Pickle wants to eat the UPS Driver.

Pickle is a mini-Pitbull we rescued early in the pandemic.  His breed’s tendency is to be overly protective.  So, when the brown UPS truck comes bouncing and rattling up the lane Pickle’s guard dog genes go into overdrive as he bounds and barks his way to block the intruder.

Of course, Pickle’s bounding and barking has increased along with the volume  of holiday packages arriving.  The packed UPS truck also got me wondering how the delivery of mail was faring at this time of year –the final weeks so important to many nonprofits.

Fortunately, the afternoon’s email brought the answer on the state of mail delivery thanks to a weekly update from Patrick McVean, Director of Business Development at Production  Solutions.   The firm handles hundreds of direct mail campaigns for scores of heavy mailing nonprofits and is eagle-eyed when it comes to monitoring the movement of mail.  We’ve relied on Production Solutions for previous posts on mail delivery appreciate their ongoing updates.

             Pickle

                                                                                                                                                                             The Bottom Line on Mail Delivery

Cutting to the chase.  Patrick says, “Here’s what you need to know:  the sky isn’t falling! However, there will likely be sporadic delays in all mail categories for the balance of the month.”

For those readers anxiously calling the mail room or your cashiering service every half hour (or more probably, answering the semi-panicked- “how’s-the-mail-looking?” calls from the CEO or CFO, here, courtesy of Patrick, is a bit of background you can use in demonstrating your deep knowledge of postal logistics.

• Online shopping this holiday season is seriously impacting both commercial parcel carriers and the Postal Service (USPS.)
• What was already a major concern over trucking capacity before the pandemic is an even more significant problem given the record-breaking surge in parcel deliveries —exacerbated by the fact that Amazon is increasingly reliant on the Postal Service—and so the USPS is swamped.

Frankly, I was surprised and pleased by Patrick’s report that the delay isn’t all that much.  Here’s a summary of mail delivery this year compared to last.

Delivery Times

For the year-to-date Production Solutions reports seeing 2020 averages right in line with last year:

• Jan-Nov First Class Mail Average is 4.4 days in 2020 compared to 4.3 days in 2019
• Jan-Oct Nonprofit Marketing Mail Average is around 12 days in 2020 compared to 11.9 days in 2019

Thus far, in the first week of December, First Class mail arrived in-home in 4.5 days. In November, outbound First-Class Mail arrived in-home in 5.0 days which is:

• Slightly slower than October with delivery at 4.8 days.
• A half day slower than the year-to-date average of 4.4 days.
• Slightly slower than November of 2019 at 4.7 days.

My thanks to Patrick and Production Solutions.  And apologies on behalf of Pickle to the UPS Driver.

What’s your organization’s experience with postal delivery either in this year-end season or throughout the year?  And has this experience caused you to change any practices or procedures?

Roger

P.S.  Those readers who are really into postal matters—especially postal rates—be aware that the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) RC has given approval to move forward with rate increases in the form of surcharges. These surcharges will be in addition to the CPI-based rate changes scheduled for January 24, 2021. At this time, it appears the potential surcharges would be slated for approval in March and could go live within 90 days afterward.

These are significant changes and you can learn more at a free webinar on Thursday, December 17th from 12-1pm ET where Production Solution’s Director of Resource and Postal Affairs, Carolyn Angelini, will share insights, and answer your questions about these changes. If you can’t make it to the webinar, the folks at Production Solutions will be are happy to forward you the recorded version once available