back.

Controllable operating expenses are expected to 

increase $1.5 billion in FY2016 from inflationary 

and other cost increases, both in personnel and 

non-personnel costs. Personnel cost increases 

are largely driven by scheduled general wage 

increases for two of our major unions, an 

increase in FERS contribution percentages 

mandated by OPM, and higher health benefits 

costs. Higher non-personnel costs are 

forecasted due to investments in information 

systems and support for package growth 

initiatives.

Despite the loss of exigent revenue, the Postal 

Service projects a net revenue growth of $0.4 

billion in FY2016 due to continued growth in 

shipping and packages volume, partially offset 

by continued decreases in First-Class and 

Standard Mail. Shipping and Packages revenue 

is forecasted to increase $1.8 billion through 

an expected volume increase of 5.7 percent as 

economic and e-commerce growth is extended 

through marketing initiatives.
23

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

Key Financial and 

Operating Statistics

Financial Performance Results

(in millions)

Controllable income (loss) (unaudited) FY2015 FY2014 FY2013

Net loss $ (5,060) $ (5,508) $ (4,977)

Impact of:

PSRHBF prefunding expense 5,700 5,700 5,600

Discount rate changes related to workers' compensation liability 809 485 (1,745)

Other non-cash workers’ compensation expense1, 3 (502) 673 1,455

Actuarial revaluation of retirement liability 241 7 —

Change in accounting estimate2 — — (1,316)

Controllable income (loss) $ 1,188 $ 1,357 $ (983)

1

In FY2015, we revised the calculation used in our workers’ compensation valuation model to determine the actuarial revaluation of existing cases.

2

The FY2013 change in accounting estimate resulting from new data analytics which revised the estimated liability associated with deferred revenue-prepaid 

postage for Forever stamps.

3

Includes changes in assumptions and valuation of new claims and revaluation of existing claims less current year claim payments.

Financial History Summary

(in millions)

FY2015 FY2014 FY2013

Operating results

 Total revenue $ 68,928 $ 67,830 $ 67,318 

 Operating expenses

 Compensation and benefits 47,519 46,000 46,708

 Retiree health benefits 8,811 8,685 8,450

 Workers’ compensation 1,760 2,554 1,061

 All other operating expenses 15,736 15,939 15,909

Loss from operations (4,898) (5,348) (4,810)

 Interest, net (162) (160) (167)

Net loss $ (5,060) $ (5,508) $ (4,977)

Financial position

Cash and cash equivalents $ 6,634 $ 4,906 $ 2,326

Property and equipment, net 15,686 16,338 17,512

All other assets 1,694 1,718 1,803

Total assets $ 24,014 $ 22,962 $ 21,641

Accrued retiree health benefits $ 28,100 $ 22,417 $ 16,766

Workers' compensation liability 18,811 18,422 17,240

Debt 15,000 15,000 15,000

All other liabilities 12,494 12,454 12,458

Total liabilities 74,405 68,293 61,464

Total net deficiency $ (50,391) $ (45,331) $ (39,823)
24

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

Revenue, Pieces and Weight Statistics

(in millions of units indicated, unaudited)

FY2015 FY2014 FY2013

First-Class Mail1

 Revenue $ 28,312 $ 28,409 $ 28,110

 Number of pieces 62,419 63,839 65,754

 Weight, pounds 3,158 3,164 3,194

Standard Mail2

 Revenue $ 17,646 $ 17,426 $ 16,915

 Number of pieces 80,030 80,308 80,806

 Weight, pounds 7,975 8,100 8,298

Shipping and Packages services3

 Revenue $ 15,085 $ 13,543 $ 12,597

 Number of pieces 4,530 3,969 3,715

 Weight, pounds 7,771 6,485 5,956

International Mail

 Revenue $ 2,762 $ 2,923 $ 3,016

 Number of pieces 940 893 902

 Weight, pounds 459 443 455

Periodicals

 Revenue $ 1,589 $ 1,625 $ 1,658

 Number of pieces 5,838 6,045 6,359

 Weight, pounds 2,168 2,275 2,422

U.S. Postal Service4

 Number of pieces 355 439 631

 Weight, pounds 113 110 150

Free matter for the blind4

 Number of pieces 45 46 55

 Weight, pounds 18 21 23

Other services revenue3 $ 3,396 $ 3,838 $ 3,583

Deferred Revenue – Prepaid Postage5 — — $ 1,316

Postal Service totals

Operating revenue $ 68,790 $ 67,764 $ 67,195

Number of pieces 154,157 155,539 158,222

Weight, pounds 21,662 20,598 20,498

Note: The totals for certain mail categories for prior years have been reclassified to conform with classifications used in the current year. Non-operating revenue is 

no longer included in this schedule.

1

Excludes First-Class Mail Parcels.

2

Excludes Standard Mail Parcels.

3

See Shipping and Packages Services and Other Services Statistics table on page 25.

4

Includes the U.S. Postal Service’s mail and free mail provided to certain groups.

5

The FY2013 change in accounting estimate resulting from new data analytics which revised the estimated liability associated with deferred revenue-prepaid 

postage for Forever stamps.
25

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

Shipping and Packages Services and Other Services Statistics

(in millions of units indicated, unaudited)

FY2015 FY2014 FY2013

Priority Mail Express

 Revenue $ 779 $ 760 $ 794

 Number of pieces 36 36 39

 Weight, pounds 38 37 38

First-Class Packages1

 Revenue $ 2,233 $ 2,002 $ 1,771

 Number of pieces 908 847 792

 Weight, pounds 311 283 263

Priority Mail2

 Revenue $ 7,751 $ 7,233 $ 7,020

 Number of pieces 1,025 934 924

 Weight, pounds 2,415 2,160 2,146

Parcel Select Mail

 Revenue $ 3,364 $ 2,597 $ 2,079

 Number of pieces 1,937 1,549 1,367

 Weight, pounds 3,601 2,623 2,120

Parcel Return Service Mail

 Revenue $ 152 $ 139 $ 123

 Number of pieces 60 56 51

 Weight, pounds 171 171 153

Package Services

 Revenue $ 806 $ 812 $ 810

 Number of pieces 564 547 542

 Weight, pounds 1,235 1,210 1,236

Total shipping and packages services

 Revenue $ 15,085 $ 13,543 $ 12,597

 Number of pieces 4,530 3,969 3,715

 Weight, pounds 7,771 6,484 5,956

Other services

 Certified Mail

 Revenue $ 659 $ 672 $ 715

 Number of articles 197 208 234

 Return Receipts

 Revenue $ 369 $ 362 $ 356

 Number of articles 156 154 157

 USPS Tracking

 Revenue $ 41 $ 84 $ 68

 Number of articles 3,550 2,931 2,352

 PO Box Services revenue $ 923 $ 901 $ 889

 Money Orders

 Revenue $ 159 $ 164 $ 155

 Number of articles 93 97 103

 Insurance

 Revenue $ 89 $ 92 $ 108

 Number of articles 23 20 28

 Shipping and mailing supplies

 Revenue $ 112 $ 119 $ 123

 Number of articles 56 60 63

 Other services revenue $ 1,044 $ 1,444 $ 1,169

Total other services revenue $ 3,396 $ 3,838 $ 3,583

Note: The totals for certain mail categories for the prior year have been reclassified to conform with classifications used in the current year. These reclassifications did not impact total Shipping and Packages revenue for prior years.

1

Includes First-Class Mail Parcels and First-Class Package Services.

2

Includes Standard Post which is a retail-only product classified as Market-Dominant. Standard Post is priced identically to Priority Mail for Zones 1–4 and is 

functionally equivalent to Priority for those Zones.
26

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

Post Office and Delivery Points

(in actual units indicated, unaudited)

FY2015 FY2014 FY2013

Post Offices, stations and branches

Postal-managed

 Post Offices 26,615 26,669 26,670

 Classified stations, branches and carrier annexes 4,991 4,993 5,032

Total Postal-managed 31,606 31,662 31,702

 Contract Postal Units 2,504 2,660 2,718

 Village Post Offices 874 767 385

 Community Post Offices 536 560 629

Total offices, stations and branches 35,520 35,649 35,434

Residential delivery points

 City delivery 82,020,625 81,650,586 81,297,883

 Rural 41,378,300 40,750,668 40,111,620

 PO Box 15,894,358 15,858,668 15,882,717

 Highway contract 2,827,085 2,774,213 2,736,005

Total residential delivery 142,120,368 141,034,135 140,028,225

Business delivery points

 City delivery 7,633,285 7,592,773 7,554,231

 Rural 1,584,916 1,554,422 1,524,741

 PO Box 3,535,563 3,634,467 3,738,314

 Highway contract 77,696 76,179 74,922

Total business delivery 12,831,460 12,857,841 12,892,208

Total delivery points 154,951,828 153,891,976 152,920,433

 Change in delivery points 1,059,852 971,543 773,882
27

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

USPS Employees

(actual numbers, unaudited)

FY2015 FY2014 FY2013

Headquarters and HQ related employees

 Headquarters 2,916 2,934 2,967

 Headquarters — field support units 3,710 3,618 3,870

 Inspection service — field 2,379 2,376 2,411

 Inspector general 1,142 1,132 1,135

Total HQ and HQ related employees 10,147 10,060 10,383

 Field employees

 Area offices 851 818 807

 Postmasters/installation heads 14,506 16,538 17,804

 Supervisors/managers 23,754 23,035 22,940

 Professional administration and technical personnel 4,468 4,353 4,375

 Clerks/nurses 125,609 118,925 118,751

 Mail handlers 38,046 38,910 40,102

 City delivery carriers 164,378 164,626 167,388

 Motor vehicle operators 6,658 6,603 6,598

 Rural delivery carriers — full-time 67,044 66,373 66,099

 Building and equipment maintenance personnel 31,136 32,807 30,737

 Vehicle maintenance employees 5,266 5,252 5,033

Total field employees 481,716 478,240 480,634

Total career employees 491,863 488,300 491,017

Noncareer employees

 Casuals 1,727 1,658 1,779

 Postal support employees 29,312 24,781 28,793

 Nonbargaining temporary 367 276 249

 Rural part-time: subs/RCA/RCR/AUX 50,640 48,099 46,607

 Postmaster relief and leave replacements 4,839 13,207 13,454

 City carrier assistant (CCA) 37,767 36,081 30,433

 Mail handler assistant (MHA) 5,322 5,475 5,382

Total noncareer employees 129,974 129,577 126,697

Total employees 621,837 617,877 617,714
United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

First and 

foremost, our 

focus is on 

serving our 

customers. 

We’re part of the daily lives of every American — every 

village, city and metropolis, whether residential, business, 

nonprofit or government customer. We help people better 

connect, communicate and conduct commerce in the 

digital economy. It’s simply what we do.

28
United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

PART 2

FY2015 Comprehensive Statement 

on Postal Operations

Focusing on the Customer 

Engaging and Empowering Employees 

to Better Serve Customers

Investing in Future Platforms

Accelerating the Pace of Innovation

Connecting Communities 

Maintaining Focus and 

Accelerating Growth

29
United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

30

Focusing on

the Customer

First and foremost, our focus is on serving our 

customers. Americans depend on the Postal 

Service to deliver reliable, dependable and 

economical shipping and mailing solutions that 

meet their evolving needs. And we deliver on 

that expectation in many new and exciting ways. 

As an organization, we’re also the face of public 

service in every community across the nation. 

We’re part of the daily lives of every American 

— every village, city and metropolis, whether 

residential, business, nonprofit or government 

customer. We help people better connect, 

communicate and conduct commerce in the 

digital economy. It’s simply what we do.

Improving Customer Experience

Product Visibility — The Postal Service is 

committed to providing customers with more 

information about their mail and packages, 

from the moment we receive it to the time we 

deliver it to homes and businesses. We’re 

focused on using technology to provide real-time 

visibility for our products as they move through 

the postal system. One of the technologies 

we’re investing in is Informed Visibility (IV). This 

solution will provide comprehensive, real-time, 

data-driven service performance measurement 

and diagnostics, mail inventory and predictive 

workloads, and end-to-end tracking and 

reporting for all mail. For the Postal Service, 

it means access to valuable business and 

operational intelligence to help make us more 

efficient in what we do. IV also will help reduce 

our operational costs and lay the foundation for 

enterprise analytics.

For our customers, IV will help the Postal Service 

provide consistent, reliable and predictable 

service. In addition, IV will add new value to mail, 

providing customers with long-needed, real-time 

mail visibility, tracking and performance metrics 

necessary to help them plan their mailings, 

measure success of each mailing campaign and 

efficiently staff their operations.

In a step toward making the IV solution a reality, 

the Postal Service in FY2015 implemented 

internal service performance measurement 

sampling through our new Mobile Delivery 

Devices (MDDs). Carriers use MDDs to scan live 

mailpieces at selected collection and delivery 

points. This data provides valuable insight into 

the first and last mile for postal operations. It also 

helps us reduce reliance on external support for 

service performance measurement — we can 

do that ourselves.

Informed Delivery — In today’s world, people 

want information sooner rather than later — and 

want to be able to get it wherever they are. They 

expect to manage their lives away from home 

and on their smartphones. Why not manage 

their mail the same way? The Postal Service 

is testing a service called Informed Delivery. It 

provides mobile users with an email — complete 

with a scanned image of the front of each of 

their hardcopy mailpieces — as an advance 

notice of the mail they’ll be receiving at home 

later that day. In FY2015, the service expanded 

to about 9,000 users in Northern Virginia, with 

more signing up every day. The insights and 

data gathered demonstrate a strong value for 

this digital service. As the test expands into the 

New York City metro area, new features will be 

implemented, including the ability to access 

interactive content associated with mail images.

Usps.com and the Postal Store — Our 

customers enthusiastically embrace the ease 

and convenience of online shipping and mailing 

through our website, usps.com. Traffic to our site 

continued to grow in FY2015, with an average 

of 3 million daily visits — an increase of more 

than 22 percent compared to the prior year. As 

an e-commerce platform, usps.com generated 

just over $1 billion in revenue with more than 50 

million purchase transactions, which represents 

more than 425 million unique users in the United 

States and worldwide.
United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

31

FY2015 kicked off with the successful launch 

of a streamlined and simplified usps.com that 

reduced the number of static pages from 300 to 

50. Optimization of the site continued throughout 

the year with a focus on improving and aligning 

the customer experience across all digital touch 

points, including mobile, desktop and retail 

kiosks. The goal is providing customers with a 

state-of-the-art e-commerce experience while 

growing revenue, strengthening our brand, 

increasing customer satisfaction and decreasing 

call volume to our Customer Care Centers.

