94% of Overnight Mail Is on Time

Ventura County’s overnight mail arrived at a record pace during the past quarter, with 94% of overnight letters and parcels arriving on time.

The U.S. Postal Service defines overnight mail as standard, 32-cent envelopes mailed within a 60-mile region. The region covering Ventura also includes Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel Valley and Orange County. Therefore, letters mailed by 5 p.m. from any one of those locations arrived in Ventura County by the next day 94% of the time.

Ventura County’s mail is processed through the Van Nuys district office, which had a higher rate of success than the U.S. average of 92% for next-day letters mailed by 5 p.m., postal officials said.

Officials attribute the high rate of success in Ventura County and the rest of the United States to clearly definable goals.

“You need to measure goals and put them in front of people in order to improve performance,” said postal official Terri Bouffiou. “We put performance numbers out there and people rose to the challenge.”

As recently as March 1992, overnight delivery rates in Ventura County were at 82%, a percentage point lower than the rest of the nation, Bouffiou said.

To improve performance, the postal service contracted with a consulting firm to assess overnight delivery success. Since ‘92, the postal service has received quarterly reviews of the overnight deliveries based on mail sent and tracked by Price Waterhouse.