• Saturate a local neighborhood to achieve maximum postal discounts

• Produce carrier route maps to:

- Create a better picture of a territory with Census Tract maps based on carrier routes

- Identify travel patterns and concentrations of customers to target mailings to their neighbors

What exactly is a carrier route?
A postal carrier route is the group of addresses to which the USPS® assigns the same code to aid in the sorting and delivery of mail. Each carrier route is explicitly defined as part of a single ZIP Code. These unique codes are 9 digits – 5 numbers for the ZIP Code, 1 letter for the carrier route type, and 3 numbers for the carrier route code. Typically, each carrier route is related to where a particular mail carrier delivers to in a single day.

What’s the difference between a carrier route code and a ZIP + 4®Code?

92688-C007 vs. 92688-2112

Although a ZIP+4™ Code also has 9 digits, it is not the same as a carrier route code. There are far more ZIP+4 codes in the U.S. – approximately 40,000,000, usually assigned to one side of a street block. Each carrier route contains tens or hundreds of ZIP+4 codes.

How many carrier routes exist?
There are approximately 600,000 unique carrier routes in the U.S. Approximately half are assigned to post-office boxes, leaving approximately 300,000 that represent “boundaries” or delivery areas.

Do carrier routes change?
Yes, carrier routes change every day. Some changes are very subtle – one new address added because a new home was built at the end of a street, or there was a change in postal carrier personnel. Nationwide, each month there are at least 100,000 changes to the carrier route definitions.