Each month, we conducted user experience 

reviews of many of the over 30 applications 

on usps.com. Many of the recommendations 

resulting from the reviews were implemented. 

We also began developing an application style 

guide to ensure a consistent user experience 

across the site and assist development teams as 

they update and create new applications.

A robust set of analytic tools is now tracking 

user behavior across the entire site and within 

each application. This helps us measure and 

analyze growth as well as provide insights to help 

improve the customer experience. It also makes 

adding and removing specific marketing and 

campaign measurement tools quick and easy. 

A new customer satisfaction survey also was 

introduced on the site in FY2015, and includes 

a separate survey for the mobile experience. 

Customer feedback is available immediately, 

enabling the Postal Service to identify trends and 

any issues that need to be addressed. Also, a 

standardized iconography library was created 

for the site, mobile app and retail kiosks that will 

also be used on signage, printed materials and 

shipping supplies to ensure a consistent brand 

experience.

Search engine optimization is another focal 

point. Through ongoing analysis of customer 

search patterns, content has been optimized 

to shorten customers’ journeys from search to 

completed task. In addition, redesign work is 

underway to make the user experience ”frictionfree” on several applications, including customer 

registration, MyUSPS.com and PO Boxes 

Online.

In FY2015, the Postal Service began migration to 

an upgraded e-commerce platform for usps.com

and the Postal Store. This will improve reliability, 

provide more dynamic content management 

tools and enable us to add more robust features 

and functionality. These upgrades will make it 

easier to:  Rapidly make changes to the website in 

support of emerging markets, campaigns, 

seasonal events and new products.

 Orchestrate seamless cross-channel buying 

experiences to improve customer loyalty.

 Use mobile devices and social media to 

increase access and drive sales.

 Personalize our customers’ online 

experiences. 

 Improve the site’s search capabilities across 

the platform.

Updates and enhancements made to the site 

during FY2015 included:  Launch of technical chat on the Postal Store.  Addition of PayPal as a payment option to the 

Postal Store.

 USPS Tracking application ongoing updates.  Redesign of the Priority Mail map.  Improved ZIP Code Lookup.  Development of tutorial videos for Click-NShip, Every Door Direct Mail and filing a claim.
32

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

MyUSPS.com — MyUSPS.com, which is part 

of usps.com, is an online dashboard that gives 

customers instant visibility to all packages 

addressed to their residence without entering 

tracking numbers. Launched in fall 2014, 

MyUSPS.com has 5.3 million registered users. 

Customers can select how they receive updates 

(texts or email), direct where a package should 

be left (back door, at the neighbor’s house), 

and reschedule delivery of a missed package 

on a more convenient day. Enhancements 

to MyUSPS.com enable us to aggregate 

information about a household’s mail and 

shipments, communicate delivery status and 

provide functionality to control delivery through 

options like USPS Package Intercept.

USPS Mobile — Mobile solutions are essential 

to providing information and real-time data for 

Postal Service customers. The Postal Service’s 

mobile website provides on-the-go access to 

tracking information, Post Office locations, ZIP 

Code information and more. It gets over 200,000 

visits each day — and this number is growing. 

To meet the demands of an increasingly mobileconnected nation, the Postal Service in FY2015 

enhanced the mobile website to streamline 

navigation and update its design to provide a 

seamless experience for our customers.

Improving the Retail Experience

A visit to the Post Office has been a shared 

experience by Americans for nearly 240 years. 

Ensuring that visit is effective, efficient and meets 

customer expectations requires a focused 

commitment and ongoing effort by the Postal 

Service.

Customer Satisfaction — Retail performance is 

measured by the Retail Customer Experience 

(RCE) program, as well as by surveys of residential 

and small and medium business customers. The 

RCE program uses private “mystery shoppers” to 

conduct mailing transactions at over 8,000 of our 

large retail outlets. Data from these transactions 

are analyzed and evaluated, and feedback 

is provided to help improve the customer 

experience. Other customer experience ratings, 

including overall satisfaction with Post Office visits, 

are collected quarterly through national surveys of 

residential and small business customers. 

One key measure of a customer’s retail 

experience is the time spent waiting in line. The 

service standard for this attribute is “Five Minutes 

or Less.” For FY2015, the national wait time in line 

average was 2 minutes, 36 seconds versus the 

prior year of 2 minutes, 24 seconds, an increase 

of 12 seconds. The overall retail experience 

score from the RCE mystery shops was 92.63 

percent versus the previous year score of 93.86, 

a reduction of 1.23 percentage points.

FY2015 FY2014 Variance

Average Wait 

(mm:ss) 2:36 2:24 0:12

Overall Retail 

Experience* 92.63% 93.86% (1.23%)

*Source: Retail Data Mart, Retail Customer Experience Program.

Mobile Point of Sale — New technology 

is changing — and improving — how we 

conduct business with our customers at 

our retail locations. In FY2015, the Postal 

Service expanded use of Mobile Point of 

Sale (mPOS) devices to 3,081 Post Office 

locations nationwide, performing over 6.7 million 

transactions and generating $17.9 million in 

revenue. mPOS debuted in 68 Post Offices 

during FY2014 and was expanded to support 

FY2015 holiday operations.

Using this innovative technology, retail associates 

can process many simple transactions in the 

lobby, away from the full-service counter — 

customers can “swipe and go” without waiting 

in line. The mPOS solution consists of an Apple 

iPod Touch, integrated barcode scanner and 

credit card reader, wireless receipt printer and 

wireless label printer.

Customers benefit from the convenience of 

being able to conduct transactions quickly and 
33

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

efficiently. Acceptance of prepaid mailpieces, 

for example, accounted for over 68 percent 

of mPOS transactions in FY2015. In addition, 

customers that were not home during a delivery 

attempt can pick up and sign for mailpieces 

using mPOS.

It also helps reduce costs for the Postal Service. 

Revenue services such as Priority Mail Flat Rate 

postage, Forever stamp booklets and other 

retail products (such as ReadyPost supplies or 

greeting cards) can be transacted with a major 

credit card. Customers sign directly on the 

device’s screen and can get either a paper or 

email receipt, an option that helps reduce paper 

costs and supports the Postal Service’s efforts to 

“go green.”

Alternate Access — We also provide our 

customers with convenient alternate access to 

our products and services. Many people prefer 

to use our self-service kiosks, online mailing and 

shipping and mobile app. Or they can turn to 

our Approved Postal Provider network, where 

customers can purchase stamps, mail a letter 

or ship a package. These retailers generate 

additional incremental revenue for the Postal 

Service by offering our products and services 

in places where we can’t. Another option is a 

Village Post Office (VPO). In FY2015, the number 

of VPOs continued to grow, serving customer 

needs in both rural and metropolitan locations in 

43 states. VPOs offer the most popular USPS 

products and services, including Priority Mail 

Forever Prepaid packaging, Forever postage 

stamps and Post Office Box rentals. VPOs are 

primarily located in community small businesses 

such as convenience stores, grocery stores and 

other neighborhood specialty businesses. These 

businesses offer extended business operating 

hours in locations that are convenient to the 

customers they serve. (See table at bottom of 

page.)

Making it Easier to Mail and Receive Mail

It’s the lament of the times — who’s got the 

time? At the Postal Service, we recognize that 

our customers need options that make their lives 

easier. That means offering online solutions and 

options that are convenient and easily accessible.

Stamps to Go and Stamps by Mail — It’s never 

been easier to get stamps, whether at a Post 

Office, online at usps.com or at one of our retail 

partner locations. In FY2015, the Postal Service 

provided customers with access to stamps 

at more than 65,650 retail partner locations 

through the Stamps to Go program. More than 

15 percent of all stamps are being sold through 

this program, which is one of our most costeffective channels. Various marketing efforts are 

used to remind customers that U.S. postage 

is available through more than 625 partner 

companies. These efforts maintain stamp sales 

while expanding our retail footprint. The Contract 

Postal Unit and the Approved Shipper programs 

also continue to grow revenue and expand the 

reach of our stamp program through strategic 

partnerships.

Retail Revenue by Channel

Services FY2015 

retail 

revenue 

($ millions)

FY2015 percent 

share of total 

retail revenue

FY2015 share 

difference 

from FY2014

FY2014 retail 

revenue 

($ millions)

FY2014 percent 

share of total 

retail revenue

FY2014 

share 

difference 

from FY2013

FY2013 

retail 

revenue 

($ millions)

FY2013 

percent 

share of 

total retail 

revenue

Retail window brick 

and mortar

10,430 54.28 (1.98) 10,706 56.26 (2.72) 10,780 58.98

Expanded access 8,785 45.72 1.98 8,325 43.74 2.72 7,497 41.02

Total retail revenue 19,215 100.00 19,031 100.00 18,277 100.00
34

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

Customers, of course, can always take 

advantage of our Stamps by Mail program. 

Stamps are delivered through the U.S. Mail 

without delivery or handling charges. Our retail 

offices ordered more than 9.5 million brochures 

highlighting Stamps by Mail to circulate 

throughout their communities. This program 

remains popular with the elderly and disabled.

Mail Forwarding and Change of Address — The 

Postal Service processes approximately 37 

million change-of-address requests each year. 

We make the process as simple as possible 

for customers. A visit to the Post Office isn’t 

necessary — customers can change their 

address online at usps.com. To modify an 

original change-of-address order, they can 

go to managemymove.usps.com. Customers 

also can use a credit or debit card with a billing 

address that’s different from either the old or new 

addresses. This feature is particularly useful for 

customers whose card is associated with a PO 

Box or work billing address, or for those filling out 

a request for an elderly or deceased relative.

Premium Forwarding Service — Premium 

Forwarding Service Residential (PFS-R) provides 

customers the option of temporarily forwarding 

their mail once a week by paying the application 

fee and weekly shipment fees. The customer’s 

PFS-R mail is shipped via Priority Mail service 

with USPS Tracking. An online version of PFS-R 

is available, offering customers the convenience 

of applying for and managing their accounts at 

usps.com. PFS-R online continues to help grow 

revenue and create efficiencies by increasing the 

portion of transactions conducted online. Overall, 

PFS-R revenue grew 1 percent in FY2015, and 

PFS-R online revenue already represents over 25 

percent of all PFS-R revenue.

Providing a Seamless Experience for 

Commercial Mailers

As we’re making mailing and shipping easier 

and more convenient for consumers and small 

businesses, we’re also improving our technologies 

that benefit our commercial customers.

Mail Preparation, Addressing and Commercial 

Acceptance — Our continued adoption of 

Intelligent Mail and Full-Service technologies, 

which rely on the use of smart barcodes, has 

enabled improvements in the way we accept 

and verify commercial business mailings. We’ve 

reduced reliance on manual processes and 

moved into a digitized process flow. These 

capabilities will empower customers with a suite 

of tools enabling payment flexibility, preparation 

simplicity, ease of entry, multiple access points 

for account management and deeper visibility into 

their mailing status.

Additional value will occur through expanded 

use of Intelligent Mail barcodes with FullService by small business mailers. This allows 

the Postal Service to position these mailers for 

Seamless Acceptance, a process designed to 

use electronic documentation, mail processing 

equipment scans and scans collected through 

handheld devices to verify and validate proper 

mail make-up and postage.

Streamlining Customer Payment and Account 

Management Processes — Several initiatives 

in FY2015 improved our ability to manage 

customer incentives, contract pricing and loyalty 

tracking. At the same time, we gained deeper 

insights into how our customers use our products 

and their revenue contribution. New technical 

specifications, namely “Intelligent Mail Indicia 

Performance Criteria,” were published for PC 

Postage and meter vendors that will provide the 

Postal Service with improved product usage 

information. Improvements in payment and 

account management will reduce the current 

burden experienced by mailers in opening 

permits and managing accounts. “Mail Anywhere” 
35

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

functionality was made available to all mailers 

in spring 2014. Mail Anywhere allows the use 

of a single permit at mailing locations across 

the country and greatly simplifies the account 

management process for commercial mailers.

Click-N-Ship Business Pro — Click-N-Ship 

Business Pro is a downloadable software 

solution that enables small and medium business 

mailers to generate shipping labels with Intelligent 

Mail Package Barcodes (IMpb) and securely pay 

postage via electronic manifest files. It’s available 

free of charge for business customers who ship 

50 or more packages (or multiple packages with 

a combined weight of 50 or more pounds) in a 

typical mailing.

In addition to generating shipping labels and 

paying for postage, the software provides 

easy-to-use database integration, tracking and 

reporting tools. Click-N-Ship Business Pro 

allows customers to access a broader range 

of shipping options than some other software 

solutions, including single-piece and non-presort 

packages, and services that include First-Class 

Package Service, Priority Mail, Priority Mail 

Express and Parcel Select Nonpresort. This 

software solution has generated over $2.7 million 

in postage paid since its inception in November 

2013, and brought in more than $3.9 million in 

revenue in FY2015.

Collaborating with Industry

The input and feedback of our industry partners 

are essential as we introduce new products and 

services. The Postal Service works closely with 

its mailing industry partners through many venues 

because their success is also the Postal Service’s 

success.

National Postal Forum — Since 1968, the National 

Postal Forum (NPF) has been the leading mailing 

industry conference, bringing together the Postal 

Service and its major customers. The goal of the 

NPF, a not-for-profit educational corporation, is to 

bring industry professionals together to interact

with Postal Service management and learn about 

existing and future USPS products and services. 

In 2015, the NPF was held in Anaheim, CA, with 

Postmaster General Megan Brennan as keynote 

speaker. Attendance was notably higher than 

in past years with about 3,000 large and small 

business customers participating.

The four-day NPF annually showcases the latest 

in technology and innovation, providing a unique 

opportunity for mailers to network with each 

other as well as talk to potential vendors and 

suppliers. It also features educational workshops 

on topics ranging from marketing to operations 

general sessions with senior postal leadership, 

certification courses, focus group sessions and 

other activities. Attendees heard how the Postal 

Service and industry are collaborating to develop 

and deliver solutions to service issues, share the 

latest information on logistics and operations, and 

strengthen the relationship between the mailing 

and shipping industries.

Mailers’ Technical Advisory Committee — The 

Postmaster General’s Mailers’ Technical Advisory 

Committee (MTAC) is another venue for the Postal 

Service to share technical information with mailers 

and to receive advice and recommendations 

from them on matters concerning postal products 

and services. MTAC is comprised of nearly 175 

executives and sponsors who represent over 50 

associations. In 2015, MTAC celebrated its 50th 

anniversary, highlighting successful collaborations 

on issues ranging from barcoding improvements 

to implementing drop shipping changes to 

modifying business mail entry processes.

