OXFORD, England, December 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

• USPS delivers over five times more letters per delivery employee than Germany's Deutsche Post
• Emerging market providers improve performance: Turkey's PTT leads, Russia Post shows strongest improvement among BRIC nations

A review of the performance of universal postal service providers (USPs) in the G20 group of world's wealthiest nations, published today by Oxford Strategic Consulting (OSC), has found that the United States Postal Service (USPS) achieved the best overall ranking among operators.

The benchmark examines performance over three years against three key metrics - access to vital services, resource efficiency, and performance and public trust. Universal providers are seeing strong competition from private companies and a continual slide in mail volumes, with the move towards digital communications. Volumes have fallen in many countries - as much as 17% in the US since 2006.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) came top due to its high operating efficiency and public faith in its performance. The government agency handles over five times more letters per full-time delivery employee than Germany's privatized provider, Deutsche Post (5^th).

Report author William Scott-Jackson, director of Oxford Strategic Consulting, and Associate Research Fellow, SKOPE, University of Oxford, said: "People tend to think the internet has made the postman redundant but postal services still provide the backbone for e-commerce deliveries. If you could live anywhere in the world, and were sending a present to someone this Christmas, you'd want to be in the US, Japan or Australia."

Japan Post (2^nd) and Korea Post (4^th) performed well on all counts, while Australia Post (3^rd) was strong on both efficiency and access. The UK's cost-cutting Royal Mail (6^th) edged out France's La Poste (7^th) with double the efficiency in letter delivery.

Italy's Poste Italiane (11^th) saw declines in performance and efficiency, causing it to fall behind Russia Post (10^th) - which improved its performance faster than any developed country operator. Correios Brazil (9^th) posted mid-table in all categories.

The full ranking and preview copies of the report are available from: http://oxfordstrategicconsulting.com/g20postalreport2011.htm

About Oxford Strategy Consulting

Founded in 2006, Oxford Strategic Consulting (OSC) specialises in advanced research and change implementation, supporting major private and government organisations to achieve their strategic objectives.

SOURCE Oxford Strategic Consulting