From the Federal Register:

Effective date: July 28, 2013

The Postal Service will revise the DMM in various sections to redesign some of the features of COD service. In response to mailer’s requests for the expedited return of their articles when COD shipments are unclaimed by the addressee, this revision will modify the holding period for COD articles from the current 30-day maximum to a maximum of 10 days.

Additionally, these revisions will retire the current manual PS Form 3849-D, Notice to Sender of Undelivered COD Mail. The primary function served by PS Form 3849-D can be provided by USPS Package Intercept® service, which allows mailers the option to redirect COD articles to a new address, to a designated Post Office ^TM for Hold For Pickup service, or back to the sender. Unlike PS Form 3849-D, which entails sending of a notification to the mailer by mail and requiring the mailer to then send written instructions back to the Postmaster, which may take more than 10 days to complete, Package Intercept service provides mailers with an immediate avenue to request a COD article be redirected to a new address. Since items subject to Package Intercept requests are also held for a 10-day period, this option aligns with the proposed new holding period for COD articles. However, the ability for a mailer, after mailing, to adjust the COD amount to be collected will be eliminated when the Form 3849-D is retired. The USPS® will continue to return COD articles to the mailer at the end of the holding period if no other applicable request is received; and to return COD articles addressed to an addressee who moved and left no forwarding address.

Additionally, payment options for COD articles will be expanded to allow money orders made payable to the mailer as an additional acceptable payment method for the addressee at the time of delivery. Payment remittance mailpieces will now include unique tracking barcodes affixed by USPS, allowing further visibility into the COD payment process through mail processing scans captured on the remittance en route to the recipient.Show citation box

As a result of these revisions, PS Form 3816, COD form, will be revised to reflect the changes.

 

via Federal Register | Collect on Delivery (COD)-Service Features.