To better serve the mailing community, 

MTAC is organized into four key focus areas: 

mailing preparation and entry, visibility/service 

performance, product development and payment 

and acceptance. Each of these areas focus on 

customers’ specific needs and further supports 

the mission of providing exceptional customer 

service.
36

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

Postal Customer Councils — Postal Customer 

Councils (PCCs) consist of Postal Service leaders 

and business mailers who work together at the 

local level to promote the value of mail, address 

mailing concerns and exchange ideas. The goal 

is to maximize the benefits of USPS products, 

programs, services and procedures. Through 

regular meetings, educational programs and 

seminars, PCC members learn about the latest 

Postal Service products and services that will help 

them grow their businesses. There are more than 

155 PCCs nationwide. 

Each year the importance of PCCs and their 

contributions to the success of the Postal Service 

are celebrated during National PCC Week, 

which features a state-of-the-business address 

by the Postmaster General. Events were held 

September 21–25 of 2015, with more than 115 

PCCs participating. Postal leadership spoke at 

more than 80 events, with an estimated 8,000 

customers in attendance.

Taking Care of Customers 

Our Consumer and Industry Affairs group is 

responsible for USPS customer interaction 

and support for individual consumers, small 

businesses, large corporations and commercial 

mailers. The Office of Consumer Advocate and 

Customer Relations serves to confirm the “voice 

of the customer” is accurately represented to 

the organization and is focused on ensuring that 

each and every customer has a positive customer 

experience. The primary objective is to improve 

customer interactions with USPS and position “the 

value of the mail” in a consumer and business 

environment. In addition, the group develops a 

strategic direction, policy improvements, program 

enhancements and standardized expectations to 

field consumer and industry contact operations.

Consumer and Industry Affairs reaffirms the 

importance of customer service and shares 

customer insights through monthly videos, 

weekly messaging, training, tools and resources 

that inform and engage employees. We’re 

continuously working to improve our standardized 

complaint handling and resolution process, which 

provides guidelines encompassing initial contact 

through resolution. A better resolution process for 

the customer increases their overall satisfaction. 

We want to improve processes and enhance 

systems in ways that support timely and thorough 

resolution of customer concerns and inquiries.

Customer Care Centers — When customers call 

the Postal Service’s 1-800 number for assistance, 

that voice they’re talking to is a postal employee. 

In FY2015, for the first time, our Customer Care 

Centers were wholly operated by the Postal 

Service. All four of our Customer Care Centers 

were restructured and are staffed entirely by 

USPS employees. Throughout the year, our tollfree service numbers received a remarkable 53.4 

million calls, of which 37.1 million were handled 

through the self-service interactive voice response 

system. Sixteen million callers, about 54,200 per 

day1

, requested additional assistance from an 

agent.

To further enhance the total customer experience, 

a new “virtual hold” technology was introduced 

in March 2015. Instead of being placed on 

hold, a customer gets a callback when an agent 

is available. During the first six months after 

implementation, 2.7 million customers opted for 

a virtual hold. Customer Care Centers provide 

information and resolutions that simplify the mailing 

experience for our customers and are dedicated 

to providing outstanding service and support.

Business Service Network — The national 

Business Service Network (BSN) is dedicated 

to providing the best customer experience to 

over 20,000 of the Postal Service’s largest 

customers. The BSN encourages a proactive 

1

All data is OCT 2014–AUG 2015. Calls per day based upon 6 days per week X 52 weeks less 10 holidays = 302 days per year prorated for 11 months = 

277 days.
37

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

approach that fosters a one-on-one relationship 

with our customers and serves as the essential 

link between them and postal operations. By 

understanding our customers and translating 

their business needs, the Postal Service not only 

meets but continuously exceeds expectations by 

providing excellent service, communications and 

information to our most valuable customers.

Security Comes with a Stamp — Despite the 

many changes to the Postal Service since 

its inception, there is this constant held by its 

customers: Americans have the right to mail 

and receive letters and packages with every 

expectation that no one will tamper with or steal 

their mail. The Postal Inspection Service, the 

law enforcement and security arm of the Postal 

Service, helps deliver on that expectation.

The Postal Inspection Service helps ensure the 

safety, security and integrity of the U.S. Mail. 

It’s their mission: support and protect the Postal 

Service and its employees, infrastructure and 

customers; enforce the laws that defend the 

nation’s mail system from illegal or dangerous 

use; and ensure public trust in the mail. Our 

Postal Inspectors investigate postal-related 

crimes, such as identity theft, mail bombs, 

postal robberies and burglaries. And they protect 

against the use of the mail to launder drug 

money, defraud customers, traffic in illegal drugs 

and exploit children.

The Postal Inspection Service also maintains a 

state-of-the-art National Forensic Laboratory, 

comprising highly trained forensic scientists 

and technical specialists who play a key role 

in identifying, apprehending, prosecuting and 

convicting individuals responsible for postalrelated criminal offenses. They provide scientific 

and technical expertise to the criminal and security 

investigations of the Postal Inspection Service.

Carrying out that mission also means ensuring 

postal employees, customers and some 32,000 

postal facilities are safe from criminal attack and 

the nation’s mail system is protected from criminal 

misuse. Whether dealing with mail thieves in 

colonial times, stagecoach robbers in the 1800s, 

gangsters in the 1930s, the Unabomber in the 

1980s and ’90s, or anthrax mailings in this century 

— Postal Inspectors are there.

If it has anything to do with ensuring the safety, 

security and integrity of the nation’s mail system 

from criminal misuse, they do it. And they’ve been 

doing it — and doing it successfully — since the 

nation was founded nearly 240 years ago.
38

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

We’re more than just that man or woman in a 

truck delivering the mail — we live and work 

in the communities we serve. Our employees 

know that our customers depend on them for 

delivering letters and items that are important 

to their lives — hand-drawn artwork from a 

grandchild, medicines from the doctor or a 

pair of limited-edition athletic shoes from the 

hottest brand. We go the extra mile; dedicated, 

committed and proud of the public service we 

provide. In our rapidly changing marketplace, 

the Postal Service recognizes that our future 

success depends on how well we equip and 

engage our employees, especially as a new 

generation starts proudly wearing postal blue. 

Steps we’re taking now to better engage and 

empower our employees will ensure that we 

deliver excellent customer service — each and 

every time — for many years to come. It’s what 

America expects from us.

Investing in Leadership and Employee 

Growth

The Postal Service is now operating in the most 

complex and competitive business environment 

in our 200-plus year history, one that’s marked 

by uncertainty, ambiguity and change. Despite 

the difficulties this business environment 

presents, we’ve withstood every challenge 

because of strong leadership and committed 

employees.

Leadership Readiness — Like most federal 

agencies, a large number of our managers and 

senior leaders are eligible for retirement. To plan 

for the significant risk this poses, in FY2015 

we moved to a continuous open season for 

Corporate Succession Planning (CSP), allowing 

necessary modifications and ongoing monitoring 

of our leadership pipeline. We also launched 

operations-focused leadership programs 

such as New Supervisor Program (NSP) and 

Managerial Essentials for Field Leadership 

(MEFL), and introduced Postmaster Essentials 

(PME). Also, our Executive Leadership Team 

demonstrated an unwavering commitment 

to employee engagement — and invested in 

creating engagement leaders and champions 

throughout the organization. Altogether, these 

efforts improve leadership readiness and 

support culture changes necessary for long-term 

success.

Our leadership development program achieved 

important outcomes in FY2015, including:  Ninety-five percent of critical Postal Career 

Executive Service positions now have at least 

one “ready now” potential successor and 

318 new potential successors were added to 

CSP. 

 To support individual development planning, 

82 percent of CSP potential successors 

have an active plan (i.e., completion of one 

activity every six months) as do 88 percent of 

Executive Leadership Development program 

participants. In addition, 66 percent of Senior 

Executive Assessment and Development 

Center participants created executive 

development plans. 

 Additional advanced and managerial 

leadership programs were offered, resulting in 

expanded opportunities to learn from leaders 

and spark innovation through business 

challenges and business cases. 

To prepare employees for career advancement, 

learning opportunities are available for officers, 

senior executives, executives, managers and 

supervisors. In FY2015, 1,475 individuals 

participated in a leadership development offering. 

The table that follows summarizes participants by 

program.

Engaging and 

Empowering 

Employees to Better 

Serve Customers
39

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

Program FY2015 

participants

Advanced Leadership Program 74

Executive Foundations 73

Executive Leadership 45

Human Resources Manager Development Program 28

Managerial Leadership Program 205

New Supervisor Program 842

Managerial Essentials for Field Leadership 133

Postmaster Essentials 75

Innovative and Impactful Training Programs 

— In FY2015, the Postal Service invested in 

focused and in-depth training for our operations 

management team. The NSP, MEFL and PME 

programs not only help build our talent pipeline 

but also strengthen employees’ leadership, 

management and functional skills.  NSP is a 16-week program for newly 

promoted supervisors of Distribution 

Operations, Customer Service and 

Maintenance Operations. 

 MEFL is an eight-week program that includes 

classroom hours, virtual learning and onthe-job training with a cross-functional 

experience. The target audience is newly 

promoted EAS Plant Managers; Managers 

of Distribution Operations, In-Plant Support, 

Maintenance, Post Office Operations, 

Operations Programs Support and Customer 

Service; and Postmasters EAS-21 and 

above. 

 PME is a 40-hour program that provides 

newly appointed Postmasters with essential 

knowledge, leadership and technology skills 

to manage the operation of a level 18–20 

Post Office.

Customer service was another area of focus in 

FY2015. The NSP, MEFL and NSP programs 

include essential customer service training 

as these employees regularly interact with 

customers. In addition, the Postal Service 

deployed a nationwide classroom program 

called Deliver the Brand to 12,588 managers 

and retail associates. Its goal was to strengthen 

professionalism and improve the customer 

experience through training on topics that 

included image, customer perception and 

communication skills.

Protecting Employees’ Information — The Postal 

Service made significant improvements in 

FY2015 to its ability to defend against aggressive 

advanced persistent threats like the one that 

resulted in a cyber intrusion incident announced 

in November 2014. The Postal Service will 

continue to make significant investments over the 

next few years to improve these defense efforts. 

Protecting the privacy of customer, employee, 

supplier and corporate information has been and 

always will be a priority for the Postal Service.

This incident, along with many others that 

occurred in federal government and commercial 

entities during the year, demonstrates the need 

for ever greater comprehensive cyber security 

capabilities involving technology, people and 

processes to defend against threats, monitor 

systems for possible unauthorized access and 

eradicate intruders.

The Postal Service launched new cyber security 

improvement efforts in November 2014, in 

response to the cyber intrusion incident. Detailed 

remediation activities focused on rebuilding 

impacted infrastructure and implementing 

technical capabilities for identifying and 

protecting against the most immediate threats. 

We worked closely with leading cyber security 

authorities and other subject matter experts. 

The objective was to remove the intruder from 

the network, restrict privileged accounts and 

implement improved authentication, monitoring 

and domain management. Included in the scope 

of this effort were about 1,000 technical activities 

needed to protect customer, employee, supplier 

and USPS information.

CyberSafe — Once these key remediation 

activities were completed, a “CyberSafe at 
40

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

USPS” security awareness campaign was 

launched in June 2015. Its focus is to educate 

the postal community of employees, suppliers 

and customers through tips and other resources 

about cybersecurity threats and how they can 

help protect the USPS network and information. 

The Postal Service is turning to industry experts 

in developing content and also partnering 

with the Department of Homeland Security 

and promoting content from its “Stop. Think. 

Connect.” campaign.

CyberSafe at the Postal Service started internally 

with employees and includes a centralized 

website with tips and videos, new Webbased training focused on password security, 

information about how to identify and report 

phishing attacks, and an easy-to-remember 

email address to report incidents: cybersafe@

usps.gov. This program will expand to include 

role-based training for those who have access 

to the USPS network and specific awareness 

messaging and training for suppliers and 

customers.

The campaign is one component of a 

comprehensive cybersecurity organizational 

training and awareness strategy designed to 

reduce risk. Goals include:  Enabling Postal Service staff to better defend 

USPS information networks, secure USPS 

data and mitigate risks;

 Developing and maintaining staff and 

capabilities to manage cyber operations;

 Demonstrating the Postal Service’s 

commitment to protect and sustain critical 

enterprise, employee, customer and supplier 

information assets;

 Contributing to the development of a security 

culture at USPS; and 

 Demonstrating effectiveness through 

monitoring and measurement of user 

community network behaviors and activities.

Keeping Postal Employees “Safe and Secure” 

— The Postal Service values its employees, 

and keeping them safe is a top priority. Postal 

Inspectors work closely with local postal leaders 

to develop prevention measures and provide 

guidance to postal employees on strategies 

to improve their safety while on the job. These 

measures include:  Training employees in risk avoidance 

practices at USPS-sponsored events and 

engaging employees through personal 

interactions in their workplace;

 Developing and reviewing security policies, 

and ensuring local compliance;

 Supporting the Postal Service’s zero tolerance 

policy for workplace violence;

 Monitoring USPS facilities 24/7 through the 

National Law Enforcement Communication 

Center;

 Investigating reports of threats and assaults 

related to postal employees; and

 Coordinating state and local law enforcement 

resources to investigate and solve crimes 

committed against postal employees.
41

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

Managing the Changing Face of the 

Organization

Many factors impact our employees, from 

operations-related changes to the challenges of 

managing multiple generations in the workplace. 

As our employee population transforms, we’ll 

continue to implement employee-centered 

Human Resources programs that focus on 

address our changing workforce environment.

Shifts in the ratios of career to non-career 

employees reflect our efforts to contain costs 

and respond to the growing need for ondemand shipping, which requires a more flexible 

workforce. In FY2015, the Postal Service hired 

more than 117,000 non-career employees in all 

flexible workforce categories, including postal 

support employee (PSE), city carrier assistant 

(CCA), mail handler assistant (MHA), rural carrier 

associate (RCA), casual and Postmaster relief 

(PMR).

In order to recruit candidates for these critical 

positions, during FY2015 the Postal Service had 

a presence at 125 career fairs. The diversity 

at these events was broad yet strategic and 

included, among others, African Americans, 

persons with disabilities, Hispanic, LGBT, 

veterans and women. We also participated in 

career events to recruit for targeted positions 

where there’s a major hiring need, such as 

operations industrial engineers (OIEs), CCAs, 

PSEs and MHAs. In addition to attending 

targeted career fairs, materials and videos were 

created focusing on the roles of CCAs, RCAs 

and OIEs and featured on USPS communication 

channels. We also launched innovative strategies 

to develop and retain our workforce, including 

a monthly lunch and learn series, exploring 

diversity and inclusion themes through film, and 

designing awareness training to address diversity 

of thought, culture and background.

