Postal Service Delivery Rate Shows Little Improvement : Mail: An independent audit finds a slight decline in on-time operations in several cities. Overall, performance remained unchanged.

Despite a major effort to improve mail service, the Postal Service on-time delivery record for local letters largely was unchanged during the summer, with a number of key cities showing disturbing declines in performance, according to an independent audit issued Friday.

In Chicago, where postal officials were embarrassed earlier this year by the discovery of a small mountain of undelivered mail, only 71% of local mail was delivered overnight, down from 75% in the previous quarter. But after angry complaints at congressional hearings, service in Washington has improved significantly, with a 70% on-time delivery for the nation’s capital, up from 62%.

The Postal Service has come under fire for performance problems that began during the severe weather last winter and have persisted in the face of an unexpectedly fast-growing volume of mail. But service is gradually improving, Postmaster General Marvin T. Runyon Jr. told recent congressional hearings, citing a reorganization at the agency’s top management level and expanded hiring.

Friday’s report by Price Waterhouse, which is under contract to the Postal Service, covers the latest in a series of mailings. On a daily basis, the firm mailed 24 different types of stamped or metered first-class letters, cards and envelopes of various sizes to review service in 96 cities. The public report measured overnight local service--the percentage of mail sent within a metropolitan area and received the next day.

The overall national performance remained unchanged at 82% from the previous rating period.

Delivery standards fell in 43 areas, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit and Kansas City. Services improved in 39 areas, including Washington, New York City, the suburbs of Chicago, Philadelphia and St. Louis.

Los Angeles generally meets the national average, with an 80% on-time delivery, unchanged from the previous measuring period. The Santa Ana service area had an 87% performance, also unchanged. Other Los Angeles-area mailing centers, which serve different groups of zip codes, include Long Beach, with an unchanged record of 90%; City of Industry, 88%, up from 87%; Van Nuys, 85%, up from 84%, and Inglewood, 84%, down from 85%.

The report covered test mailings from May 28 through Sept. 16. The previous test ran from March 5 through May 27. The Postal Service does not make public the sections of the survey showing results for letters mailed outside individual metropolitan areas.

The Postal Service said it was encouraged by the survey. The results “show that our ‘back to the basics’ efforts are paying off,” said William Henderson, the Postal Service’s chief operating officer. “Service performance in most cities is good--and we are going to make it better.”

The nation’s big cities, where service is often comparatively poor, “have complex problems that will take time to resolve,” Henderson said. “We will continue to focus on getting long-term, sustained results.”

The Postal Service delivers a growing mass of mail over an increasingly crowded highway system. Volume has grown to 175 billion pieces a year, an increase of 50 billion over the last 15 years, spokesman Frank Brennan noted. “We would like to do 95% (on-time), he said, but transportation difficulties make this goal “problematic” in many urban areas.

Friday’s report “does mark a slow but steady improvement,” said Arthur B. Sackler, executive director of the Mailers Council, an umbrella group for 60 trade organizations whose members generate 75% of the nation’s mail. “We are encouraged,” he said.

The biggest test for the Postal Service will come during the holiday mailing season, traditionally its busiest season, which begins in earnest this month with the growing flood of catalogues and gift advertisements.

“Members of Congress have made it clear that the test of this management team--whether they survive or go--depends on the crucial season,” said Gene Del Polito, executive director of the Advertising Mail Marketers Assn. “They have a tremendous challenge ahead of them,” he said.

The Postal Service said it will add workers, equipment and 1.5 million square feet of additional processing space for the holiday mailing season.

In addition to Friday’s test mailing report--called the External First Class Measurement System--the Postal Service also issued a customer satisfaction index, based on a public opinion poll. The consumer survey indicated that 85% of the public considers mail service excellent, very good, or good, a rating unchanged from the previous survey.

Highs and Lows

On-time arrival rates for packages mailed within an area overnight:

Best Mail Delivery (On-time Overnight):

Omaha, Neb.: 92%

Billings, Mont.: 92%

Buffalo: 92%

Des Moines, Iowa: 91%

Long Beach: 90%

Spokane, Wash.: 90%

San Diego: 89%

Manchester, N.H: 89%

Orlando, Fla: 89%

Seattle: 89%

Worst Mail Delivery:

Baltimore: 66%

San Juan, Puerto Rico: 66%

U.S. Virgin Islands: 68%

Washington, D.C.: 70%

Philadelphia: 70%

Chicago: 71%

South Jersey (N.J.): 72%

Miami: 72%

Royal Oak, Mich: 73%

Southern Maryland: 73%

Source: U.S. Postal Service mail survey by Price Waterhouse between May 28 and Sept. 16