
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 28, 1995                   TAG: 9503280056
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

POSTAL SERVICE CROWS ABOUT ON-TIME DELIVERY

The post office delivered 85 percent of local mail on time during the winter, the best showing since the agency started measuring its performance five years ago.

``These are dramatic results delivering the mail,'' said Postmaster General Marvin Runyon, noting the 6 percentage point improvement over the same period a year earlier.

The Postal Service's performance standard calls for overnight delivery within varying distances of each major city.

The accounting firm Price Waterhouse monitors performance by sending out test mailings.

The 85 percent on-time rate was measured in a sample of 332,000 items mailed between Dec. 10 and March 3, the most difficult delivery season for the post office because of the combination of bad weather and the crush of holiday mail.

Top score in the nation was posted by Billings, Mont., with 94 percent on time.

Other communities with 90 percent or better were Seattle and Spokane, Wash.; Erie and Harrisburg, Pa.; San Antonio; Macon, Ga.; Wichita, Kan.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Long Beach, Calif.; and Columbia, S.C.

by CNB