The Postal Service career workforce has an 

average tenure of about 18 years of service and 

an average age of 51. Currently 33 percent of 

employees are eligible to retire. As our average 

age continues to rise, identifying successors 

will be critical to filling voids created by retiring 

employees. Furthermore, an aging workforce will 

increase the need for knowledge management 

and alternative career paths. To address these 

needs in FY2015, we redesigned several 

management and leadership development 

programs, included non-career employees in 

employee engagement surveys, and continued 

to fine-tune communications to obtain vital 

feedback and input from employees.

Diversity — During FY2015, the Diversity 

and Inclusion program achieved heightened 

prominence at the Postal Service. Although 

diversity and inclusion have always been 

a shared value across the organization, 

strengthening support for an inclusive workplace 

is a focal point for the organization. To 

advance these efforts, Diversity and Inclusion 

implemented several initiatives during the year:  Lunch and learn series: Held monthly, these 

sessions highlighted postal innovations, 

professional development and DRIVE 

initiatives.

 Multicultural Awareness Day: Developed 

a platform for employees to host exhibit 

booths, showcasing the pride of their culture, 

customs, values, etc.

 Exploring diversity through film: Launched 

an innovative way of teaching diversity and 

inclusion themes using box-office movies.

 Executive Diversity Council (EDC): Revived 

the EDC, including a multi-tiered approach 

from the Postmaster General extending to 

district-level advisory councils.

 Diversity and Inclusion summit: Development 

platform for area and district Diversity and 

Inclusion professionals.

 Diversity Resources: In partnership with 

Learning and Development, training is 

being developed to expand this effort while 
42

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

addressing topics, such as unconscious 

bias and gender and cultural sensitivity. Other 

notable resources: City Carrier Assistant 

retention guide, heritage resource kits and 

book club.

Equal Employment Opportunity — The Postal 

Service is committed to providing equal 

employment opportunity for all employees. This 

is a critical component in Postal Service efforts to 

recruit, develop and retain a diverse workforce. 

The Postal Service does not tolerate harassment 

of any type and holds managers responsible for 

preventing it.

The Postal Service provides high-quality and 

timely complaint processing in accordance with 

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 

regulations. As of Aug. 31, 2015, a total of 

11,538 informal complaints were filed, 83 fewer 

than the same period last year. For the same 

time period, 3,545 formal complaints were filed, 

192 fewer than the same period last year.

In support of our commitment to work to prevent 

complaints and provide a work environment free 

of harassment, Publication 553, Employee’s 

Guide to Understanding, Preventing, and 

Reporting Harassment, was updated in March 

2015. In July 2015, the publication was mailed 

to every employee to reinforce managers’ and 

supervisors’ responsibilities to promptly respond 

to harassment complaints. In addition, an eighthour course, Addressing Workplace Harassment, 

was developed and conducted in the field for 

three areas. More than 100 participants received 

the training, including Human Resources 

and Labor Relations managers. The content 

focused on Publication 552, Manager’s Guide 

to Understanding, Investigating, and Preventing 

Harassment, the initial management inquiry 

process and report writing. An eight-hour trainthe-trainer course also was provided, enabling 

the training to be delivered strategically within 

those areas.

Disability Program — The Disability Program 

provides support for managers, supervisors and 

employees in understanding the reasonable 

accommodation process, and it promotes 

disability employment awareness and inclusion. 

The program is managed at Postal Service 

Headquarters and includes disability specialists 

domiciled at each area office. Team members 

provide direction, education and consultative 

services to key reasonable accommodation 

decision makers, as well as Human Resources, 

Law Department and other postal functions.

Disability Program staff also serve as subject 

matter expert contributors to policy guidance 

and service talks, as well as classroom and 

Web-based training materials covering various 

disability-related topics. During FY2015, they 

developed a service talk, Our Responsibilities 

to Serve Customers under the Americans with 

Disabilities Act (ADA), which was published in 

March. The revised 16-week training program 

for newly-promoted operations supervisors 

contains a Reasonable Accommodation module 

based on content from a course developed by 

the Disability team and Law Department, titled 

Reasonable Accommodation Awareness. This 

course contains information on compliance with 

the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (as amended) 

as well as guidance on disability-employment 

etiquette and understanding.
43

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

In a continuing effort to ensure Postal Service’s 

compliance with reasonable accommodation 

law and policy, Disability Program team 

members work closely with 75 Reasonable 

Accommodation Committees across the country, 

providing technical assistance and support. In 

FY2015, program reviews were conducted to 

ensure consistency in application of reasonable 

accommodation law, policies and procedures.

To best equip employees and enhance the work 

experience for individuals with disabilities, the 

Disability Program staff provides guidance to 

USPS management and employees on assistive 

and adaptive technology solutions. The Disability 

Program also funds and oversees all sign 

language interpreting services for employees 

who are deaf or hard of hearing. This includes 

deploying and ensuring the best use of video 

remote interpreting equipment in facilities across 

the country.

Compensation and Benefits — In FY2015, 

non-bargaining employees, including officers 

and executives, received pay and/or bonuses 

under the Pay for Performance program, which 

is designed to provide financial incentives for 

meeting specific performance targets. Postal 

Service management has multiple systems 

in place to monitor employee performance. 

Employees set goals annually and individual 

performance is reviewed at mid-fiscal year and 

end of fiscal year. The Postal Service continues 

to actively monitor and control compensation 

and benefits expenditures, including health care 

costs for employees and retirees.

Executive Compensation: Total 

Compensation in Excess of Federal Executive 

Level 1 Compensation ($201,700 in last full 

Calendar Year 2014):

Executive name CY2014 amount in excess of Level 1 

of the Executive Schedule

Drew T. Aliperto $14,060

Megan J. Brennan $55,379

Robert Cintron $1,910

James P. Cochrane $32,856

Joshua D. Colin $9,060

Joseph Corbett $39,414

Patrick R. Donahoe $77,475

Jo Ann Feindt $4,060

Rosemarie Fernandez $25

Dean J. Granholm $4,060

Nagisa M. Manabe $60,423

Thomas J. Marshall $30,335

Shaun E. Mossman $4,699

William C. Rucker III $1,954

Kristin A. Seaver $1,560

Jacqueline K. Strako $9,318

Ronald A. Stroman $45,467

Richard P. Uluski $4,060

David C. Williams* $60,008

David E. Williams Jr. $2,963

Jeffrey C. Williamson $32,856

*Includes annuity paid by the Office of Personnel Management.

Note: Provided in compliance with Title 39, Section 3686(d) which requires 

compensation in last full calendar year.
44

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

Everything we do at the Postal Service, from finetuning our networks to purchasing new vehicles 

to enhancing tracking and visibility, has impact 

beyond our organization. The mailing industry 

depends on the Postal Service. According 

to the 2015 EMA Mailing Industry Job Study, 

the mailing industry provides 6 percent of the 

nation’s jobs — 7.5 million — and contributes 

to the economy with $1.4 trillion in revenue, an 

increase of 9.5 percent from 2011. The study 

reports that 73 percent of mail industry jobs 

depend on the delivery infrastructure at which 

USPS is the center.2

 Our efforts to ramp up our 

investments in optimizing our retail, delivery, 

network, digital and enterprise platforms are 

crucial to deliver world-class service, improve 

efficiency and prepare our organization to meet 

future customer needs.

New Package Processing Technology

The growth in e-commerce has had a big impact 

on what we do and we’re making sure we’re a 

step ahead in our ability to handle it. To improve 

our handling of packages, the Postal Service 

is in the process of installing new Small Parcel 

Sortation Systems and expanding the capacity 

of existing Automated Packaged Processing 

Systems and the Automated Parcel and Bundle 

Sorter. In addition to the increased capacity 

provided by this sorting equipment, the Postal 

Service also has invested in new software and 

systems to improve the reading of address 

information and to improve the tracking of 

packages throughout the network. The Postal 

Service continues to invest in the research 

and development of new sortation machines 

and technologies to continue to expand the 

processing capacity and efficiency of the 

package network.

Full-Service Simplification and Promotion 

Full-Service Intelligent Mail barcodes set the 

stage for achieving end-to-end visibility in the 

postal mailstream — and revolutionizing the way 

we do business with our commercial mailers. 

Building on existing technology, we’re moving 

away from a manual, paper-driven process of 

accepting and verifying commercial mailings 

to a digitized process with programs such 

as eInduction, Seamless Acceptance and 

payment modernization. This shift in business 

processes will provide mailers with payment 

flexibility, preparation simplicity, ease of entry and 

induction, multiple access points for account 

management, and greater visibility into their 

mailing status and quality. As of August 2015, 

88.76 percent of all eligible Full-Service volume 

was being prepared as Full-Service.

Seamless Acceptance (Letters and Flats)

Seamless Acceptance moves the Postal Service 

away from a paper-ridden acceptance process 

to an automated process that uses the Intelligent 

Mail barcode, electronic mailing information and 

scans from Full-Service Intelligent Mail Devices 

and mail processing equipment. This information 

is gathered and validated, then provided to both 

the Postal Service and mailers through quality 

metrics in the Mailer Scorecard, which provides 

a dashboard view of monthly mailing activity.

Several large-volume mailers are piloting 

Seamless Acceptance and 17.4 percent of 

total commercial volume was on Seamless 

Acceptance as of August 2015. Working with 

this initial group of mailers, we’re continuing to 

monitor and enhance the program with the end 

goal of a roll-out to all commercial mailers.

Electronic Verification System — Several 

initiatives were successfully deployed in 

FY2015 to increase the adoption of the 

Electronic Verification System (eVS), including 

Investing in

Future Platforms

2

Please download the EMA 2015 Mailing Industry Job Study at http://www.envelope.org/ for more information.
45

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

comprehensive outreach efforts. As a result, eVS 

adoption grew from 75 percent to 90 percent.

Electronic Induction — Electronic induction, 

better known as eInduction, streamlines the 

preparation and induction of drop shipments and 

expedited plant load mailings and eliminates the 

need for paper induction documents. It leverages 

existing electronic documentation, Intelligent 

Mail container barcodes and handheld scanner 

technologies to verify payment and preparation 

of commercial mail containers.

The eInduction program, which was deployed 

in October 2013, offers commercial mailers key 

benefits such as quick appointment processing 

through the Facility Access and Shipment 

Tracking system, automated validation of entry 

discounts and 24/7 appointment resolution, 

and it supports Seamless Acceptance. 

eInduction also provides visibility and mail quality 

information for both the Postal Service and the 

mailer through the Mailer Scorecard. Over 52.4 

percent of drop-ship containers were using the 

eInduction program as of August 2015.

Other New Innovations, Services or Processes

— The Postal Service is working on an initiative 

to offer its commercial customers a level of selfservice that’s missing across current commercial 

payment channels. This new program is known 

as Enterprise Payment. Beginning in spring 

2016, this solution will upgrade the customer 

payment process for commercial mailings. The 

Enterprise Payment program will be deployed 

in a phased approach. It will provide customers 

a secure portal to establish banking for ACH 

debit. Additionally, mailers will have a centralized 

payment account so they can easily pay for all 

of the postal products and services they use. A 

helpful feature will be access to comprehensive 

reporting and notifications about their payment 

account and current status.

Another USPS initiative is the Automated 

Package Verification (APV) program for package 

mailers. It’s designed to validate accurate 

postage on packages to ensure proper revenue 

is paid using an automated approach. These 

automated approaches will be deployed across 

the Postal Service’s end-to-end process utilizing 

existing equipment and new technology. The 

APV program will leverage highly accurate 

package data, provide a high degree of 

transparency into the Postal Service process 

and protect the customer experience by limiting 

disruption to the end customer.

We’ll also launch our Premier Business Mail 

Entry Unit or Premier BMEU program. With 

the rapid advances in information technology, 

commercial mailers today are better informed 

and connected than ever before. Our mailers 

have access to real-time information for nearly 

every aspect of their business, and they expect 

immediate solutions to their most pressing 

mailing challenges. By analyzing the results of 

customer insight surveys and the interactions 

between our customers and acceptance 

employees, we identified a trend of customer 

needs. Intended to address mailer challenges 

by providing technical advice through on-site, 

personal customer support, the Postal Service 

is developing a training and certification program 

for our acceptance employees. This program 

will enhance and reinforce their knowledge to 

empower them with the tools to deliver solutions 

through diagnostics, research, consultation and 

hands-on assistance. The Premier BMEU will 

provide our customers a “one contact solution.”

Enhanced Tracking and Visibility

The Postal Service remains focused on using 

technology to provide near real-time visibility for 

its mail and package products. We’re enhancing 

performance through analytics and automation, 

and introducing new tools and technology 

solutions that benefit both the Postal Service and 

the mailing community.
46

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

Internal Service Performance Measurement 

Sampling — In FY2015 USPS implemented 

the internal service performance measurement 

sampling component of Informed Visibility. USPS 

employees use Mobile Delivery Devices to scan 

live mailpieces at selected collection and delivery 

points, reducing reliance on external support for 

service performance measurement and providing 

valuable insight into the first and last mile.

Volume Arrival Profile (VAP) Tool — During 

FY2015, the Postal Service enhanced our VAP 

tool. New routing functionality allows a site 

to route package pickups earlier in the day, 

ensuring carriers get back to the office before 

sundown. Improved drill-down capabilities help 

to better examine metrics and perform rootcause analysis for both positive and negative 

contributors. VAP also received new static route 

statistics that help supervisors better manage 

carrier scheduling and performance. Carrier 

scheduling is easier with the addition of work 

hour and volume information.

Bundle Visibility Program — In early FY2015, 

the Full-Service bundle visibility program was 

implemented nationally. This program provides 

increased visibility of Full-Service bundles 

at delivery units, closing a visibility gap. A 

pilot program for large saturation mailers was 

implemented, bringing online a new scanning 

and service monitoring tool that allows Delivery 

Operations to monitor field compliance scanning. 

This pilot program has enhanced saturation mail 

visibility by driving scanning scores from below 

70 percent to over 90 percent.

Transition to the Intelligent Mail Barcode — The 

conversion from the POSTNET barcode to the 

Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) set the foundation 

for mailers to participate in the Full-Service 

Intelligent Mail option. Unique barcoding coupled 

with data reporting requirements of the FullService program provide the Postal Service with 

100 percent visibility into the mailstream. Using 

Full-Service IMb information, a suite of service 

performance diagnostic tools was developed for 

use by field managers to analyze and improve 

service performance. These tools leverage the 

information provided by Full-Service IMb. The 

suite of reports includes mail processing-work 

in process, scorecard, Top 10 impacts, service 

pair opportunity and start-the-clock day of week 

analysis. Reports were enhanced to include the 

mode matrix (air/surface indicator) which allows 

field managers to analyze origin-destination pair’s 

performance based on mode of transportation.

