Postal Codes in the UK - Essay Example

POST S - INTRODUCTION Postal s in the UK are referred to as Post s. These post s are alphanumeric in nature with the sole aim of speeding up the mail delivery process. This system of mail delivery was pioneered by the Royal mail. Over a 15-year period spanning from 1959 to 1974, the Royal mail implemented this system and today it has been adopted as the approved method in mail delivery process by the different postcode service providers. These postcodes are alphanumeric strings of 5 to 7 character length, split by a single space into an outward and inward code, comprising two distinct parts each. Presently in the UK there are currently 1.6 million unique full postcodes. The postcode of the Address Management Centre POI 3AX can be used to illustrate how the postcode system works. The OUTWARD CODE is the string of character before the space e.g. PO1, P0 is the area. 1 is the District. The INWARD CODE is the string of characters after the space e.g. 3AX: 3 is the sector, Ax the walk. There are 124 AREA CODES, 116 use two alpha characters, 8 use a single alpha character. Area Listing: Area Map. There are approximately 2900 District level codes. The district is usually 1 or 2 numeric characters, but numeric and alpha in parts of London. There are approximately 9500 SECTOR level codes. The sector is always is single numeric. The final 2 alpha characters, known as two walk refer t house groups or in some cases individual premises. There are four patterns which full postcodes must comply with comprising Area District Sector Walk: i.e. AD SWW or ADD SWW or AAD SWW or AADD SWW. With this illustration it observable that the outward code or District level postcode can vary from 2 to 4 characters length and comprise a 1 or 2 character Area code and 1 or 2 character District code. However the backward code is always 3 characters comprising a single numeric followed by 2 alpha characters. All alpha characters in a postcode are shown in upper case and the letters C,I, KM, O and V are not used in the toward part of a postcode. According to the Royal Mail, there are approximately 1500 post towns, city or major Tom defined by the Royal mail. They are integral to any correct address and can accordingly be used as reference point in geographic analysis. In the example initially given, PO defines the postcode AREA as Portsmouth not that the post Tom is Portsmouth. There are 24 post Toms used in the PO Area, ranging from Bembridge to Yarmouth; as it happens the post Tom for our PO1 3XA example is Portsmouth. Nearly all 124 postcode Areas are known by one of their post Tows (e.g. AB-Aberdeen, B=Birmingham etc) though this assists in remembering them the coverage of postal Areas can often surprise those who interpret this literally. This is illustrated by the AB Postal Area, but equally applies to many others, in our post Toms by Area. Area Map. There are a number of postal providers in the UK of which Jersey post happens to be one. Jersey port is the licensed universal service provider of mail services for the bailiwick of Jersey. It covers the postcode area JE, which was only established in the early 1990's as a subset of the UK's post code system. Previously, Jersey, along with Guernsey and the Isle of Man, did not have postcodes at all. Jersey post was established as was Guernsey in 1969 when the British Government by order in Council enabled crown Dependencies to create separate postal services within the British postal system. Consequently, UK postage stamps ceased to be valid in the crown Dependencies. Jersey post limited was incorporated as a limited company by the states of Jersey on 1 July 2006 when the postal services (Jersey) Law 2005 came fully into force allowing competition in this sector for the first time. It is licensed in the Jersey competition Regulatory Authority as a class II postal operator and as such, is designated to hold significant market power and thus is liable for the universal service on the Island; Jersey post has an established and active philatelic bureau which issues new designs on a regular basis. Jersey post entered other markets while still a states department. These include Promail, its mailing house set up in 1996, and offshore solutions, its fulfillment service. Promail provides a high class mail service for the offshore financial community. In 2006 Jersey post added a new premium service (FedEx Express) which Jersey post calls J-Express, it was created for its key high quality business services aimed to increase awareness of the benefits of express can bring to companies who operate in the Island and a more secure way to send items internationally. Other postal service providers are the British Forces Post Office (BFPO). This is an agency that provides a postal service to HM Forces separate from that provided by Royal Mail in the United Kingdom BFPO addresses are used for the delivery of mail in the UK and around the world. The website and telephone contacts are: http://www.bfpo.mo.uk Tel: 08457697978 Parcel Force Worldwide is the Parcel delivery arm of the Royal Mail postal service in the UK. Despite being affiliated with and a subsidiary of the Royal Mail in the UK, Parcelforce, has a global parcel delivery capability (through its subsidiary General Logistic Systems) and is a direct competitor of other worldwide delivery brands in the UK Parcelforce operates a "hub and spoke" system with the national hub based in country. The Coventry site also doubles as the international transfer hub. The company's national hub centre adjacent to Coventry Airport is one of the largest buildings in the UK and is, according to the company, over a quarter of a mile in length. The website is given below: http://www.parcelforce.com Amtrak Express Parcels is a parcel delivery company in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1987 by Roger and Elaine Baines following financial difficulties due to the collapse of Farepak it was acquired by Netfold Limited. The company's new chairman is Ron Series and the new managing director is Alarm Jones. http://www.amtrak.co.uk The Royal Mail Archive which is part of the large Mount Pleasant sorting office complex with entrance on the West side of the complex on phoenix place. It is also 10-15 minutes walk from Kings cross, Russell square, chancering lane and Kingdom underground stations. Buses number 17, 38,341 and 19 all stop close by. Post-switch is an independent postal broking agency post-switch has capacity for high volume mailers at reduced postage cost. It provides expert advice on matching direct in act to the most suitable support at the optimum tariff. Post switch war set up in 1996 and is part of the integrated communications group. Kingfishes post switch already handler over one million items of mail each month and delivers direct mail campaigns in 48hrs with savings of up to 2205%. Post switch can be reached at: Suite 3.09. The Tea Building, London E16JJ Tel: 0845 241 4949 Contact person. Jonathan De Carteret Tel: 07974767222 E-mail: press@post-switch.co.uk Other are DHL, UPS, TNT, FedEx all providing postal services to WX and London boroughs. References 1. British Postal Museum and Archive - Information Sheet: Postcodes 2. Postal codes to speed up mail, The Times, January 15, 1959 3. Norwich to use postal codes - Experimenting in automation, The Times, July 29, 1959 4. G.P.O. robot postman sorts 20,000 letters an hour, The Times, October 5, 1965 5. Someone, Somewhere in postal code, The Times, October 12, 1966 6. Post Office plans faster service, The Times, July 4, 1967 7. London in brief, The Times, September 15, 1970 8. Inside the Post Office, The Times, January 18, 1971 9. Postal code programme, The Times, April 20, 1972 10. British Postal Museum & Archive's Information Sheet on the history of Postcodes Read More