USPS Publishes Notice on New Outbound Initiative

The Postal Service published an advanced notice in the Federal Register as an introduction to a new program it plans to launch called Outbound Commercial Provider Initiative (OCPI). "The rapidly expanding eCommerce market coupled with the increase in competition has motivated the Postal Service to explore alternate delivery service channels and competitive market strategies for product offerings in order to provide the services that customers demand, while remaining competitive in the global eCommerce market," the notice says. OCPI will be the product- and country-specific commercial solution, initially just to a handful of countries, with a launch date set for late April or early May. The Federal Register lays out general information and the guidelines for the OCPI program. Interested parties have until March 3 to comment.