Auditors said the 2022 survey yielded just a 4 percent response rate. Image: 010110010101101/Shutterstock.com
Low response rates and confusingly worded questions have “limited the usefulness” of a main Postal Services survey of customer experiences, an IG audit has said.
A report noted that the USPS is required annually to measure customer satisfaction, including with delivery service. That includes a survey with a six-level satisfaction rating consisting of 19 questions for residential respondents and 20 for business respondents.
However, the auditors said that in 2022 that survey yielded just a 4 percent response rate and that the responses “did not fully reflect the general population as intended. For example, two-thirds came from persons age 55 and older, who constitute just 38 percent of the population, and responses from centralized delivery points made up just 9 percent vs. 29 percent.
The surveys also suffer from “problematic terminology,” for example resulting in more than a third of respondents incorrectly identifying where they receive their mail or left the question blank.
“When survey questions are not answered correctly, it becomes difficult to draw conclusions or make informed business decisions. To enhance the effectiveness of the survey and drive actionable feedback for improving delivery service, reviewing the understandability of the survey questions is needed,” it said.
Management said it would work with the contractor to “mitigate non-response bias” and “conduct a feasibility analysis to increase local delivery response rates” but it disagreed with a recommendation to change the terminology, saying it was reviewed by a panel of non-postal subject matter experts who recommended no changes.
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