Standard Mail Flats and Four Other Products are Under Water, says USPS 2015 Annual Compliance Report

The Postal Service™ filed its Annual Compliance Report for FY2015 with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) on December 29, 2015. The purpose of the report is to show that the products were in compliance. While most market dominant products covered costs, five were under water. Here are the highlights of the report. 

Most market dominant products covered costs except Standard Mail Flats, Standard Mail Parcels, Periodicals, Media Mail®/Library Mail and Inbound Single Piece First-Class Mail International Mail. More specifically, the report said:

• The migration of Carrier Route FSS (Flats Sequencing System) pieces to Standard Mail Flats contributed to the product not covering costs. As discussed in GHS Informed #180, this product has been losing money.
• The transference of some Parcels products to the competitive products list contributed to Standard Mail Parcels not covering costs.
• From FY2014 to FY2015, the revenue per piece for Periodicals rose by 1%, but the cost per piece increased by 2%.
• Media Mail/Library Mail cost per piece increased by 99.3 cents, but the revenue per piece only increased by 8.9 cents.
• Inbound Single Piece First Class Mail International Mail (Inbound Letter Post) failed to cover its costs because the prices are set according to a Universal Postal Union formula and are not based on actual costs.

The report also has the results of the customer satisfaction with market dominant products survey. You can find the full report here.