Any cost-effective and feasible alternatives to stocking items should always be considered. This includes systems contracts, JIT purchasing, or other arrangements that place the risks and related expenses of inventory on non-Postal sources of supply.
Demand-based items are stocked because they have demonstrated sufficient past demand history to warrant stocking under specified demand frequency thresholds. Non-demand-based items are items stocked because of the items’ importance to the client or because the items have been proven to be less costly to stock than not to stock. Stocking decisions are addressed in greater detail in Section 5-4, Develop, Finalize, and Implement Inventory Control Plan.