The service performance diagnostic tools 

provide field managers with timely and 

meaningful information on potential service 

impacts allowing corrective action to be taken to 

eliminate potential service failures. The ability to 

see diagnostic data supports efforts to improve 

mail processing. For example, field managers 

are able to measure and reduce cycle time to 

consistently meet service targets. In addition, 

through container and individual mailpiece scans, 

field managers gain visibility into the elapsed time 

between each operational step in the process. 

As a result, incorrect mail flows and mishandlings 

are identified and corrected.

In FY2015, the volume of mail in measurement 

grew by 32 percent compared to FY2014. This 

was accomplished through enhanced business 

logic and improvement in scan compliance. 

Several new enhancements were added to the 

service performance diagnostics tool which 

provides greater operational visibility to field 

managers. These enhancements give new 

insight on service issues, enabling the field to 

systematically identify the root cause of top 

impacts.

Diagnostic reports allow mailers to uncover 

mail or documentation issues, which, when 

resolved, facilitate service improvements for their 

mail. Through the Full-Service option, mailers 

have access to the lowest automation rates, 

address correction for Full-Service mailpieces 

and visibility into their own mailings. The IMb 
47

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

planning tool, available on the Rapid Information 

Bulletin Board System, shows mailers, by 

induction facility, how many days it takes to 

accept, process and deliver their mail. It also 

explains service variance, allowing mailers to 

track on-time delivery performance and see the 

elapsed duration (in hours) between entry time 

and the first automated scan. Mailers use this 

IMb information to better manage their customer 

expectations about when the mail should be 

delivered and make informed marketing, financial 

and operational decisions.

Full-Service adoption increased in FY2015. 

Out of the 90 percent of IMb volume potentially 

eligible for participation in Full-Service, 88 

percent was Full-Service as of September 2015 

compared with 80 percent in October 2014. 

Among the major mail products, Standard letters 

experienced the highest increase in adoption 

rate (11 percent) in FY2015, from 77 percent 

to 88 percent. Full-Service adoption continues 

to be the highest for Presorted First-Class Mail, 

increasing by 5 percent in FY2015, from 86 

percent to 91 percent. Full-Service Standard Mail 

flats increased by 9 percent, from 76 percent to 

85 percent. Full-Service Periodicals increased by 

4 percent, from 80 percent to 84 percent.

Through the use of service performance 

diagnostics tools, USPS continues to improve 

processes and reduce variance on service. The 

FY2015 commercial mail scores and the oneday service variance scores are as follows:  Presort First-Class Mail Overnight ended 

the fiscal year at 95.74 percent, with mail 

delivered at 99.1 percent or within one day of 

the service standard; 

 Presort First-Class Mail Two-day ended 

the fiscal year at 93.56 percent, with mail 

delivered at 98.5 percent or within one day of 

the service standard; 

 Presort First-Class Mail Three-to-Five day 

ended the fiscal year at 87.78 percent, with 

mail delivered at 96.6 percent or within one 

day of the service standard; 

 Standard Mail Destination Entry ended 

the fiscal year at 89.07 percent, with mail 

delivered at 96.3 percent or within one day of 

the service standard; 

 Standard Mail End-to-End ended the fiscal 

year at 59.61 percent, with mail delivered at 

74.7 percent or within one day of the service 

standard; and 

 Periodicals ended the fiscal year at 77.68 

percent, with mail delivered at 89.3 percent 

or within one day of the service standard.

Creating Operational Efficiencies

From acceptance to delivery, we’re focused 

on enhancing our operational performance 

and increasing customer value. We’re working 

smarter and more efficiently. At the same time, 

we’re preparing to meet future customer needs.

Total Factor Productivity (TFP) — Total Factor 

Productivity is an index that measures how 

efficiently the Postal Service uses resources 

(inputs) to handle all aspects of its workload. An 

increase in the TFP index indicates that the ratio 

of work being completed is increasing compared 

to the resources used and that the Postal 

Service is operating more efficiently. Workload 

consists of three primary components: delivery 

points, mail volume weighted by product type 

and miscellaneous output (e.g., passports). 

Resource usage is based on the constant dollar 

amounts (i.e., the costs adjusted for changes in 

prices) of the labor, capital and materials used by 

the Postal Service.

The chart on page 48 starts with the cumulative 

TFP improvement from 1972 to 2007 and then 

reflects the cumulative score each year since 

then. FY2015 marks the sixth consecutive year 

of positive TFP growth.
48

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

Delivery Optimization — With the exception of 

packages, mail volume continues to decline 

while the number of addresses we deliver to 

steadily increases. Because of this, there’s 

a need to continuously revamp the delivery 

infrastructure through route reviews and 

adjustments, focus on increasing centralized 

delivery and use technology to leverage 

comprehensive delivery applications. This 

includes the delivery management system 

and volume arrival profile. In FY2015, 75 Local 

Operations Centers (LOCs) were built in every 

area and district office to improve delivery and 

customer service by providing real-time insight 

into street delivery operations. These LOCs are 

being used to monitor and mitigate daily delivery 

unit conditions with possible customer service 

impacts.

In the past year, USPS completed the 

deployment of over 271,000 Mobile Delivery 

Devices (MDDs) to 24,666 delivery units in 

19,472 postal facilities. The MDD with its 

innovative functionalities improves the Postal 

Service’s ability to provide customers with realtime scanning and predictive delivery. MDD 

deployment provides new functionalities to all of 

USPS delivery routes including 143,000-plus city 

routes and over 73,000 rural routes.

Mode Conversion — Delivery work hours 

have been controlled by reducing the number 

of single-point deliveries while increasing 

the number of deliveries per carrier stop. By 

converting deliveries to a more centralized 

mode, this allows the Postal Service to provide 

consistent and reliable service in an efficient 

manner. Mode conversions also enable 

the Postal Service to reduce transportation 

costs. As a result of our communication and 

outreach efforts with our customers, in FY2015 

USPS achieved a total of 122,025 voluntary 

conversions — 86,268 residential and 35,757 

business.

Route Evaluations and Adjustments — Field 

management continues to inspect, evaluate and 

adjust delivery routes as necessary to control 

costs while improving service. During FY2015, 

the total number of routes increased by 2,412, 

from 224,365 to 226,777, absorbing over 

1,059,000 additional delivery points.

Total Factor Productivity 

(Cumulative improvements compared to 1972 baseline) 

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

19.6%

19.0%

18.0%

20.1%

21.4%

22.4%

24.2%

24.6% 24.7%

Note: Prior year results are updated based on most current data.
49

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

Real Estate Inventory (see pages 51–52)

(in actual units indicated, unaudited)

Real estate inventory FY2015 FY2014 FY2013

Owned properties 8,524 8,583 8,598

Owned interior square feet 194,220,092 195,617,292 196,956,774

Leased properties 23,314 23,649 23,814

Leased interior square feet 78,144,453 77,838,427 79,045,620

GSA/other government properties 286 296 297

GSA/other government interior square feet 1,902,726 2,001,667 2,005,330

Real Estate Inventory Actions (see pages 51–52)

(in actual units indicated, unaudited)

Inventory actions FY2015 FY2014 FY2013

Lease actions (alternate quarters, new leases and renewals) 6,206 5,282 3,487

Property disposals* 16 30 44

New construction (AQ, NCO, NCL and expansion)** 22 70 29

Repair and alteration projects (expense) 51,584 46,961 45,040

Repair and alteration expense totals $ 215,000,000 $ 159,000,000 $ 156,000,000

Repair and alteration projects (capital) 6,981 6,431 4,178

Repair and alteration capital totals $ 347,000,000 $ 226,000,000 $ 195,000,000

*Total partial and complete property sales (does not include non-property sales such as right-of-ways/easements, sale of rights, defaults, installment payments, 

etc.).

**Includes the build-out of pre-existing non-postal spaces (Alternate Quarters [AQ]), the expansion of postal-owned space (Expansion) and the new construction 

of leased (NCL) or owned (NCO) space.

Postal Vehicle Inventory (see page 50)

(in actual units indicated, unaudited)

Vehicle type FY2015 FY2014 FY2013

Delivery and collection (1/2–21⁄2 tons) 193,489 189,750 190,104

Mail transport (tractors and trailers) 5,620 5,751 5,850

Mail transport (3–9 tons) 2,112 2,133 2,139

Administrative and other 6,414 6,249 6,449

Service (maintenance) 4,565 4,599 4,613

Inspection Service and law enforcement 2,733 2,782 2,529

Total 214,933 211,264 211,684

Number of Routes, by Type of Delivery (see page 48)

(in actual units indicated, unaudited)

Route FY2015 FY2014 FY2013

City 143,051 141,271 142,073

Rural 73,818 73,166 73,089

Highway contract route 9,908 9,928 9,990

Total 226,777 224,365 225,152
50

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

Investing in the Delivery Fleet — The Postal 

Service invested $517.3 million in our delivery 

fleet. This includes 9,133 RAM ProMasters — 

used as extended capacity delivery vehicles 

— purchased for $256.8 million to replace 

our aging fleet of 1998 and 2003 minivans. In 

addition, 6,533 Morgan Olsen mixed delivery 

and collection vehicles, known as 2-tons, were 

purchased for $256.9 million to replace our 

aging fleet of 2001 and 2003 2-tons. (See table 

on page 49.)

Network and Transportation Optimization — In 

FY2015, the Postal Service began phase two 

of its network realignment efforts. During the 

year, an operating window change in processing 

operations was implemented, which allowed 

us to reduce the aging fleet of letter processing 

machines in our plants, improve utilization, reduce 

costs and increase equipment reliability. During 

FY2015, 15 of the full facility consolidations 

planned for this second phase were completed, 

with the remaining 65 deferred until FY2016. 

This action was necessary to provide time for 

the Postal Service to stabilize from many factors 

resulting from the complex processing changes 

that were implemented. We’re using the tools 

of Lean Six Sigma throughout the organization 

to stabilize the network, drive standardized best 

practices in all operations and achieve targeted 

levels of service performance.

Lean Mail Processing (LMP) — LMP is being 

implemented in mail processing facilities 

nationwide. LMP is focused on improving 

operational efficiency and reducing cycle times 

between plant processes with the use of Lean 

Six Sigma tools and methodology. This is helping 

the Postal Service reduce waste and create an 

organized workspace with standardized roles and 

responsibilities. LMP also will help us standardize 

mail flow to ensure first-in, first-out processing. 

Additional benefits include reducing mail 

transport equipment inventories to align with mail 

processing needs.

Lean Management System, which is part of 

the latest LMP rollout, will use key performance 

indicators to drive improvements in mail 

processing operations, which in turn will result 

in better service for our customers and better 

budget outcomes for USPS.

Air Cargo Optimization — During FY2015, there 

was a significant increase in our air network 

volume — USPS flew more than 2 billion pounds 

of mail on multiple air carriers. This includes cargo 

carriers (FedEx and UPS) as well as several of 

the major commercial air carriers (American, 

Delta, Sun Country and United). In FY2015, 

we increased our contract relationship with 

commercial air carriers by adding Alaska Air and 

Hawaiian Air.

Ground Transportation Optimization — Highway 

transportation expenses for FY2015 were $3.6 

billion. This is an increase of 3 percent, or $107 

million, over FY2014. The primary drivers behind 

the increase in highway transportation expense 

were the increased capacity needs from the 

Operational Window Change (OWC), as well as 

the expanded ground Peak Season network in 

FY2015. This increase in highway transportation 

costs has been offset by the lower fuel prices 

and our efficiency measures to remove redundant 

transportation from the network.

International Operations Optimization — The 

Postal Service continues to focus on improving 

customer service through increased visibility for 

international and military mail, using customs 

data to improve operational processes. In 

cooperation with the U.S. Defense and State 

departments, USPS has enabled enhanced 

customer visibility and tracking of APO, FPO 

and DPO mailpieces leaving select high-volume 

locations in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. 

USPS also has increased the number of scan 

events on outbound international civilian items by 

integrating air carrier data and additional foreign 

post scan events into its tracking platforms. USPS 

is piloting “Green Lane” initiatives to expedite the 
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United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

customs processing of inbound packages using 

electronic customs declaration data so it gets to 

the recipient sooner. The expansion of foreign 

post partners providing this data also is laying the 

framework for future strategic initiatives to expedite 

inbound international and military package sorting 

within domestic operations.

Team Cleaning at USPS — Cleaning might widely 

be considered simply a chore but at the Postal 

Service this activity is guided by new performance 

standards. In 2013, the USPS Maintenance 

Policies and Programs organization began 

researching and testing new custodial processes. 

Previous cleaning policies had not been updated 

for more than 46 years. Cleaning science and 

technology have evolved tremendously.

The American Postal Workers Union and the 

Postal Service agreed on new team cleaning 

standards and nationwide implementation was set 

in motion in June 2014.

Postal employees and the environment are 

beginning to reap the rewards of team cleaning 

concepts that emphasize cleaning for health 

instead of just cleaning for appearance. New 

processes use a standard set of chemicals 

distributed in ultra-small collapsible packets 

designed for easy recycling. There have 

been some growing pains as employees and 

management reprogram old muscle memories, 

but these changes are well worth the benefits 

especially since costs are lower and fewer 

chemicals are used.

Team cleaning has been implemented at more 

than 80 sites with FY2015 savings of $14.5 

million.

Facilities Management

Our facilities are the primary place of interaction 

with many of our customers. We’re focused on 

developing innovative solutions to improve that 

customer experience and provide world-class 

service. Our real estate portfolio of approximately 

32,000 buildings includes 274 million square feet 

of interior space. It’s vital that we manage and 

adapt our building portfolio to align with customer 

and organizational needs at a sustainable cost. 

The Facilities team provides appropriate facilities 

for Postal Service needs to ensure proper 

stewardship and management of real estate 

inventory and related resources.

Facilities performs strategic planning through 

“node studies” analyzing the processing, delivery 

and retail use of existing facilities, and current 

and future local service needs. This identifies 

communities that can benefit from additional or 

modified capacity and locations where capacity 

exceeds the needs of the Postal Service, 

representing potential opportunities for savings 

and revenue generation. The 61 node studies 

approved in FY2015 represent $100 million in 

net present value in potential savings.

