WASHINGTON, DC - The Postal Service reported today that it continues to achieve record breaking delivery scores for First-Class Mail in the nation's major metropolitan areas. Francia G. Smith, vice president and consumer advocate, told the Postal Board of Governors meeting in Washington that First-Class Mail was delivered on time an average of 94 percent of the time during the last quarter of the Postal Service's 2002 fiscal year. This is the second consecutive quarter in which delivery of First-Class Mail has met this benchmark. In addition, the last quarter of FY02 (May 18 through September 6, 2002) was the twentieth consecutive quarter-five years-that First-Class Mail has met or exceeded a delivery standard 93 percent, or more, of the time. First-Class Mail delivery performance is measured externally and independently by PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting using the External First-Class measurement system, or EXFC. It provides an independent assessment of the time elapsed between the time that a piece of First-Class Mail enters the mail stream via collection box, to the time of it is delivered at one of the 138 million American homes, businesses and post office boxes served by the Postal Service six days a week. EXFC service performance scores are measured by testing 463 ZIP Code areas selected on the basis of geography and volume density from which 90 percent of First-Class Mail volume originates and 80 percent destinates. EXFC is not a system-wide measurement of all First-Class Mail performance. According to Smith, central Illinois; San Jose, CA and its surrounding metropolitan area; North Dakota and South Dakota each achieved on-time delivery performance scores of 96 percent. An additional 28 geographic areas, designated as "performance clusters," attained on-time delivery scores of 95 percent. The Postal Service has defined a system of management units by geographic area called performance clusters. There are 85 performance clusters nationwide. PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting measures service performance for overnight, two-day and three-day service commitment areas to provide national, area office, and performance cluster estimates of service performance. This data is compared with Postal Service delivery standards and the results are presented to the public each postal quarter. Vice President and Consumer Advocate Francia G. Smith also reported that the most recent Gallup survey shows 93 percent of households nationwide reported having a positive view of the Postal Service. This is the fourth consecutive quarter in which ratings of overall performance have reached 93 percent. Customer Satisfaction Measurement (CSM) is independently measured by The Gallup Organization which conducts surveys on a variety of postal issues and services from a customer's perspective. These include accuracy and consistency of delivery; retail clerk courtesy, knowledge, and responsiveness to customers; and telephone courtesy and accuracy of information provided, to name a few. The Postal Service uses survey results to identify opportunities to improve customer satisfaction.