Those are among the findings of a report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index, a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the United States. The ACSI uses data from interviews with roughly 70,000 customers annually as inputs to an econometric model for analyzing customer satisfaction with more than 230 companies in 43 industries and 10 economic sectors, as well as over 100 services, programs, and websites of federal government agencies. ACSI results are released throughout the year, with all measures reported on a scale of 0 to 100.

Customer satisfaction with shipping retreated 3.6 percent to 81, largely due to delays caused by weather and overloaded systems during the shortened holiday season. FedEx and UPS both struggled to sustain customer satisfaction over the Christmas peak; FedEx declined 4 percent and UPS was down 2 percent to tie at an ACSI score of 82.

“The surge in online shopping just before Christmas created a fair amount of customer angst with internet retailers, but shippers weren’t spared consumers’ ire either,” says David VanAmburg, ACSI director. “Even the largest carriers with the most resources weren’t sufficiently prepared for the rush of last-minute deliveries, and many packages did not arrive on time for the holidays.”

The United States Postal Service (USPS) Express and Priority Mail delivery was down 5 percent to 73, its lowest score in more than a decade. USPS’s shrinking regular mail delivery service fell even further this year to 72.

The full report is available for free download.

Source: American Customer Satisfaction Index