Glossary
Address Accuracy Program
A program designed to encourage mailers to accurately address their mail. An address is considered accurate when all the components of an address are present and correct and that they match information in Canada Post’s address database.
Addressed Admail™ (AA)
The Addressed Admail service is a direct marketing medium that offers Customers the ability to personalize their mailing and tailor their promotional messages to specific consumers or prospects. For more on Addressed Admail product qualification criteria, please refer to the Addressed Admail Customer Guide at www.canadapost.ca/aasupportdocuments
Admail
The family of Canada Post products and services that are primarily used for advertising by mail.
Binary Bar Code
A series of parallel, vertical bars representing the Postal Code of the addressee, that are printed in fluorescent ink on the lower right corner of mail for automated machine reading purposes.
Bulk Mail Facility (BMF)
Facility designed specifically for processing all mail in the bulk processing stream. This is a component of a mail processing plant.
Bundling
A group of mail items secured together by strapping (using elastic bands, string, or plastic straps) or by shrink-wrapping.
Business Reply Mail™ (BRM)
A direct response mail service, available in the form of a postage paid, pre-addressed card or envelope, bearing the appropriate design elements approved by Canada Post, used by businesses, publishers, government departments, fundraisers and other organizations to seek responses from recipients within Canada and around the world.
Catalogue
Bound printed matter containing a listing of items arranged in alphabetical or systematic order with details of products or services for sale and which may include prices and item numbers
Commingling
A process by which separate mailings are prepared for mail processing in such a way that they are intermingled together to create a single sequenced mailing (either within the same packaging, bundle/grouping, container or shipping unit).
Containerization
Containerization is the process of packaging the mail for shipment. Mail items are placed into containers (Canada Post-supplied or Customer-supplied, approved by Canada Post) suitable for handling through Canada Post’s processes.
Delivery Facility (DF)
The facility from which the mode of delivery emanates (e.g. location of postal box, origination of the rural route or letter carrier route) and can include Urban postal stations, letter carrier depots and Rural postal facilities. This is the first level of consolidation as per the National Presortation Schematic.
Delivery Mode Code (DMC)
The delivery route for an individual address is identified by a specific Delivery Mode Code. The DMC consists of two parts, a Delivery Mode Audit Code and a Delivery Mode Detail.
The Audit Code is a single letter in parentheses that and identifies which version of the National Presortation Schematic and Delivery Mode Data Product was used to prepare a mailing. This Audit Code must appear on every mail item, regardless of its destination. This code changes monthly.
The Delivery Mode Detail is a string of alphanumeric characters that identifies the letter carrier route or delivery mode as well as the letter carrier responsible for delivery of the mail item or group of items. This information must appear on every mail item with an urban Postal Code.
Delivery Mode Identifier
The Delivery Mode Identifier is numerical and represents the routing information such as a letter carrier route number (e.g. 12).
Delivery Mode Type
An alphabetical character which identifies the mode of delivery:
A = delivery to block face address
B = delivery to an apartment building
E = delivery to a business building
G = delivery to a large volume receiver
H = delivery via a rural route
J = general delivery
K = delivery to a PO Box (not a community mailbox)
M = delivery to a large volume receiver (PO Box)
T = delivery via a suburban service
X = delivery via a mobile route
Z = Postal Code is retired (no further delivery to this code).
Delivery Standards
Delivery standards represent the expected transit time from deposit to delivery for items tendered before the local cut-off time; only Business Days are included in the calculation. Deposits on days other than Business Days are considered as being accepted on the next Business Day.
Distribution Centre Facility (DCF)
A major postal facility where mail is received, sorted, handled and sent to, or received from, a group of dependent postal facilities. This is the third level of consolidation as per the National Presortation Schematic.
Forward Consolidation Point (FCP)
The fourth level of consolidation in the National Presortation Schematic. This level is only accessed for the make-up of monotainers/pallets.
Incomplete Address
An address with missing delivery information.
Incentive Lettermail™
A category of Lettermail that consists of identical items of Standard and Oversize (O/S) domestic mail as defined by Canada Post, which is deposited in large quantities and qualifies for a discounted price.
Incentive Pricing/Rate
A special price available to commercial customers who have signed an agreement and whose mailings meet certain requirements established by Canada Post. These requirements include but are not limited to: volume, mail preparation and presortation, address accuracy, machineability, etc.
Large Volume Mailer (LVM)
A mailer who regularly deposits an average of 100 or more items of mail per business day.
Large Volume Receiver (LVR)
Customers that receive 200 items or more of Standard / Short and Long (S/L) machineable lettermail each business day.
Letter Carrier Presort (LCP)
A mail preparation and presortation option available for Addressed Admail™, including Dimensional Addressed Admail™ and Publications Mail™ services.
Lettermail™
Canada Post’s Lettermail service lets you send personal messages, business correspondence, invoices, and billing statements within Canada.
Local Delivery Unit (LDU)
The last three characters (numeric alpha numeric) of the Postal Code which represent a specific point or set of points of call located within the forward sortation area
Machineable Mail
A mail preparation option for Addressed Admail™, Incentive Lettermail™ and Publications Mail™ mailings. Mail that can be processed by Canada Post’s automated equipment.
