Washington, D.C. – Today, the Postal Regulatory Commission (Commission) issued its analysis of the United States Postal Service (Postal Service) Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Annual Performance Report (FY 2019 Report) and FY 2020 Performance Plan (FY 2020 Plan). The FY 2019 Report discusses the Postal Service’s progress in meeting its performance goals during FY 2019, while the FY 2020 Plan describes the Postal Service’s plans for meeting its performance goals in FY 2020. Each year, the Commission must review the Postal Service’s performance goals and evaluate whether the Postal Service met those goals in the previous fiscal year. The Commission may also offer recommendations to the Postal Service regarding the protection or promotion of public policy objectives in title 39 of the United States Code.

The FY 2020 Plan does not include the impact of COVID-19 on the Postal Service. The Postal Service established the FY 2020 targets before the pandemic. As such, the FY 2020 Plan does not include any expected effects of the pandemic. The Commission continues to communicate with the Postal Service and policymakers regarding the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapidly evolving financial situation of the Postal Service.

Overall, the Commission’s analysis finds that the FY 2020 Plan meets all requirements and complies with the law. The FY 2019 Report meets almost all legal requirements. The FY 2019 Report provides comparable FY 2019 targets and results and explains why performance goals were not met. However, the FY 2019 Report does not provide comparable results from the past three fiscal years or the explanations required for the performance indicators that measure progress toward two of the Postal Service’s performance goals—High-Quality Service and Excellent Customer Experiences.

The Commission’s analysis provides an in-depth evaluation of all four of the Postal Service’s performance goals: 1) High-Quality Service, 2) Excellent Customer Experiences, 3) Safe Workplace and Engaged Workforce, and 4) Financial Health. In FY 2019, the Postal Service either did not meet or only partially met each goal. The Commission provides related observations and recommendations for each performance goal to help the Postal Service meet the performance goals and better assess its performance in future years.

In addition, the Commission makes observations and recommendations regarding the Postal Service’s strategic initiatives, which support the Postal Service’s strategic goals and relate to the performance goals.

The Commission’s full report, including an appendix of its findings and recommendations for each performance goal, is available on the website at www.prc.gov.