United States Postal Service Usage
In the US Postal System, a delivery point is a specific set of digits between 00 and 99 assigned to every address. Combined with the ZIP + 4 code, the delivery point provides a unique identifier for every deliverable address served by the USPS.
The delivery point digits are almost never printed on mail in human-readable form; instead it is encoded in the POSTNET delivery point barcode (DPBC) or as part of the newer Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB). The DPBC makes automated mail sorting possible, including ordering the mail according to how the carrier delivers it (walk sequence).
The two-digit delivery point number is combined with an additional check digit in the DPBC. This digit is used by barcode sorters (BCS) to check if the ZIP, ZIP + 4, or delivery point ZIP codes contain an error. In a database, storing the ZIP + 4 code in a 10 character field (with the hyphen) allows easy output in the address block, and storing the check digit in a 3-digit field (instead of calculating it) allows automatic checking of the validity of the ZIP+4 and delivery point fields (in case one had been changed independently). In order to receive the appropriate barcode discount, the delivery point digits and the +4 extension must be verified using an up-to-date, CASS or DPV certified program.
Since each city block or section of a rural route has a different +4 extension, and address numbers generally increase by 100 per block, the delivery point is typically the last two digits of the address. In the early days of DPBC, it was acceptable to determine the delivery point in this fashion, but since suite and other secondary designations are assigned unique delivery points—which cannot be determined without the CASS/DPV database—this is no longer possible. The delivery point is usually redundant for post office boxes, since they are typically assigned their own ZIP + 4 code, but must nonetheless be assigned a complete DPBC for full postal discounts.
Read more about this topic: Delivery Point
Famous quotes containing the words united states, united, states, postal, service and/or usage:
“In a moment when criticism shows a singular dearth of direction every man has to be a law unto himself in matters of theatre, writing, and painting. While the American Mercury and the new Ford continue to spread a thin varnish of Ritz over the whole United States there is a certain virtue in being unfashionable.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“Then the American flag was saluted. In general, in the United States people always salute the American flag.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)
“Maybe we were the blind mechanics of disaster, but you don’t pin the guilt on the scientists that easily. You might as well pin it on M motherhood.... Every man who ever worked on this thing told you what would happen. The scientists signed petition after petition, but nobody listened. There was a choice. It was build the bombs and use them, or risk that the United States and the Soviet Union and the rest of us would find some way to go on living.”
—John Paxton (1911–1985)
“This is the Night Mail crossing the Border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,
Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the corner, the girl next door.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)
“Let the good service of well-deservers be never rewarded with loss. Let their thanks be such as may encourage more strivers for the like.”
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)
“Girls who put out are tramps. Girls who don’t are ladies. This is, however, a rather archaic usage of the word. Should one of you boys happen upon a girl who doesn’t put out, do not jump to the conclusion that you have found a lady. What you have probably found is a lesbian.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1951)