We executed over 6,000 leases in FY2015, 

ensuring USPS operations could continue at 

these properties. Despite increases in lease 

rates driven by the recovering economy, the 

rates for leases over $50,000 were negotiated 

at 8.4 percent below market value. The sale 

and outleasing of (rental) excess real property, 

excluding gains, generated $194 million in gross 

receipts. This trend is slowing as economic 

conditions shift and opportunities decrease.

In FY2015, the Facilities team implemented 

portfolio modification projects ranging 

from emergency replacements to planned 

infrastructure changes supporting organizational 

and network initiatives. Facilities completed 22 

new construction projects and 255 projects to 

consolidate or repurpose space within existing 

buildings. These projects enable the Postal 

Service to provide enhanced services, maintain 

or restore operations after catastrophic events, 

and combine multiple facilities into fewer or 

smaller locations when appropriate. USPS can 

take advantage of less costly space, sell large 

underutilized properties or move to smaller, more 

efficient space.
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United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

To meet the continual need to maintain our 

buildings, in FY2015 we completed over 41,000 

repair, alteration and replacement projects along 

with 1,578 upgrades for the Premier Post Office 

program. We also finished 512 upgrades to 

maintain customer access in locations impacted 

by POStPlan, the strategy to modify retail window 

hours to match customer use. These measures 

ensure safety, security and serviceability of Postal 

Service buildings as we maintain and right-size 

our network to provide a positive customer 

experience.

The current industry trend of consumer 

migration away from brick and motor shopping 

to e-commerce, and the resultant growth in 

our package business, continue to impact our 

facilities portfolio management plan. However, 

the Facilities team continuously innovates and 

adapts the plan to address these marketplace 

developments. (See tables on page 49.)

Supply Management Impact

Our suppliers help us be successful in our 

mission of serving the American public. They 

provide equipment, materials and services 

that enable us to deliver superior products 

and services to our customers. Overseeing 

these relationships is our Supply Management 

organization, which supports key Postal Service 

programs by providing timely and lean solutions 

with its supply-chain partners. In FY2015, Supply 

Management supported many strategic initiatives 

including Network Optimization and World 

Class Package Platform activities. As Supply 

Management works with its business partners 

to increase the efficiency of moving the mail, 

we’re equally focused on reducing the possibility 

of damaged and lost mail and improving the 

processes around handling such items. This 

effort, called Project ICE (Improve Customer 

Experience), includes multi-organizational project 

teams that work to identify and correct root 

causes for damaged and undeliverable mail.

In addition to our commitment to serving the 

American public, we’re also committed to high 

levels of service in the delivery of USPS products 

and services throughout the world. In 2015, we 

awarded 2,000 air transportation service lanes 

in nine international regions while reducing the 

overall cost of these services.

Finally, while the United States accounts for 45 

percent of the global market in cross-border 

shopping, our offerings are limited. Supply 

Management and Global Business are working 

together to bring the Global eCommerce 

Marketplace on line, positioning the Postal 

Service to become more competitive in providing 

these services.

Supplier Diversity — The Postal Service is 

recognized as a leader in multicultural business 

opportunities and the Supplier Diversity program 

continues to strengthen our competitiveness in 

the marketplace. In FY2015, the Postal Service 

had contract commitments that exceeded 

$4.5 billion with small businesses, $527 million 

with minority businesses and $766 million with 

women-owned businesses. DiversityBusiness.

com named the Postal Service the country’s top 

government agency for multicultural business 

opportunities, confirming a consistent and quality 

commitment to providing business opportunities 

to women- and minority-owned businesses.

Supplier Diversity supports several initiatives 

that emphasize supplier diversity as a core 

component of Postal Service operations. 

These include promoting supplier registration, 

delivering workshops, conducting one-on-one 

business meetings and maintaining a prominent 

presence on usps.com. When they go online, 

businesses can find information about steps 

to take to effectively market supplies and 

services within the postal marketplace. Supplier 

Diversity also maintains joint memberships 

with premier multicultural business and trade 

associations such as the National Minority 

Supplier Development Council, Women’s 
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United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

Business Enterprise National Council, U.S. 

Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Pan 

Asian American Chamber of Commerce and the 

National Congress of American Indians.

During FY2015, the Postal Service:  Registered over 1,600 suppliers through 

the electronic portal to do business with the 

Postal Service.

 Evaluated proposals and solicitation criteria 

to ensure the consideration of small minorityand women-owned business participation.

 Served as chair of the National Minority 

Supplier Development Council’s procurement 

committee for the capital region.

 Collected, analyzed and reported quarterly 

direct awards and subcontracting data.

Accelerating the 

Pace of Innovation

Innovation waits for no one. While the Postal 

Service always has been a leader in embracing 

new technologies, we recognize the pace of 

change is speeding up — and we’re keeping 

pace. In fact, we’re accelerating our testing of 

new approaches to better serve our customer’s 

changing needs and bring mail much more deeply 

into their digital lives. And, as mailing and shipping 

needs evolve, we’ll make sure the Postal Service 

is the deliverer of choice. After all, we’re the 

longtime experts at it.

Our Mailing Business

The Postal Service continues to drive innovations 

that give consumers more control over the mail 

they receive, make direct mail simple to send, 

enable multi-media touch points and reinforce 

the resiliency of mail as a trusted, effective 

communications channel.

Stamp Program — The Postal Service continues 

to issue postage stamps as a convenient and 

secure payment method for consumers. While 

more customers may be using postage they can 

print themselves at home or at work — especially 

when discounts are being offered — the basic 

postage stamp remains popular with consumers 

and collectors worldwide.

The “Forever” stamp concept was first introduced 

in April 2007 with a stamp featuring the image of 

the Liberty Bell and was designed for consumers’ 

ease of use during price changes. In FY2011, all 

domestic First-Class 1-ounce stamps became 

Forever stamps with the exception of stamps in 

coils of 3,000 and 10,000, and those formats 

were added to the Forever program in FY2014. 

Forever stamps sell for the basic First-Class Mail 

1-ounce price in effect at the time of sale.

A Global Forever stamp was introduced in 2013, 

offering a single price for any First-Class Mail 

International 1-ounce letter to any country in the 

world. Global Forever stamps may also be used 

to mail a letter up to 2 ounces to Canada.

In FY2015, we took the “Forever” stamp concept 

one step further and extended this convenience 

to customers needing stamps for mailing items 

weighing more than 1 ounce as well as for 

postcards and bulky or odd-sized envelopes that 

require hand sorting. The new “additional-ounce” 

Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the 

applicable price for the price category printed on 

them at the time of use. Customers purchasing 

these Forever stamps can easily determine 

their use by the descriptions on the stamps: 

“additional-ounce, postcard, non-machinable 

surcharge, 2-ounce and 3-ounce.”

In FY2015, 28 new stamps were issued with 72 

designs recognizing American history, culture, 

people and achievements. Some of the stamps 

issued — as part of the Postal Service’s annual 

stamp program — paid tribute to individuals as 

diverse as Wilt Chamberlain, Robert Robinson 

Taylor, Martin Ramirez, Maya Angelou, Elvis 

Presley and Paul Newman. Other stamps issued 

included these subjects: Batman; From Me to 
54

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

You; The War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans; The 

Civil War: 1865; Medal of Honor: Vietnam; United 

States Coast Guard; Special Olympics; and a 

social awareness stamp for Missing Children. 

Additionally, the Postal Service jointly issued 

stamps with Japan Post (Gifts of Friendship) and 

Sweden Post (Legends of Hollywood — Ingrid 

Bergman). Batman proved to be the biggest 

selling commemorative stamp issuance of the 

year with sales over $26 million. Batman was 

followed by Missing Children, From Me to You, 

Maya Angelou and Gifts of Friendship, which all 

generated over $10 million each. Our biggestselling stamps, featuring Flags and Holiday 

themes, had much greater sales.

The Postal Service also is authorized by Congress 

to issue semi-postal stamps that are used to help 

raise funds for designated causes. The price of 

a semi-postal stamp pays for the First-Class Mail 

single-piece postage price in effect at the time of 

purchase and reasonable reimbursement of costs 

to the Postal Service, plus an additional charge. 

This additional charge (or “differential”) helps fund 

causes designated by Congress, with money 

going to a congressionally selected executive 

agency or agencies. 

Four semi-postal stamps have been issued since 

the program began in 1998. Since inception of 

semi-postal stamps to the beginning of FY2015, a 

total of $96.2 million had been raised. In FY2015, 

an additional $2.1 million was raised bringing the 

total to $98.3 million. The two semi-postal stamps 

on sale in FY2015 were the BCR and Save 

Vanishing Species stamps.

In FY2015 sales for the Breast Cancer Research 

stamp were over $9.7 million, raising nearly $1.8 

million. This brings the total raised for BCR to 

over $81 million since 1998. By law, 70 percent 

of the net amount raised is given to the National 

Institutes of Health and 30 percent is given to the 

Medical Research Program at the Department of 

Defense.

In FY2015 sales for the Save Vanishing 

Species stamp were over $1.7 million, raising 

over $326,000 for the Multinational Species 

Conservation Fund (MSCF). This brings the total 

raised for MSCF to nearly $2.9 million since 

September 2011.

For more information about the Postal Service 

stamp program, visit www.usps.com/stamps.

Promotions — The Postal Service annually offers 

promotions designed to create excitement about 

mail and provide multiple opportunities for mailers 

to enhance the value of their mail. In FY2015, 

the Postal Service launched several promotions 

designed to help marketers engage their 

customers by using dynamic color print mobile 

technology as well as traditional and innovative 

mail techniques.  Earned Value Reply Mail (May 1–July 31, 

2015) — This promotion encouraged mailers 

to promote First-Class Mail as a primary reply 

mechanism for their customers and to keep 

Courtesy Reply Mail (CRM) and Business 

Reply Mail (BRM) envelopes in their outgoing 

mailpieces by providing a financial benefit 

when the CRM/BRM envelopes were used.

 Color Transpromo (June 1–Nov. 30, 2015) 

— In 2014, the Postal Service introduced this 

promotion to encourage mailers of bills and 

statements to use color messaging in order to 

create a greater connection to and response 

from consumers. In 2015, USPS continued 

this approach to grow the value of First-Class 

Mail and encourage mailers to invest in color 

print technology.

 Emerging and Advanced Technology (June 

1–Nov. 30, 2015) — The Postal Service 

continues to encourage mailers to integrate 

direct mail with mobile technology or new 

advances in print. With this promotion, mailers 

could earn an upfront 2 percent postage 

discount on mailpieces that incorporated an 

advanced print technology such as innovations 

in paper and ink, included the use of standard 
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United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

near field communications or included an 

“advanced/enhanced” augmented reality 

experience.

 Mail Drives Mobile Engagement (July 1–Dec. 

31, 2015) — This promotion provided mailers 

with the opportunity to earn an upfront 2 

percent postage discount by integrating 

mobile technology with direct mail to create a 

convenient method for consumers to engage 

and interact with their printed mailpieces. 

USPS wants to encourage mailers to adopt 

and invest in technologies that enhance the 

value of mail and create consumer excitement.

Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) — Every Door 

Direct Mail (EDDM) service is an easy, costeffective way for marketers to reach potential 

customers near their businesses. Using an online 

mapping tool available at usps.com, mailers 

can select individual postal routes for delivery to 

every household on those routes. They also can 

refer to demographic data in choosing routes. 

In February 2015 this tool was optimized for 

viewing on mobile tablet devices. With EDDM 

Retail, customers can pay for and enter their 

mail at the retail counter using simplified mailing 

preparation. Since its launch in April 2011, 

EDDM has generated over $1.7 billion in revenue 

and nearly 11 billion mailpieces from mailers 

across the country.

Market-Dominant Product Pricing and 

Classification — Our Mailing Services, which 

include First-Class Mail, Standard Mail, Periodicals 

and certain parcel services, account for 

approximately 76 percent of our annual operating 

revenues. Price increases for these services are 

generally subject to a price cap by class of mail 

based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban 

Consumers (CPI-U). Our Board of Governors sets 
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United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

the prices, which are reviewed by the PRC. Prices 

for certain Mailing Services increased an average 

of 1.9 percent in May 2015, 1.7 percent in 

January 2014 and 2.6 percent in January 2013.

Price Increases — On May 7, 2015, the 

PRC approved price increases for the Market 

Dominant products of Standard Mail, Periodicals 

and Package Services. Previously, the PRC had 

approved price adjustments for First-Class Mail 

and extra services. The average price increases, 

which became effective May 31, 2015, were 

slightly below the CPI-U price cap of 1.966 

percent. We expect these price increases 

to generate approximately $900 million in 

annualized contribution.

Exigent Surcharge — In December 2013, the 

PRC ruled that the Postal Service could collect 

an exigent surcharge to recoup revenues lost 

due to the Great Recession’s impact on mail 

volume. The surcharge revenue is in addition to 

revenue that the Postal Service would generate 

solely from a price increase based on CPI-U.The 

PRC determined the value of this lost revenue to 

be $3.2 billion in incremental revenue, and $2.8 

billion in contribution. The ruling also stated that 

when this revenue amount is reached the Postal 

Service must remove the surcharge from their 

prices. 

As a result of the ruling, the Postal Service 

implemented a 4.3 percent temporary exigent 

surcharge on Mailing Services in January 2014. 

That same month, the Postal Service filed an 

appeal of the PRC ruling in Federal Court. In 

June of 2015, the Federal Appeals Court ruled 

in favor of the Postal Service’s appeal. They 

remanded the case back to the PRC to review 

the total amount of surcharge originally awarded.

In their review the PRC determined that the 

Postal Service was due an additional $1.4 billion 

in revenue. The new total incremental revenue 

target number for the exigent surcharge is $4.6 

billion. In FY2015, the Postal Service collected 

$3.5 billion in incremental revenue from the 

surcharge. We expect the surcharge to remain 

in effect until approximately April 2016, absent a 

successful appeal.

Our Shipping and Packages Business

As shipping and package volumes and revenues 

continue their impressive growth, the Postal 

Service took steps to simplify products, offer 

people more control over where, when and how 

they receive packages and provide superior 

labeling, manifesting and payment solutions.

Priority Mail Pricing — The Postal Service did 

not change Priority Mail prices in FY2015. 

This strategy builds on Priority Mail’s popularity 

with customers. Unlike others in the shipping 

industry, the Postal Service did not implement 

any new dimensional weight changes. When 

customers ship with Priority Mail, they get free 

insurance, expected delivery day and Flat Rate 

and Regional Rate packaging options. Priority 

Mail is one of the Postal Service’s most popular 

shipping products, helping to boost the Postal 

Service’s package volumes and meet customers’ 

needs for convenience at competitive prices.

