| ‘A’ range – paper sizes |
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| A3 packet | 420x297mm or under, Up to 750g, Less than 25mm thick |
| Access | The agreement produced by Royal Mail which allows access to its network for part of its journey at a fixed price per item |
| Access agreement | The agreement produced by Royal Mail which allows access to its network for part of its journey at a fixed price per item |
| ‘C’ range – envelope sizes | C8 81x57mm
C7 114x81mm C6 162x114mm C5 229x162mm C4 324x229mm |
| CBC (Customer Bar Code) | When your mail is addressed using a barcode containing the address of each item |
| Cleanmail | Unsorted mail – letter size OCR (Optical Character Recognition) or CBC (Customer Bar Code)1,000+ per mailing |
| Cleanmail plus | Unsorted mail – letter size OCR (Optical Character Recognition) or CBC (Customer Bar Code) 1,000+ per mailing95%+ address accuracy |
| Downstream access | Access to Royal Mail’s network at a Royal Mail centre |
| Enclosing | Process of inserting one or more items into an envelope. Can be done by machine or by hand (depending on contents) |
| E2E (End to End) | A service whereby mail is collected from a producer and is distributed and delivered by a single postal operator |
| Final mile | A term used to describe the delivery of the mail from the last mail centre |
| IMC (Inward Mail Centre) | Royal Mail’s inward main delivery offices around the UK |
| Large letter | 353x250mm maximum size
25mm maximum thickness 750g maximum weight |
| Letter | 240x165mm maximum size
5mm maximum thickness 100g maximum weight |
| Liberalisation | The opening of the mail market to competition |
| Licensed area | The area in which postal operators must have a licence – defined as letters weighing less than 350g and costing less than £1 to post |
| Mailsort | Service dependent on type of item, volume, delivery timings and level of preparation Mailsort 1 = next day delivery
Mailsort 2 = delivery within 3 working days Mailsort 3 = delivery within 7 working days |
| Mailsort 120 | Letter format, Minimum quantity 4,000 OCR or CBC, Sorted to approx 120 delivery selections |
| Mailsort 700 CBC | Letter format, Minimum quantity 10,000 CBC Sorted to approx 700 delivery selections. |
| Mailsort 1400 | Letters, Large letters, A3 items and packets Up to 2kg Minimum quantity 4,000 letters (2,000 if entire mailing is within same postcode area), 1000 large letters or A3 packets. Sorted to approx 1400 delivery selections |
| Merge | The process of combining two or more mailing lists in order to build one larger one |
| Merge and purge | The process of combining two or more mailing lists in order to build a larger one, but including the removal of duplicates |
| OCR (Optical Character Recognition) | The interpretation of characters by a computer which scans the text and stores, reads or translates data. |
| Packet | More than 353mm long or 250mm wide Maximum 610x460x460mm More than 25mm thickMaximum weight 2kg |
| Packetpost | Large letter or packet Daily Rate: minimum 5,000 large letters or packets per class, per year Flat Rate: minimum 10,000 large letters or packets per class, per year |
| PAF (Postal Address File) | A complete collection of over 27 million Royal Mail postal addresses and UK postcodes – used to maintain and improve mailing-lists and databases, including better targeting and sorting for lower postage costs. |
| PPI (Postage Paid Impression) | A printed indicator visible on the envelope which shows the carrier / service by which that mail item is carried. |
| Postal Licence | A licence issued by Postcomm that allows an operator to carry mail in the Licensed area. |
| Postcomm | Government department that is the independent regulator for the postal market and is responsible for issuing licenses to operators in the Licensed Area |
| Presstream | Specialist distribution service for frequent publishers of magazines (including newsletters, journals and periodicals) Presstream 1: delivery next day / Presstream 2: delivery within 3 working days |
| Price control | How Royal Mail must set prices and quality of service |
| PiP (Pricing in Proportion) | Royal Mail’s pricing from 21st August 2006 based on size and weight |
| Second class | Delivery by 3rd day after posting |
| Walksort | Mail sorted down to the postal walk of Royal Mail staff. Items up to 750g4,000 letters (2,000 if entire mailing is within same postcode area), 1000 large letters or A3 packets |
| Zonal pricing | Varying rates according to the delivery: Zone A Urban, Zone B Suburban, Zone C Rural, Zone D London |
