The Postal Service voluntarily follows the guidelines set forth by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for contacting business customers to communicate with them or send them information for reasons that differ from the original reason that the business provided its contact information to the Postal Service. For example, these guidelines apply when the Postal Service wants to send the business customer marketing or advertising communications that relate to a different product or service than the customer has previously selected. These guidelines also apply when the Postal Service wants to share the business’s information externally with third parties other than Postal Service contractors and service providers. The Postal Service may use an “opt out” standard for business customers, which means that business customers must affirmatively decline to allow the Postal Service to use its information for these “secondary” purposes.
