Posts Tagged ‘direct mail’

Throughout the world the use of a postal code map has become a recognized way to send mail through the postal service. Postal codes make it possible for postal stations across the globe to use scanners and distribute mail to far reaching locations more efficiently and effectively.

There are many types of scanners used that are designed for postal codes. Some of the most popular scanners read bar codes that direct mail based on the code that has been placed on a label containing data that is affixed to the letter with a label.

Other scanners are designed to read handwritten letters and numbers as letters pass through a large scanning machine. When the writing cannot be read by the scanner it is passed to a human that must then place the letter is the correct bags for transfer to a centralized mail distribution center.

Most countries have small postal stations in villages and towns where mail is collected and distributed for that area. However, the mail that is collected is transferred to a large collection center in major metropolitan areas where the mail of several towns is sorted and packaged for shipment to locations throughout the world.

Scanning machines may be very large and are secured to the floor with several chain link conveyors that move mail to the machine. As the mail is scanned, it is transferred to bags for local distribution, national distribution, or international distribution. The department that must manually sort mail often use a small hand held scanner that records the letters and numbers that have been written. The scanned image is input into the central memory of the main scanning machine and when that type of writing is found on another envelope, the scanner can translate the writing into the appropriate bar code.

Many people find that when they have inserted the wrong postal code on a letter or parcel, it is delivered to a foreign location even though the handwritten address is correct. This is because very few letters and parcels are viewed or scanned by humans.

The scanning machines that are used have a global location intelligence in the hard drive upon which all mail is distributed. In some cases a scanner will read a one instead of a seven when scanner and the letter or parcel will be shipping to the location that is indicated by the postal code map to be the closest to that number.

When a person is unsure of the correct code to use on a letter or parcel, they are often able to get a local, or government postal code map that has a breakdown of the country and it’s postal code. Many large countries that have several codes for certain regions utilize several maps for the area.

As more electronic records are being standardized and records are being kept in centralized locations the use of postal code maps is becoming a vital part of the process of organizing records electronically. Using postal codes to sort clients and customers by city or region makes it easier to find the records for individual.

Author: Adriana N.
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: US Dollar credit card

Microsoft Excel “custom functions” can do many specialized tasks related to address and zip code information, such as checking the validity of mailing addresses, calculating driving time and driving distance, even importing demographic information.Custom functions (also called User-Defined Functions or UDFs) perform complex calculations or tasks and are used in cell formulas just like the standard Excel functions SUM, AVERAGE, or LOOKUP. In this article we will describe how you can use custom functions to create lists of zip codes in Microsoft Excel.

Zip code lists can be used for a variety of purposes, such as planning direct mail or advertising campaigns.But instead of cutting and pasting zip codes from a website or database, custom functions in Excel can automate interactions with a zip code database and import zip code lists easily into a worksheet, allowing the user to then analyze the zip codes and any associated data using Excel’s powerful built-in capabilities.From the user’s point of view, these custom functions look just like another formula in the worksheet.Since all interactions with the database occur in the background, the user can work entirely within the familiar Excel environment – there’s no need to learn a new application.

How would this work within an Excel worksheet?Let’s say we need a list of all the zip codes in the city of New Rochelle, in Westchester County, New York.To use a custom function called ZIPLIST, we just type this formula into a cell “= ZIPLIST (“New York”, “Westchester”, “New Rochelle”)”.The function we call ZIPLIST gets the required data from a local database and returns all the New Rochelle zip codes to the worksheet cell. If we need zip codes for a long list of cities in a worksheet, we can also input a custom function formula using the only worksheet cell locations, such as “=ZIPLIST (A1, B1, C1)”, where A1, B1, and C1 refer to the cell locations of the state, county, and city, respectively.We can then easily copy and paste this formula to apply it to all the cities in our list.

Zip code lists for a county or state can also be generated using this method.For all zip codes in the state of California, the custom function formula is”‘=ZIPLIST (“California”).The omission of county and city information in this case indicates only state-level information is required.

This is a good example of how Excel custom functions can automate specialized tasks and calculations, with no need to learn a new application or even leave the familiar environment of Excel. From checking the validity of address information to generating zip code lists in Microsoft Excel, custom functions can be valuable tools for analyzing zip code and address information.

Author: Betty Hughes
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Electric Pressure Cooker