Do You Know Where Your Mail Is?

August 28, 2020 | A.B. Data News

There has been a lot of confusion lately revolving around the U.S. Postal Service and on-time delivery of the mail. Several factors are contributing to some delays in letter, flat and package mail; but there do not appear to be systemic delays throughout the system.

Recent delays in delivery of letter-size and flat-size First-Class and Marketing Mail are are minimal, and they are greater in some areas of the country than others. Delays may be caused by labor shortages due to COVID-19, weather conditions, natural disaster, and other factors like the shape of your mail. For example, package mailers are experiencing greater delays because of the heavy influx of package volume into the postal system since COVID-19. The USPS is working to fill this gap.

In the meantime, we’re seeing reports that First-Class letters have slowed by about one half to one full day and delivering within about 3.6 to 4.0 days.

Marketing Mail letters entered locally have mostly been running on time and delivering in about 10.03 days on average, which is about the same or better than in previous years. With drop-shipping, expect 6-20 days, depending on the distance your mail pieces are traveling from your entry point to their destination.

Marketing Mail flats are taking up to 30 days to reach their destination, but longer delivery schedules in this category are nothing new.

Since it is harder to forecast when your mail will be delivered, it is a particularly valuable time to track you mail.

• Informed Visibility, accessed through A.B. Data’s Mail Tracking Solution will give you insight into how your mail pieces are moving through the system.
• Using the information provided in our Mail Tracking reports will help you time other marketing channel efforts and plan future campaigns.