Addressing Addressing and Postcode Manual Postcode and Addressing and Postcode Manual Editors: Patricia Vivas and Joe Lubenow UNIVERSAL POSTAL UPU UNION Addressing and Postcode Manual Editors: Patricia Vivas and Joe Lubenow UNIVERSAL POSTAL UPU UNION Published by Universal Postal Union (UPU) Berne, Switzerland Except as otherwise indicated, the copyright in this publication is owned by the Universal Postal Union. Reproduction is authorized for non-commercial purposes, subject to proper acknowledgement of the source. This authorization does not extend to any material identified in this publication as being the copyright of a third party. Authorization to reproduce such third party materials must be obtained from the copyright holders concerned. ISBN 978-92-95025-42-4 Title: Addressing and Postcode Manual. Published March, 2009 Editing by Patricia Vivas and Joe Lubenow Support by José Anson, Raquel Ferrari, Bilal Ahmad Khan, Alistair MacRae, Lukasz Piotrowski, Piotr Piotrowski, Eugeniusz Tomaszewski and Denise Vreuls. Revision by Mr. Andrew Benson for the Universal Postal Union Universal Postal Union Addressing Assistance Unit (ADA) P.O.Box 3000 BERNE 15 SWITZERLAND Tel: +41 31 350 3111 Fax: +41 31 351 0266 Email: [email protected] Printed in Switzerland by the printing services of the International Bureau of the UPU. Copyright ©2009 Universal Postal Union. All rights reserved. Addressing and Postcode Manual Acknowledgements 1 Foreword I. Introduction II. Postcode system 1 What is a postcode?. 11 2 Importance of postcodes. 11 2.1 General considerations. 11 2.2 The postcode: an asset for the postal administration. 12 2.3 The postcode: an asset for mailers too . 12 2.4 The postcode: an asset for customs. 13 2.5 The postcode: an asset for EMS. 13 3 Types of postcodes . 14 4 Developing a postcode system . 14 4.1 The objective. 14 4.2 Using what already exists . 15 4.3 Optimizing the organizational structure. 16 4.4 Making the introduction of postcodes a success. 16 5 Implementing a postcode system . 16 5.1 Essential stages. 16 5.2 The different phases. 17 6 Disseminating and promoting postcodes. 17 6.1 Dissemination. 17 6.2 Promotion. 17 – Promotion amongst private customers. 18 – Promotion amongst big mailers. 18 – Methods of disseminating postcodes. 18 7 Maintaining a postcode system. 19 7.1 New addresses, changed addresses, obsolete addresses . 19 7.2 Methodology for measuring penetration. 19 7.3 Service performance measurement. 20 8 Improving a postcode system . 20 8.1 Second and third generation postcodes. 20 8.2 Delivery point codes . 21 III. Addressing 1 Definition of an address . 23 1.1. Common sense view . 23 1.2. UPU S42 definition of an address. 24 1.3. Comparison to other definitions. 25 2 Importance of addresses. 25 2.1 Key to consistent and reliable delivery. 25 2.2 Need for unambiguous address, complete and correct . 26 2.3 Need for current addresses. 26 3 Types of addresses. 27 3.1 Descriptive addresses. 27 3.2 Postal addresses . 27 3.3 Non-postal addresses . 27 3.4 Geographic co-ordinates addresses. 27 4 Defining a National Addressing Standard. 28 4.1 Why wait to establish a national addressing standard? . 28 4.2 Domestic mail. 28 Addressing and Postcode Manual 4.3 International mail. 28 4.4 Content of the addressing standard . 29 2 4.5 Rules concerning the structure and formatting of addresses . 29 5 UPU International Addressing Standards. 30 5.1 Explanation of S42, which is both a UPU and a CEN standard. 30 5.2 New standard on Name and Address Data Sets. 31 5.3 How to participate in the process . 31 6 UPU Rules for presentation of letter mail. 32 7 Changes of address. 32 7.1 The address (and addressee) lifecycle. 32 7.2 The bridge – linking to a street file or database as a first step . 33 7.3 A change of address system . 33 7.4 How can this information be collected and captured to change of address database?. 34 7.5 Data capturing of relocation information. 37 7.6 Benefits from a change of address system. 37 7.7 National vs. international address database updating . 38 8 Validation of addresses. 38 8.1 Using the UPU S42 standard for validation . 38 8.2 The importance of delivery point databases. 39 IV. Databases of postcodes and addresses 1 Terms and definitions . 41 2 The value of postal databases in general. 41 3 Establishing a database. 42 4 Maintaining a database. 42 5 Database technology. 42 6 Methodology to build a postal database. 44 6.1 General considerations. 44 6.2 Database structure . 44 – Introduction. 44 – Objectives. 45 – Technical specifications of a database. 45 V. Delivery performance measurement VI. Geographic information system 1 Introduction . 49 2 GIS in a Nutshell. 49 3 GIS and Addresses. 50 4 Address Cleaning and Validation. 51 5 Summary . 51 VII. Facilitating direct mail 1 Introduction . 53 2 What is Direct Mail?. 53 3 The Posts are important to Direct Mail. 53 4 Direct Mail is important to the Post. 53 5 Direct Mail is valuable for the Economy. 54 6 Getting started with the basics. ..