Sorting office
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A sorting office or processing and distribution center (P&DC; name used by the United States Postal Service (USPS)[1]) is any location where postal operators bring mail after collection for sorting into batches for delivery to the addressee,[2] which may be a direct delivery or sent onwards to another regional or local sorting office, or to another postal administration.
Most countries have many sorting offices; the USPS has about 275.[1] Some small territories such as Tahiti have only one.[citation needed] Sorting vans were used at various times; the UK had sorting vans, or carriages, in their Travelling Post Offices but those services were terminated in 2004. while in the USA the Railway Mail Service used a Railway post office for sorting the mail. As of 2017, Germany has about 95–98 sorting offices across the country.[citation needed]
The United KingdomRoyal Mail's Mount Pleasant Sorting Office was the world's largest sorting office at the beginning of the 20th century but is now only the largest one in London.[3]
Military mail systems, such as the British Forces Post Office and U.S. Military Postal Service, have their own dedicated sorting offices.[4]
See also
[edit]- Mail Centre
- Post Office Sorting Van
- Sectional center facility (United States Postal Service)
- Travelling Post Office
References
[edit]- ^ abBard, Jonathan F. (1 February 2005). "Equipment scheduling at mail processing and distribution centers". Allbusiness.com. Archived from the original on 11 March 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- ^Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary: 3rd edition. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 2008. p. 1380. ISBN 978-0-521-85804-5. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
- ^"Mount Pleasant Mail Centre". British Postal Museum and Archive. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
- ^"Welcome to the Official British Forces Post Office Website". British Forces Post Office. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
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