Postal Buzzwords explained
| Access point | Physical facilities, including letter boxes provided for the public either on the public highway or at the premises of the universal service provider, where postal items may be deposited with the universal service provider by customers. |
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| Addressee | Legal or natural person to whom a postal item is to be delivered. |
| Bulk Mail | This comprises correspondence, documents or publications consisting of a substantial number of similar items which are deposited with An Post, or any other service provider, at the same place and at the same time to be conveyed and delivered to the addressees indicated on the items themselves or on their wrapping. |
| City | The areas administered by the City Councils of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. |
| Courier Service | Express service under which the postal item is in the possession of an employee of the company at all stages of its journey. |
| Cross border service | Also known as Trans-border service, see 'Trans-border service' for definition. |
| Day Certain Services | Services meeting the special needs of customers who require that a series of time-sensitive items of correspondence are delivered at the precise date specified. |
| Direct Mail | A form of Bulk Mail, it involves a communication consisting solely of advertising, marketing or publicity material and comprising an identical message, except for the addressee's name, address and identifying number as well as other modifications which do not alter the nature of the message, which is sent to a significant number of addressees. ComReg decided that a 'significant number of addresses' is 2000 for nationwide delivery or 100 pieces for one specific local delivery office. |
| Document Exchange | A closed user-group mail delivery service offering express, business-to-business services. The network ensures the transport of mail between users subscribing to the service via personalised boxes located at exchange points (document exchanges). Only members subscribing to the network may exchange through the network. |
| Domestic service | Services which originate within the State and are intended for delivery within the State. |
| Express | Services providing accelerated delivery compared to Standard Mail. |
| EMS | Also referred to as Express Mail Service. A specific Express Service provided by An Post in competition with other authorized postal service providers. |
| First class mail | Also known as Priority Mail. See 'Priority Mail' for definition. |
| Postaim | An An Post Direct Mail service which offers substantial discounts to businesses that pre-sort approved advertising and promotional material and accept deferred delivery. |
| Postcode |
The Universal Postal Union (UPU) describes the Postcode as the fundamental, essential element of an address, and a unique, universal identifier, which unambiguously identifies the addressee's locality and assists in the transmission and sorting of mail items. |
| Postal services | Services involving the clearance, sorting, transport and delivery of postal items. |
| Pre-sort service | A service whereby the originator of Bulk Mail or an agent undertakes to sort its mail in accordance with the sorting plan required by the operator and presents this mail to the operator so that it can be treated as a single aggregated unit of mail until it is received at the designated Delivery Office where it will then be disaggregated for final delivery. |
| Priority Mail | The fastest category of standard mail. For domestic mail ComReg has set An Post the target to deliver 94% of all single piece priority mail on the working day after it is posted, and 99.5% by the third working day after it is posted. For Trans-border mail within the EU the European Commission has set An Post the target to deliver 85% of all single piece priority mail by the third working day after it is posted and 97% by the fifth working day after it is posted. |
| Registered mail | A service providing a flat-rate guarantee against risks of loss, theft or damage and supplying the sender, where appropriate upon request, with proof of the handing in of the postal item or of its delivery to the addressee. |
| Reserved area | Services exclusively reserved to the Universal service provider. Also known as the monopoly area. |
| Rural area | All parts of the State, with the exception of towns. |
| Sender | A natural or legal person responsible for originating postal items in the mail system. |
| Single piece mail | This is correspondence, documents, publications or goods other than "Bulk Mail" originating from an individual residential or business customer(the sender) and deposited directly with An Post, or any other service provider, for conveyance by post and delivery to the addressee. |
| Standard Mail | Services which are subject to delivery targets but do not provide for certainty and guarantee as to the exact day or time of delivery. |
| Tariff principles | The principles to be complied with when setting tariffs by the Universal Postal Service including affordability, geared to cost, transparency and non-discriminatory provisions. |
| Terminal dues | The remuneration of universal service providers for the distribution of incoming cross-border mail. (see Trans-border service) |
| Time Certain Services | Services meeting the special needs of customers who require that a series of time-sensitive items of correspondence are delivered at the precise time specified. |
| Town | Population clusters of 1,500 or more inhabitants, whether there are legally defined boundaries or not. |
| Trans-border service | Services which originate within the State and are intended for European/International delivery or vice versa. |
| Universal Services | Services involving the clearance, sorting, transport and distribution of postal items weighing up to 2kgs; services involving the clearance, sorting, transport and distribution of postal packages weighing up to 20kgs; services for registered items and services for insured items. Universal services include both national and trans-border services. |
| Universal Service Obligation (USO) | The obligation to ensure that every citizen has access to a permanent postal service of a specified quality at affordable prices. |
| Universal Service Provider | The public or private entity designated as a universal service provider and providing a universal postal service or parts thereof within the State, currently An Post. |
| Urban area | Also known as town. See 'Town' for definition. |
| Value Added Services | Services which involve payment of a premium price for a better quality of service. |
