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Mailing Industry terms
defined:
Army post office (APO)—A branch of a designated
USPS civilian post office, which falls under the jurisdiction of
the postmaster of either New York City or San Francisco, that serves
either Army or Air Force personnel.
Automated area distribution center (AADC)—A distribution
center that uses multiline optical character readers (MLOCRs), barcode
sorters, and other equipment designed for processing automation-compatible
mail.
Barcode clear zone— A rectangular area in the lower
right part of a letter-size mailpiece that must be kept free of printing
and symbols, except for the barcode itself. This requirement
allows automated processing machines to read or apply a barcode.
Barcode read area—A small area within the barcode
clear zone in which the barcode must be printed. This area
is defined by the position of the leftmost bar of the barcode and
the bottom edge of the bar.
Bound Printed Matter (BPM)—A subclass of Package
Services that consists of permanently bound sheets of which at least
90% are printed with advertising, promotional, directory, or editorial
matter (or a combination of such matter).
Bulk mail center (BMC)—A highly mechanized mail
processing plant that distributes Standard Mail and Package Services
in piece and bulk form.
Business reply mail (BRM)—A service that allows
a permit holder to receive First-Class Mail and Priority Mail back
from customers and pay postage only for the returned pieces. These
pieces must have a specific address and format. Postage and
per piece charges are collected when the mail is delivered back to
the permit holder.
Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS)—A service
offered to mailers, service bureaus, and software vendors that improves
the accuracy of matching to delivery point codes, ZIP+4 codes, 5-digit
ZIP Codes, and carrier route codes on mailpieces. CASS provides
a common platform to measure the quality of address matching software
and to diagnose and correct software problems.
Delivery point barcode (DPBC) —A POSTNET barcode
that consists of 62 bars with beginning and ending frame bars and
5 bars each for the nine digits of the ZIP+4 code, the last 2 digits
of the primary street address number (or post office box, etc.),
and a correction digit. The DPBC allows automated sortation
of letter mail to the carrier level in walk sequence.
Destination delivery unit (DDU) rate—A rate available
for Periodicals, Standard Mail, Parcel Post, and Bound Printed Matter
that is properly prepared and entered by the mailer at the delivery
unit that serves the delivery address on the mail.
Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)—The USPS manual that
contains the basic standards governing domestic mail services; descriptions
of the mail classes and services and conditions governing their uses;
standards for rate eligibility and mail preparation; and all postage
rates and fees. Domestic mail is classified by size, weight,
content, service, and other factors.
Endorsement—An authorized marking on a mailpiece
that shows handling instructions, a service, or a request for an
ancillary service.
Facing identification mark (FIM)—A series of five
or six vertical bars used by automated postal equipment to identify,
orient, and separate reply mail.
Flat—The general term for flat-size mail, so called
because the large mail is sorted without bending it so that the mail
remains flat.
Indicia—Imprinted designation on mail that denotes
postage payment (e.g., permit imprint).
Irregular parcel —A mail processing category for
a parcel that does not meet the dimensions of a machinable parcel.
Irregular parcels and pieces —Parcels that do not
meet the dimensional criteria of machinable parcels and other parcels
that cannot be processed by parcel sorters (for example, a noncaseable
flat, small cube or fragile parcel, paper or sleeve-wrapped catalog,
and sackable roll, tube, or film).
Keyline —Optional mailer information printed in
or above the address or in the lower left corner of the envelope. The
information in a keyline identifies the mailpiece and its presort
level. Under some postage payment systems, the keyline is a
required line that
contains specific information about the mailpiece.
Letter-size mail —A mail processing category of
mailpieces, including cards, that do not exceed any of the dimensions
for letter-size mail (that is, 11 ½ inches long, 6 1/8 inches high,
¼ inch thick).
Line-of-travel (LOT) sequence—A presort for Enhanced
Carrier Route rates in which mailpieces are arranged by ZIP+4 codes
in the
order in which the route is served by the carrier. The
mailpieces are sequenced in delivery order.
Meter Reply Mail (MRM) —A preprinted return envelope,
card, or label provided by a meter license holder as a courtesy to
customers on which the postage is prepaid as a meter impression. Compare
to business reply mail and courtesy reply mail.
Meter stamp—A postage imprint (either on meter tape
or as a direct impression) applied in the upper right corner of the
envelope, address label, or tag. The type, size, and style
of the imprint must be fixed when the postage meter is approved for
manufacture by the USPS. For letter-size mail, the imprint
must be set in fluorescent ink. Meter stamps may be used to
pay postage for all mail classes except Periodicals.
Military post office (MPO) —A branch of a U.S. civil
post office, operated by the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps
to serve military personnel overseas or aboard ships.
National Change of Address (NCOA)—An address correction
service that the USPS provides to mailers through USPS licensees. The
licensees match mailing lists submitted to them on tape or disk against
change-of-address information for the entire country from all Computerized
Forwarding System units. If a match is made, NCOA can correct
the address before it is printed on a mailpiece.