Machineable Presort
A mail preparation and presortation option for Short and Long (S/L) Addressed Admail™ items weighing up to 50 grams. It combines the physical mail characteristics of Machineable Mail with the preparation and presortation requirements of Letter Carrier Presort (LCP)
Mail Presortation
The process of sorting and grouping mail items bound for a common destination. Mail presortation is based on the National Presortation Schematic (NPS) and can be performed manually or by using presortation software recognized by Canada Post.
Mail Processing Plant (MPP)
A postal facility established for the processing of mail.
Mailing Address
An address that specifies where mail is to be delivered and that includes information assigned by the municipality and building owners, as well as the assigned Postal CodeOM and other related address information assigned by Canada Post, as required. It can be different from the physical or street address.
Metered Mail
Mail on which the required postage is paid and indicated by a meter impression.
Multi-Line Optical Character Reader (MLOCR)
A machine used for mail processing that reads the complete address on a properly addressed mail item and encodes the corresponding fluorescent bar code.
National Presortation Schematic (NPS)
Formerly known as the National Distribution Guide, this document sets out mail presortation schematics required to do mail presortation to direct facilities or consolidation points.
National Presortation Schematic (NPS) Levels
The levels of consolidation as per the National Presortation Schematic (NPS) are as follows:
NPS level 1: Delivery Facility (DF)
NPS level 2: City
NPS level 3: Distribution Centre Facility (DCF)
NPS level 4: Forward Consolidation Point (FCP)
Any mail item that cannot be consolidated to one of these four levels will be consolidated as Residue.
NDG Presort
A mail presortation option for sequencing mail by FSA or Postal CodeOM and then grouping and containerizing mail according to the National Presortation Schematic (NPS).
Other Lettermail™
Any mail that does not qualify as Standard Lettermail. Oversize and Non-standard Lettermail items are included in this category.
Periodicals
Magazines and newsletters produced at regular intervals that contain news, articles of opinion, features and advertising. Periodicals exclude newspapers, and updates to existing periodicals, books, newspapers or reference material.
Point Of Call
An actual or potential business or residential point of delivery.
Postal Code
A six-character alphanumeric code in the form of ANA NAN, in which “A” represents a letter of the alphabet, and “N” represents a number. The two units of the code have different functions: ANA represents the forward sortation area (FSA), and NAN represents the local delivery unit (LDU). It is an integral part of every postal address in Canada and was designed to help sort mail, both mechanically and manually.
Presort Software
Software – such as frameworks Canada Mailers Edition – designed to presort according to the specifications outlined in the Presort Technical Specifications.
Presort Technical Specifications
A document intended specifically to provide developers of presortation software with Canada Post presortation requirements.
Repositionable Notes
Adhesive repositionable notes can be adhered to a publication or its enclosures up to a maximum of three (3) layers, otherwise the repositionable notes may be treated and priced as Samples and Promotional/Novelty Items. Visit canadapost.ca/postalstandards for more information.
Residue
Mail items that could not be grouped and/or containerized to any National Presortation Schematic (NPS) levels.
Rural Route (RR)
System for collection and delivery of mail, and for the transaction of other postal business with customers residing in rural areas. [route rurale (RR)]
Self-Mailer
A self-mailer is a printed piece folded in such a way that it can be mailed without an envelope.
Short and Long (S/L)
Category of mail items which physical characteristics meet to the Short and Long (S/L) specifications.
Single Deposit
All items that are deposited by the customer at one time in one day, on a single Order (Statement of Mailing) at one location, unless otherwise agreed in writing by Canada Post and the customer.
Standard Lettermail™
A category of mail that meets the size and weight specifications as well as other requirements for Standard Lettermail, as described in the Canada Postal Guide’s Lettermail section.
Statement of Accuracy
A Statement of Accuracy shows the percentage of addresses in a mailing list that are valid matches against the Canada Post address database. It is generated using SERP recognized Address Accuracy software.
The standard level for Address Accuracy is 95%, which means that 95% of the addresses are determined to be accurate when compared to the Canada Post database. If the percentage on the Statement of Accuracy (SOA) produced by Canada Post-recognized software is less than 95%, an adjustment will be applied to the cost of the mailing at the time the Order (Statement of Mailing) is completed.
Statement of Mailing
The Statement of Mailing is essentially your ‘order form’ for mailing services from Canada Post. It contains a summary of the information used to prepare the mailing, and uses this data to determine the cost of the mailing. Information included on a SOM includes your Account Name, Service type, preparation date, office of deposit, mailing ID, mailpiece dimensions, weight, and more.
Unaddressed Admail™
Consists of printed and non-printed matter, such as product samples, that are not addressed to a specific address in Canada. Items must be unaddressed but may bear wording such as “Householder”, “Occupant”, “Resident”, “Business Owners”, “Marketing Manager”, “Purchasing Manager” or “Boxholder”, without any further address. Unaddressed Admail provides geographic, demographic and lifestyle information to target mailings to neighbourhoods or localities that have the highest potential audience, without a customer database.
Undeliverable Mail
Mail that for any reason cannot be delivered to the addressee. Mail is also considered undeliverable if it does not bear a complete address, the addressee has moved without providing a forwarding address, it is refused by the addressee or the postage due is not paid by the customer, or the addressee, on demand.
ZIP Code
A United States Postal Service term for their type of Postal Code. ZIP stands for “Zone Improvement Plan.” For more US address hygiene and mailing terminology, visit our US site.
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