Dynamic Routing and Sunday Delivery —

To continue meeting the needs of today’s 

consumers, the Postal Service increased 

package delivery from six days per week to 

include Sunday in select ZIP Codes. While the 

Postal Service has delivered on Sundays during 

the holidays in the past, in FY2015, Sunday 

delivery was expanded across the nation 

throughout the year. All totaled, USPS delivered 

over 77 million packages on Sunday to homes, 

businesses and Post Office Boxes this year.

Package Pickup — We not only deliver to every 

address — we also will pick up packages 

from those same addresses. To improve 

convenience, more USPS shipping products 

now can be picked up from customers’ homes 

and offices through our free Package Pickup 

service. Customers go online to usps.com to 

request that their carriers pick up their packages 
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United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

during regular delivery the next business day. 

Previously, free Package Pickup was only 

available for expedited products, returns and 

international items. Now, free Package Pickup 

also includes First-Class Package Service, FirstClass Mail parcels, First-Class Package Returns 

and ground products. We also made changes to 

our Pick up on Demand service, which provides 

pick up within a two-hour window for a fee. 

Requests for this option can now be scheduled 

up to a year in advance and the service can be 

requested on usps.com.

Metro Post — The Postal Service continued to 

expand its market test of Metro Post same-day 

delivery. The test product, which was introduced 

in 2012 in San Francisco, enables consumers 

to receive same-day delivery on packages 

ordered at participating retailers before 2 p.m. 

In FY2015 the Postal Service delivered nearly 

200,000 Metro Post packages to consumers 

and businesses in the New York metro market.

Returns — The Postal Service expanded Parcel 

Return Service Return Delivery Unit (RDU) to 

932 additional pickup locations. Customers now 

can pick up packages within 48 hours at 9,063 

RDUs across the country.

gopost — Currently in a testing phase, gopost 

is the Postal Service’s convenient way to 

receive and ship packages. Our gopost units 

are automated, secure, self-service parcel 

lockers that are placed in convenient locations, 

where customers can pick up or ship packages 

24 hours a day, seven days a week at most 

locations. Customers who sign up for gopost 

receive user ID cards and PIN numbers which 

they can then use to access lockers and retrieve 

or send packages. In FY2015, the program 

added eight new gopost locations in the New 

York City area. The gopost program is a key 

component of Postal Service efforts to better 

service the needs of our customers receiving 

packages.

Other Products and Services

Customized Delivery (Groceries) — The Postal 

Service developed and implemented technology 

and business processes that enable USPS to 

provide pre-dawn delivery services with Amazon 

Fresh, a grocery purchase and delivery product. 

This program extends the Postal Service’s 

package manifesting, dynamic routing and delivery 

capabilities. Since its launch in September 2014, 

revenue for this customized delivery effort is over 

$902,000 from pilot programs in seven cities.

Passports — The Postal Service, in partnership 

with the U.S. State Department Passport 

Services, makes it easy and convenient to apply 

for a passport. Postal Service employees accept 

more than 68 percent of first-time applications. 

Over 5,000 USPS facilities provide fee-based 

acceptance of first-time applications for a U.S. 

passport book or passport card. Over 4,500 

facilities provide both passport acceptance and 

photo services (for a fee). Total passport revenue 

for FY2015 from both applications and photos 

was in excess of $176 million, an increase of 6 

percent over the previous year.

A near-term goal is to improve contribution from 

passports by increasing efficiency, growing the 

number of applications accepted and improving 

service to meet State Department requirements. 

In particular, the emphasis will be to improve 

the percentage of passport mailings processed 

through automation and consolidate passport 

facilities. The Postal Service has implemented 

passport acceptance centers in larger cities to 

provide passport services in a separate area 

or location, focusing on customer service and 

convenience.

Post Office (PO) Box Service — At 8,400 Post 

Office locations, we offer competitive PO Box 

service, which offers enhancements similar 

to services offered by our competitors and at 

comparable prices. More than 1 million customers 

have signed up for the following services:
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United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

 Real Mail Notification — Customers receive 

daily emails or text messages to inform them 

that they have mail in their PO Boxes. During 

FY2015, more than 327,000 customers 

signed up for this service.

 Street Addressing — Mail is addressed to 

a customer using either their PO Box or the 

street address of the postal location, along 

with the PO Box number. Over 400,000 

customers used this service during FY2015.

 Signature on File — Offered for receipt 

of Priority Mail Express Mail, insured mail 

over $500, Return Receipt (electronic) and 

Signature Confirmation, more than 286,000 

customers used this service. 

In choosing a new competitive PO Box, 

customers could participate in the “Baker’s 

Dozen” — 13 months of service for a 12-month 

payment — and a deposit was not required 

for the first two keys. Many locations also offer 

expanded lobby access hours and earlier times 

when mail will be available for pickup.

PO Boxes offer the convenience of online billing 

and payment. Federal agencies now can link and 

pay for all boxes and caller services through their 

Official Mail Accounting System accounts.

Our Global Business

Our efforts to improve the customer experience 

include our global business. The Postal Service 

has a number of bilateral agreements with 

foreign posts, and we continue to seek additional 

revenue-enhancing pacts with other postal 

administrations that have extensive exchanges of 

mail with the United States.

Commercial Outbound ePacket — In FY2015, 

we expanded our Commercial Outbound ePacket 

service to Brazil. This service meets the needs of 

e-commerce merchants for low value, lightweight 

items up to 4.4 pounds. It’s now available to 28 

countries and the Postal Service plans to continue 

adding destinations in the future.

Ongoing Bilateral Agreements — A two-year 

bilateral agreement with Canada Post renewed 

in FY2014 is being renegotiated for another 

two-year period beginning in January 2016. 

The focus is on continued close collaboration to 

meet the demands of cross-border e-commerce 

customers through innovative services, increased 

reliability, visibility and predictability. A two-year 

bilateral agreement with Australia Post, also 

renewed in FY2014, is being reviewed for 

extension to meet the demands of e-commerce 

customers for reliable package services. The 

bilateral agreement with the Netherlands was 

renewed in FY2015 for a two-year term.

In the Asia/Pacific region, bilateral contracts with 

the postal administrations of the China Post Group 

and Hong Kong Post were renewed October 1, 

2015. A bilateral agreement with Korea was being 

reviewed for renewal for the remainder of calendar 

year 2015. For the time being, previous bilateral 

agreements with Singapore and Vietnam have 

been suspended.

Enhancing Global Products — In FY2015, many 

initiatives were designed to increase awareness 

of the USPS international services brand. For 

example, new packaging displays were placed in 

retail units to promote Global Express Guaranteed 

(GXG) service. This display also includes how to 

complete the necessary forms properly. GXG also 

was added to additional PC Postage platforms 

in FY2015, giving more customers access to 

the service. Priority Mail Express International 

(PMEI) moved to a combined shipping label/

customs form. The new PS Form 2976-B, Priority 

Mail Express International Shipping, reduces 

paperwork and improves the customer’s overall 

experience.

At our retail locations, we added more signage 

elements promoting international services to help 

build awareness of different services and their 

features. Our Global Business group also held a 

summer contest to promote international services 

to universities, small/medium businesses and to 

ethnic organizations to target additional potential 

customers for international services.
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United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

Our employees not only are the faces of public 

service in communities across the nation — they 

give back in many ways, from collecting food 

for families in need to raising awareness about 

important issues to even helping save lives. 

During the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, 

USPS letter carriers collected 70.6 million pounds 

of food donated by customers on their routes and 

destined for local food banks, pantries or shelters. 

It was the 11th consecutive year that more than 

70 million pounds were collected, adding to the 

more than 1 billion pounds of food collected since 

the effort began. Stamp Out Hunger, the nation’s 

largest single-day food drive, was launched 

in 1993 by the National Association of Letter 

Carriers and is supported by the Postal Service. 

Canned and non-perishable items are collected 

by 230,000 letter carriers and other Postal Service 

employees in 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 

states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Virgin 

Islands and Guam. 

Each year in May, the Postal Service supports 

National Dog Bite Prevention Week. This public 

safety campaign builds awareness concerning 

animal attacks. Nationwide, 5,767 Postal Service 

employees were attacked in calendar year 

2014. Of the 4.5 million Americans bitten by 

dogs annually, half are children, according to the 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 

Postal Service, medical community, veterinarians 

and insurance industry are working together to 

educate the public that dog bites are avoidable. 

Working with Valassis Communications Inc., the 

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children 

and the Postal Inspection Service, the “Have You 

Seen Me” campaign demonstrates the power and 

reach of mail. The campaign’s ability to connect 

citizens across the country has been instrumental 

in returning 158 missing children to their families 

as of May 2015. 

Each year, Postal Service employees go beyond 

the call of duty, some even risking their own 

safety, to save the lives of the customers they 

serve. Hundreds have been recognized as heroes 

over the years. At its annual recognition event 

in Washington, DC, the Postal Service honored 

Carmichael, CA, letter carrier Scott Gallegos as 

the 2015 National Hero of the Year. In just his 

fourth week on the job, Gallegos risked his life on 

his route to save a woman who had been shot 

by a man who then engaged police in a five-hour 

standoff. 

The Postal Service, the National Marrow Donor 

Program and the Be the Match Foundation 

created the “Delivering the Gift of Life” campaign 

18 years ago. To date, 59,848 Postal Service 

employees and their families have joined the 

donor registry as of July 2015. 

Since 1912, Postal Service employees, charities 

and individual and corporate volunteers have 

helped children and families in need experience 

the magic of the holiday season by answering 

letters to Santa. 

The Postal Service and Postal Inspection 

Service dedicate one week in March every year 

— National Consumer Protection Week — to 

educate consumers about identity theft and other 

fraud schemes and provide tools and information 

to combat these crimes.

Crime Prevention and Consumer Education

The Postal Inspection Service, comprising 

Postal Inspectors, uniformed Postal Police 

Officers, contract security providers and a cadre 

of professional, technical and administrative 

employees, helps ensure the safety and security 

of all employees as they serve the American 

public in every neighborhood across the country. 

Fraud schemes continue to be a major concern, 

targeting the elderly and the young, the rich 

and the poor. Fraudsters have no regard for the 

age or socio-economic status of their victims. 

Technological innovation has extended the reach 

of these criminals who know no boundaries and 

makes law enforcement and prosecution efforts 

more difficult. Identity theft claims thousands of 

Connecting Communities
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United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

American victims each year, while businesses 

and consumers suffer millions of dollars in losses 

and untold amounts of frustration and misery 

recovering from these scams. In response, the 

Postal Inspection Service has developed a unique 

approach to consumer crime prevention: the 

Consumer Alert News Network (CANN). Now in its 

third year, this original news series exposes fraud, 

identity theft and cyber scams. Developed in 

partnership with Litton News Source, CANN helps 

educate consumers on prevention measures 

to avoid crimes including bogus job offers, 

sweepstakes swindles, foreign lottery fraud and 

charity scams. Each episode is presented by the 

inspectors who investigated the crime and the 

consumers who were victimized. Since its launch 

in September 2012, more than 430 episodes 

have been distributed to nearly 120 television 

stations across the nation — representing a 

potential 3.8 million viewers. The goal is simple: 

help consumers preserve their health, welfare and 

financial well-being.

Environmental Impact

We promote a culture of conservation throughout 

the organization. We have a rich history of setting 

goals to reduce our impact on the environment, 

and we lead by example.

Sustainability Performance — The Postal Service 

is committed to reporting the results of our 

sustainability efforts every year. Our targets are 

in conjunction with those established through 

executive order in terms of reductions and base 

years for comparison. In FY2014, we achieved 

the following:  Total greenhouse gas emissions were down 

13 percent.

 Facility energy use was down 31 percent.  Water usage was down 35 percent.  Consumables purchased were reduced by 36 

percent.

 Waste diversion from landfill was 38 percent.

 Transportation fuel use increased 11.5 

percent. 

The first four results met or exceeded our 

targets. Diversion from landfill to recycling was 

below target. We’re implementing a standardized 

National Recycling Operation which, when 

completed, is expected to drive diversion from 

landfill to recycling to over 90 percent. The 

continued increase in fuel use is due to the 

growing number of delivery points, more postalowned vehicles on rural routes and an aging 

fleet of delivery vehicles that is scheduled to be 

replaced.

We have a rich history of setting goals to reduce 

our impact on the environment. Our current 

sustainability goals, which were formulated in the 

early 2000s, are an example of that history.

As a sustainability leader, we report three 

separate greenhouse gas inventories. The first is 

with our federal peers through Executive Order 

13693: Planning for Federal Sustainability in the 

Next Decade. The second is with our industry 

peers at the International Post Corporation, and 

lastly, with our business peers at The Climate 

Registry. In addition, we also report progress 

to the White House Council on Environmental 

Quality in the Strategic Sustainability 

Performance Plan and the Office of Management 

and Budget Scorecard. Each of these efforts 

furthers our transparency.

In the coming year, we’ll examine our successes 

and identify areas of opportunity to formulate 

new goals for the next decade. Additionally, to 

better align our organization to our federal peers, 

we’re adjusting our goals this year to reflect a 

new time frame. This approach is in line with 

Executive Order 13693. While the Postal Service 

is not obligated to comply with this executive 

order, we’ve determined that sustainability is a 

best business practice.

Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation — 

Executive Order 13693, which was released 
61

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

in March 2015, asks each agency to consider 

climate impacts in operational preparedness 

planning by calculating the potential cost 

and risk to the mission associated with 

agency operations, facilities, transportation, 

communication and energy demands.

By addressing the impact of climate change 

on the Postal Service, we’ll better position 

the organization to manage emerging mission 

risks and ensure ongoing effective operations. 

We’ll continue to incorporate climate change 

into strategies, plans, business processes and 

programs.

Subject matter experts from throughout the 

Postal Service met monthly in 2015 to move 

planned actions forward, identify additional 

risks and create a strategy to address the risks. 

Additionally, team members pledged to take 

actions in their personal lives to reduce their 

impact to the Earth, such as upgrading home 

light bulbs to energy efficient LEDs, purchasing 

and using a programmable thermostat, and 

eating a plant-based meal an additional time per 

week. Moving forward, the team will continue to 

identify actions that can be taken to address the 

challenge of making the Postal Service climate 

resilient.

Read our plan at: http://about.usps.com/whatwe-are-doing/green/climatechange.htm.

Annual Sustainability Report — Every year, 

the Postal Service releases an Annual 

Sustainability Report that reflects on the 

prior year’s performance and highlights key 

initiatives that promote a culture of conservation 

throughout the organization. The 2014 Annual 

Sustainability Report was released in April 2015. 

It featured new infographics to improve readers’ 

understanding of the USPS sustainability story. 

