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The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the United States, its insular areas and associated states. It is one of a few government agencies explicitly authorized by the Constitution of the United States. As of 2023, the USPS has 525,469 career employees and 114,623 non-career employees.
A postal code is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail.
A ZIP Code is a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service (USPS). The term ZIP was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently and quickly when senders use the code in the postal address. The Philippine Postal Corporation also uses this terminology for the postal code system in the Philippines.
POSTNET is a barcode symbology used by the United States Postal Service to assist in directing mail. The ZIP Code or ZIP+4 code is encoded in half- and full-height bars. Most often, the delivery point is added, usually being the last two digits of the address or PO box number.
Dulles is an unincorporated area in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States, and is part of the Washington metropolitan area. The headquarters of Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems and ODIN Technologies, as well as the former headquarters of MCI Inc. and AOL are located in Dulles. The National Weather Service Baltimore/Washington forecast office and the National Weather Service's Sterling Field Support Center are also both in Dulles.
Spanish postal codes were introduced on 1 July 1984, when the Sociedad Estatal de Correos y Telégrafos introduced automated mail sorting. They consist of five numerical digits, where the first two digits, ranging 01 to 52, correspond either to one of the 50 provinces of Spain or to one of the two autonomous cities on the African coast.
In a postal system, a delivery point is a single mailbox or other place at which mail is delivered. It differs from a street address, in that each address may have several delivery points, such as an apartment, office department, or other room. Such buildings are often called multiple-dwelling units (MDUs) by the USPS.
A post office box is a uniquely addressable lockable box located on the premises of a post office.
An address is a collection of information, presented in a mostly fixed format, used to give the location of a building, apartment, or other structure or a plot of land, generally using political boundaries and street names as references, along with other identifiers such as house or apartment numbers and organization name. Some addresses also contain special codes, such as a postal code, to make identification easier and aid in the routing of mail.
ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) are statistical entities developed by the United States Census Bureau for tabulating summary statistics. These were introduced with the Census 2000 and continued with the 2010 Census and 5 year American Community Survey datasets. They were updated again for the 2020 census. This new entity was developed to overcome the difficulties in precisely defining the land area covered by each ZIP code. Defining the extent of an area is necessary in order to tabulate census data for that area.
A sectional center facility (SCF) is a processing and distribution center (P&DC) of the United States Postal Service (USPS) that serves a designated geographical area defined by one or more three-digit ZIP Code prefixes. A sectional center facility routes mail between local post offices, sorting and delivery centers (SDCs), to and from network distribution centers (NDCs), and to and from other sectional center facilities.
An optional information line is a line above the postal address on mail in the United States. The lines are usually seen on bulk mail to indicate the sorting and separation that allows the mail to have a lower postal rate.
The Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMb) is a 65-bar barcode for use on mail in the United States. The term "Intelligent Mail" refers to services offered by the United States Postal Service for domestic mail delivery. The IM barcode is intended to provide greater information and functionality than its predecessors POSTNET and PLANET. An Intelligent Mail barcode has also been referred to as a One Code Solution and a 4-State Customer Barcode, abbreviated 4CB, 4-CB or USPS4CB. The complete specification can be found in USPS Document USPS-B-3200. It effectively incorporates the routing ZIP Code and tracking information included in previously used postal barcode standards.
Postal codes in South Korea are composed of five digits. A new system of post codes was introduced on August 1, 2015. The first postal code in South Korea was established on July 1, 1970, and has been revised three times: in 1988, 2000, and 2015.
Postal codes in Puerto Rico, a United States commonwealth, are part of the United States ZIP code system. Puerto Rico is allocated the ZIP codes 00600 to 00799 and 00900 to 00999; the 008xx codes are allocated to the nearby United States Virgin Islands. Both Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are served from the sectional center facility (SCF) of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Postal address verification is the process used to check the validity and deliverability of a physical mailing address. According to the United States Postal Service, an address is valid if it is CASS-certified, meaning that it exists within the comprehensive list of mailable addresses in their Address Management System. This is different from the credit card Address Verification System (AVS), which is the method used by credit card processors to authenticate ownership of a credit card by verifying that the account on the credit card matches the billing address on file. Credit card AVS does not determine deliverability of an address.
A network distribution center (NDC) was a highly mechanized mail processing plant of the United States Postal Service that distributed standard mail and package services in piece and bulk form. The NDC network was dismantled in 2022-2023 by the USPS as part of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s Delivering for America network rationalization plan, which saw mail classes formerly handled by the NDC network merged into mailstreams in processing and distribution centers. Each former NDC, all of which were located in buildings owned by USPS, are implementing or in the process of creating individual plans for repurposing the buildings. Many are being restacked into RPDCs, which will form the backbone of the new USPS network, whereas others are being used to insource previously outsourced transportation functions such as surface transfer centers (STCs), or terminal handing services (THS), which handled airmail, in addition to continuing to support processing and distribution centers with the handing of priority and ground advantage parcels.
Postcodes used in Oceania vary between the various sovereign nations, territories, and associated states in the region. Many of the smaller island regions in Oceania use postal code systems that are integrated into the postal systems of larger countries they are territories or associates of.
References
- 1 2 "L002 3-Digit ZIP Code Prefix Matrix". pe.usps.com. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
- ↑ "Tech 8". sourcesoft.com. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
- ↑ "IN THE NEWS". Washington Post. 1992-04-13. ISSN 0190-8286 . Retrieved 2023-07-01.
- ↑ Pae, Peter (1996-01-30). "NEW ZIP CODES ARE IN THE CARDS FOR PARTS OF N.VA". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286 . Retrieved 2022-04-09.
- 1 2 3 United States Postal Service (1963). Directory of post offices, with ZIP codes. Publication. Washington: United States Postal Service; for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off.
- ↑ "Zip Code Change". www.walb.com. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
- ↑ "Area ZIP codes change in July". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
- ↑ "New ZIP codes now in effect". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
- ↑ "Many Central Arizona Postal Customers' ZIP Codes to change by a single digit starting July 1, 2009". about.usps.com. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
- ↑ "Code Breakers - Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. 1996-04-20. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
- ↑ Secretary, United States Department of Transportation Office of the (1992). DOT Mailer's Handbook. U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary of Transportation.