Meridian · command center
The four research notes, already in motion
This is the working evidence base behind HSG’s response to RFI 6HQOIG-26-A-0008. Everything below is a preliminary finding from open-source review captured August 2026, labeled with its source, and built to be verified and extended in fieldwork. It is the standard the deliverable research notes would be held to, shown rather than promised.
Domestic set
5 profiles vs USPS baseline
UPS, FedEx, Amazon, the third-party postage layer, and regional carriers: capabilities and the eight monetization models in play. Amendment 0002 makes the domestic comparison the whole of Task 1 as well as Task 2.
Prior research · foreign posts
15 operators profiled
The pre-amendment Task 1 evidence base, kept published as provenance for the comparability method rather than as a proposed deliverable.
Capability matrix
27 capability rows
Both benchmark sets against one taxonomy, with common-vs-rare computed from provision counts, exactly as the SOW asks.
UX friction register
12 documented findings
Revenue-task walkthroughs scored by severity and heuristic, every finding anchored to a citable source.
Opportunity register
11 opportunities screened
Each opportunity carries a legal-feasibility rating, precedent, and sizing basis; two are honestly screened out.
Sizing sandbox
4 adjustable models
The revenue math with its assumptions exposed as sliders, so the OIG can stress-test every number we would publish.
Context from the UPU (153 operators surveyed)
Share of the world’s designated postal operators offering each service, UPU Digital Panorama 2025 (153 postal operators surveyed). USPS’s Informed Delivery sits in the 22% of posts with an electronic mailbox, at a scale no other operator approaches.