It also included an interview with the Postmaster 

General and Chief Sustainability Officer, touching 

on topics ranging from sustainability and the 

Postal Service’s mission to the importance of 

preparing for a changing climate.

The Annual Sustainability Report follows the 

Global Reporting Initiative framework to offer 

consistency and transparency. This is one of the 

most widely recognized reporting standards for 

public sustainability performance disclosure.

Read the Annual Sustainability Report at: http://

about.usps.com/what-we-are-doing/green/

report/2014/.

Environmental Compliance — Continuous 

improvement drives our management systems 

approach to environmental compliance. 

Environmental compliance reviews (ECRs) are 

the foundation of our compliance programs and 

the mechanism to implement several national 

strategies. ECRs are conducted at approximately 

700 of our high-environmental-risk facilities (sites 

with mail processing, vehicle maintenance, 

regulated underground storage tanks [USTs] and 

other significant permits/plans) on a three-year 

cycle. Each year we conduct approximately 200 

ECRs. Beyond assessing compliance, ECRs 

also provide “hands on” training and assistance 

to facilities in data management, record keeping 

and other vital functions, and also assist in 

disseminating policies, guidance and tools, 

and collecting records and data for corporate 

systems.

Standardized guidance, training and record 

keeping are now part of our electronic 

management systems approach to maintain 

compliance. Additionally, a centralized data 

management system provides easy access to 

key environmental data indicators. This year, we 

continued to expand our inventory of program 

guidance and implementation tools on our 

compliance website.

In FY2015, the Postal Service’s environmental 

and supply management functions issued a 

joint policy prohibiting the procurement and use 

of products containing 13 targeted chemicals. 

The policy supports USPS pollution prevention 

goals to minimize the use of hazardous 

chemicals and reduce the generation of 
62

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

hazardous waste. Additionally, employees 

are encouraged to purchase environmentally 

preferred products, which are specifically 

identified in USPS product catalogs with a 

green leaf icon.

In FY2015, the Postal Service continued 

implementing a new UST strategy focused 

on providing USPS with a modern tank 

infrastructure that reduces environmental risk, 

improves emergency fueling planning, and 

maintains associated bulk fuel cost savings. In 

addition to strategically removing and replacing 

USTs, the program establishes a centralized 

national monitoring system and provides on-site 

compliance support.

USPS BlueEarth Federal Recycling Program 

(for Printer Cartridges and Electronic Waste)

— With the knowledge gained from our own 

sustainability efforts, the Postal Service is 

committed to assisting our customers in 

achieving their own green objectives.

The USPS BlueEarth Federal Recycling Program 

is part of a branded suite of sustainability 

solutions and innovations designed for our federal 

customers. The program provides government 

agencies and their employees with the ability to 

securely and efficiently recycle electronic devices 

and printer cartridges free of charge on a national 

level. Recycling programs help prevent e-waste 

from going to landfills, which can be dangerous 

to both the environment and human health.

Twenty-three federal agencies are currently 

enrolled, including the Postal Service. Federal 

agencies receive a recycling activity report with 

data to assist them in meeting Executive Order 

13693 sustainability requirements. Additionally, 

this effort has been recognized as an example of 

“federal government leading by example” under 

the National Strategy for Electronic Stewardship.

All federal agencies can enroll in the USPS 

BlueEarth Federal Recycling Program to recycle 

electronic devices using the Postal Service 

network. This program makes it simple for 

federal agencies and their employees to properly 

dispose of items such as printer cartridges and 

obsolete small electronics. All items are shipped 

to a certified third-party recycling facility, which 

ensures they are either securely recycled or remanufactured for resale opportunities.

Besides providing a simple, secure and costeffectively way to recycle e-waste, the USPS 

BlueEarth Federal Recycling Program also 

increases mail volume and postage revenue. 

For information about the program for federal 

agencies, visit http://blueearth.usps.gov/.

National Recycling Program — As previously 

stated, the Postal Service diverted only 38 

percent of its waste from landfills to recycling. 

We strongly believe we can significantly increase 

this percentage and do so in a financially 

beneficial way. The Postal Service generates 

a large amount of recyclable material, the 

majority of which is mixed paper. We continue 

to incur disposal costs to handle much of this 

material, which would better be turned into 

revenue through recycling. Just like many other 

organizations in the transportation, shipping 

and service sectors in the U.S. economy, the 

Postal Service is increasingly looking to leverage 

its existing reverse logistics capabilities into 

business opportunities. For the Postal Service, 

with its extensive nationwide transportation 

network, the opportunity is significant.

In FY2014, USPS launched a five-year National 

Recycling Operation capital equipment 

investment initiative that will expand its 

backhaul recycling to every part of the country. 

Backhauling is using the space available in 

trucks and mail transportation equipment to carry 

recyclables from Post Offices to large distribution 

centers and hubs on the return trip from 

transporting mail to Post Offices. The materials 

are consolidated for recycling at those hub 

locations, and thus no additional transportation is 

required for handling recyclables. To date capital 
63

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

equipment has been deployed into 15 districts 

and 35 USPS facilities.

USPS BlueEarth Secure Destruction Mail 

Service Program — The USPS BlueEarth 

Secure Destruction Mail Service Program is 

another key branded and innovative sustainability 

solution, launched nationwide in FY2015. 

Designed specifically for business mailers 

using the Intelligent Mail barcode, the program 

securely shreds and recycles letter-size pieces 

of undeliverable-as-addressed First-Class Mail 

with personal protected information that would 

otherwise be returned to the sender. Secure 

Destruction is an opt-in service that operates 

under the protection and supervision of the 

Postal Service.

Mailers enrolled in the program receive a daily 

electronic notice of the mailpieces sorted for 

Secure Destruction. These e-notifications are 

provided to registered mailers through the USPS 

Electronic Product Fulfillment customer portal 

website.

Mailing industry benefits of Secure Destruction:  Reduces carbon emissions (i.e., greenhouse 

gases). The Postal Service estimates that 

for every 25,000 pieces of carrier-delivered 

return-to-sender (RTS) mail that’s destroyed, 

carbon emissions are reduced by an average 

of 1 metric ton of CO2 equivalent; 

 The process takes place within secure USPS 

facilities by postal employees, reducing risks 

of information exposure; and

 All securely destroyed mail will be recycled, 

thus reducing the demand on natural 

resources.

Benefits for registered mailers:  Reduction of in-house costs for handling and 

destroying RTS mail;

 Visibility into the process through daily 

automated notifications on the USPS 

Electronic Product Fulfillment website; and

 Improvements in privacy protection for 

customers.

The Postal Service surpassed its FY2015 goal 

of intercepting and destroying over 21.7 million 

pieces of RTS First-Class letter mail as result of 

implementing the program. The target goal for 

FY2016 is 41.6 million pieces or 5 percent of all 

automated pre-sort RTS mail.

FY2015 performance:

Metric FY2015 

Actual

FY2015 

Variance 

FY2015 

Target

Mail Volume (pieces) 23,124,306 1,418,327 21,705,979

Potential GHG 

Reduced (metric tons 

CO2 equiv)

925.0 56.7 868.2

Paper Recycled (metric 

tons)

590 36.2 553.8

Capture Rate 2.66% 0.16% 2.50%
64

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

The Postal Service has adopted a structured 

management process — Delivering Results, 

Innovation, Value and Efficiency (DRIVE) — to 

improve business strategy development and 

execution against our major goals. It’s sponsored 

by the Postmaster General with direct oversight 

from the ELT.

This process is based on a well-established 

methodology used by many corporations to apply 

strategic and financial rigor to decision-making, 

and to navigate through significant organizational 

changes. This structured approach to organizing 

operational and management activities facilitates 

cross-functional dialogue and collaboration, 

provides streamlined reporting and accountability, 

and incorporates measurement, analysis and 

evaluation of a portfolio of strategic initiatives.

 In FY2015, progress was tracked through a 

detailed reporting system and reviewed every 

two weeks by the ELT. We continue to make 

improvements to our governance processes 

using industry best-practice approaches to 

ensure successful outcomes. The DRIVE 

portfolio of initiatives is dynamic and changes as 

priorities and resources require, and as programs 

are completed or adjusted based on external 

events. These initiatives support Postal Service 

corporate-wide goals as shown in the FY2015 

DRIVE Portfolio of Initiatives table. In FY2015, the 

Postal Service focused on the implementation 

of a portfolio of 17 strategic initiatives to meet its 

ambitious performance and financial goals. To 

date, the DRIVE portfolio has been able to drive 

significant revenue and cost-savings measures 

through our initiatives to make a positive impact 

on the Postal Service financial outlook in FY2015 

and beyond. The strategic initiatives identified 

for FY2015 were designed to respond to the 

changing environment of the Postal Service 

moving from a solely economic model to a model 

focusing on change, improvement and increasing 

our competitiveness to increase revenue 

generation.

We continue to refine and grow our initiatives 

to best serve the overall needs of the Postal 

Service. To that end, the FY2015 DRIVE Portfolio 

of Initiatives table demonstrates our changes to 

the portfolio since FY2014. The changes to our 

initiatives can be categorized by the following five 

actions:

1)  New — Initiative has been created in 

FY2015 to address an emerging business need.

2) ⇔ Continued — Initiative continued into 

FY2015 with minimal changes from FY2014. 

3) ⊗ Closed — Initiative was closed as a result of 

a completed activity or change in business need.

4) ⇑ Refined — Initiative was refined to reflect the 

current business situation and to achieve greater 

alignment with organizational goals.

5) ‡ Combined — Initiative was combined with 

a similar DRIVE initiative(s) to more accurately 

reflect the current business situation and provide 

greater alignment organizationally. (See table on 

page 65.)

Maintaining Focus and 

Accelerating Growth
65

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress

FY2015 DRIVE Portfolio Initiatives

Corporate Goal Strategies FY2014

Initiatives

Change 

Year Over 

Year

FY2015

Initiatives

Service Optimize the Value of Infrastructure Optimize Network Operations ⇔ Continued Optimize Network Operations

Optimize Delivery Operations ⇔ Continued Optimize Delivery Operations

Transform Access ⇔ Continued Transform Access

Optimize Facility Footprint ⇔ Continued Optimize Facility Footprint

Build a World-Class Package Platform ⇔ Continued Build a World-Class Package

 Platform

 New Modernize Delivery

Customer 

Experience

Improve Customer Experience Improve Customer Experience ⇔ Continued Improve Customer Experience

Leverage Technology to Drive 

 Business Value

Streamline Commercial Mail Acceptance

 and Enterprise Payment

Business Innovation Through IT

Achieve 100% Product Visibility

‡ Combined Leverage Technology and

 Data to Drive Business Value

Financial Grow Revenue from Innovation, 

 Core Products and Markets

Manage Funnel and Launch Innovations

Establish the Digital Platform

⇑ Refined Accelerate Innovation

Customer Growth and Retention ⇑ Refined Sales Excellence

Market New and Existing Services ⊗ Closed

Grow Small Business Revenue ⊗ Closed

 New International Competitiveness

Strengthen Financial and Risk

 Management Capabilities

Obtain PCI Compliance ⇔ Continued Obtain PCI Compliance 

(Closed Q2)

Achieve 100% Customer and Revenue

 Visibility

⇔ Continued Achieve 100% Customer and

 Revenue Visibility

Enhance Enterprise Risk Management

 Capabilities

⊗ Closed

Revenue Assurance ⇔ Continued Revenue Assurance 

Greenfield Costing ⇔ Continued Greenfield Costing

Workplace Build Competitive Workforce of 

 the Future

Building the Workforce of the Future ⇔ Continued Building the Workforce of the

 Future

  New Building an Integrated Human

 Resource System
66

United States Postal Service — 2015 Annual Report to Congress 

All references to a specific year or “the year” refer 

to the Postal Service fiscal year ending Sept. 30. 

However, specific month and year references 

pertain to the calendar date.

The following are among the many trademarks 

owned by the United States Postal Service®:

1-800-ASK-USPS®, ACSTM, APC®, Approved 

by the Postmaster General®, Approved 

Postal Provider®, Automated Postal Center®, 

Carrier PickupTM, Certified Mail®, Click-NShip®, Commercial Base®, Commercial 

Plus®, Confirm®, Critical Mail®, Customized 

MarketMail®, Delivery ConfirmationTM, 

DineroSeguro®, DMM®, EDDM®, EDDM 

Retail®, ePacket®, EPM®, Every Door Direct 

Mail®, Express Mail®, FAST®, FASTforward®, 

First-ClassTM, First-Class Mail®, First-Class 

Mail International®, Forever®, Global Direct 

Entry®, Global Express Guaranteed®, gopost®, 

IM®, IMb®, Intelligent Mail®, International 

Priority Airmail®, International Surface Air Lift®, 

LACSLink®, Media Mail®, MERLIN®, Metro 

Post®, Mover’s Guide®, MyUSPS.com®, 

NCOALink®, Netpost®, OneCode ACS®, Our 

Priority Is You®, Parcel Post®, Parcel Select®, 

PC Postage®, PCC®, PLANET Code®, PO 

BoxTM, Post OfficeTM, Post Office BoxTM, Postal 

ServiceTM, PostalOne!®, POSTNETTM, Premium 

Forwarding Service®, PRIORITY:YOU®, 

Priority Mail®, Priority Mail Express®, Priority 

Mail Express International®, Priority Mail Flat 

Rate®, Priority Mail International®, Priority Mail 

Regional Rate®, RDITM, ReadyPost®, Real Mail 

Notification®, REDRESS®, Registered MailTM, 

RIBBS®, Self-Service Ship and Mail Center & 

Design®, Signature ConfirmationTM, Stamps 

by Mail®, Stamps to Go®, Standard Mail®, 

Standard PostTM, The Postal Service®, U.S. 

Mail®, U.S. Postal Service®, United States 

Postal Inspection Service®, United States Postal 

Service®, United States Postal Service Office 

of Inspector General and Design®, USPS®, 

USPS BlueEarth®, USPS Change of Address®, 

USPS Delivery Confirmation®, USPS Digital 

ServicesTM, USPS Electronic Postmark®, USPS 

ePacket®, USPS Mobile®, USPS Package 

Intercept®, USPS Tracking®, USPS.COM®, 

Village Post OfficeTM, VPO®, ZIP CodeTM, 

ZIP + 4®.

The Sonic Eagle Logo and the trade dress of 

the Round Top Collection Box, the Letter Carrier 

Uniform, USPS packaging and the LLV Mail Truck 

are also among the many trademarks belonging 

to the United States Postal Service.

Trademarks

Year References
2015 Forever Stamps