Direct Mail Advertising Agency - Mail Tracking Glossary

COMMONLY USED INDUSTRY TERMS

Bulk Mail Center (BMC): Bulk Mail Centers are highly mechanized mail processing plants that are part of the National Bulk Mail System. These facilities distribute Parcel Post®, Media Mail®, Standard Mail® and Periodicals in bulk form.

Auxilliary Service Facility (ASF): Are mechanized facilities that are usually part of a general mail facility that serves as a subordinate mail processing hub for a parent bulk mail center.

Sectional Center Facility (SCF): Is a processing and distribution center for post offices in a designated geographic area. A particular SCF serves the post offices that share the same first 3 digits of their zip code. Some SCFs serve more than one 3-digit ZIP code range.

Destination Delivery Unit (DDU): U.S. Postal Service facility handling standard mail and periodicals addressed for delivery to one of he carrier routes served by that facility. Postage discounts are available for bulk mailings sorted and delivered directly to the DDU.

PLANET™ codes: The U.S. Postal Service created PLANET™ codes in the late 1990’s to assist organizations with a need to track large volumes of mail. Mailers could print an additional barcode on every piece of mail, and determine the location of that mail every time a piece goes through a barcode sorter.

Carrier Route: Household served by an individual mail carrier within a five-digit zip code area.

ZIP (Zoning Improvement Plan) Code: Code instituted by the U.S. Postal Service to facilitate mail handling and delivery. The first five digit represents one of ten areas of the country (0 = New England , 9 = West Coast).