Nonmachinable —The inability of a mailpiece to be
sorted on mail processing equipment because of size, shape, content,
or address legibility. Such mail must be processes manually
and could be subject to a surcharge.
Nonprofit Standard Mail —A subclass of Standard
Mail that is available only to qualified organizations specified
by U.S. statute.
Nonstandard surcharge—A surcharge on any piece of
First-Class Mail weighing 1 ounce or less that has an aspect ratio
less than 1.3 or greater than 2.5. This surcharge does not
apply to pieces claimed at card rates.
Optical character reader (OCR) —An automated mail
sorting machine that interprets the address information on a letter-size
mailpiece and sprays the corresponding ZIP Code information onto
the piece as a barcode. The OCR consists of a mail feed unit,
transport unit, stacker modules, computer with a control system,
video monitor, and printer.
Parcel Post —A subclass of Package Services with
rates based generally on weight and zone.
Periodicals —A class of mail consisting of magazines,
newspapers, or other publications formed of printed sheets that are
issued at
least four times a year at regular, specified intervals
(frequency) from a known office of publication. Periodicals
usually must have a
legitimate list of subscribers and requesters.
Permit imprint —Printed indicia, instead of an adhesive
postage stamp or meter stamp, that shows postage prepayment by an
authorized mailer.
Piece
rate —For some mail classes, the postage charged
for each mailpiece in addition to the pound rate change.
Postage statement —Documentation provided by a mailer
to the USPS that reports the volume of mail being presented and the
postage payable or affixed, and certifies that the mail meets the
applicable eligibility standards for the rate claimed.
Precanceled stamp—A postage stamp canceled by marking
across the face before it is sold to mailers for use with bulk mailings. Also,
a stamp designated by the USPS as a precanceled stamp without cancellation
marks. The USPS sells precanceled stamps for Presorted First-Class
Mail and regular and nonprofit Standard Mail. Mailpieces with
these stamps do not go through a canceling machine at the time of
mail processing.
Presort—The process by which a mailer groups mail
by ZIP Code so that it is sorted to the finest extent required by
the standards for the rate claimed. Generally, presort is performed
sequentially, from the lowest (finest) level to the highest level,
to those destinations specified by standard and is completed at each
level before the next level is prepared. Not all presort levels
are applicable to all mailings.
Presort Accuracy Validation and Evaluation (PAVE) —A
voluntary program in which the USPS tests vendors’ presort software
and hardware products to determine their accuracy in sorting address
information according to USPS standards and producing standardized
supporting documentation.
Presorted Standard —The postage rate for Standard
Mail pieces that are part of a mailing and that meet minimum volume
and
preparation requirements.
Qualifying Piece—A mailpiece that meets all standards
for a certain rage or discount.
Rural route (RR)—A delivery route served by a rural
carrier.
Single-piece rate —A postage rate available for
individual pieces of Express Mail, Priority Mail, First-Class Mail,
and Package Services. It is not available for Periodicals except
under the rate category of basic. This type of rate contrasts
with rates available for bulk mail and presorted mail.
Standard Mail—A class of mail (formerly Standard
Mail (A)) that weighs less than 16 ounces. It comprises the
subclasses of Regular
Standard Mail, Nonprofit Standard Mail, Enhanced
Carrier Route Standard Mail, and Nonprofit Enhanced Carrier Route
Standard Mail. These subclasses include circulars, printed
matter, pamphlets, catalogs, newsletters, direct mail, and merchandise. Standard
Mail may be sent at presorted rates and at automation rates.
Tray—A container used in postal facilities to hold
letters and First-Class-Mail flats. It is used as a basic unit
of mail quantity for purposes of preparing mail to qualify for discounted
postage rates.
Unique ZIP Code —A ZIP Code assigned to a company,
government agency, or entity with sufficient mail volume, based on
average daily volume of letter-size mail received, availability of
ZIP Code numbers in the postal area, and USPS cost-benefit analysis.
Upgradeable mail —First-Class mail and Standard
Mail that the USPS can process on am multiline optical character
reader (MLOCR) to apply a barcode. Upgradeable mail is letter-size,
automation-compatible pieces with machine-printed nonscript addresses,
an OCR read area and a barcode clear zone meeting reflectance requirements,
and paper that can accept ink. Preparation of upgradeable pieces
is usually simpler than the preparation of nonupgradeable mail.
Walk sequence —The order in which a carrier delivers
mail for a route. This order is required for most carrier route
presort mail.
ZIP Code—A system of 5-digit codes that identifies
the individual post office or metropolitan area delivery station
associated with an address. ZIP+4 is an enhanced code consisting
of the 5-digit ZIP Code and four additional digits that identify
a specific range of delivery addresses.
ZIP+4 Code—A nine-digit numeric code composed of
two parts: (a) the initial code: the first five digits that
identify the sectional center facility and delivery area associated
with the address, followed by a hyphen; and (b) the four-digit expanded
code: the first two additional digits designate the sector (a geographic
area) and the last two digits designate the segment (a building,
floor, etc.). |
