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Office of Research Services

Serving the NIH Community

Glossary of Terms

​​Accountable Mail - Mail that requires special handling. This mail includes Registered, Certified, Express, Delivery Confirmation and some inter-office mail services.

Activities - NIH Institutes, Center​s, and Divisions and specifically, laboratories, offices, etc.

Business Reply Mail (BRM) - Specially printed cards, envelopes and labels that may be mailed without prepayment of postage. The postage and fees are collected when the mail is delivered back to the sender.

Clustered Mail Service - A group of mail boxes centrally located in a designated area of a building where mail is picked up and delivered to NIH activities on-and off-campus.

Domestic Mail - Mail addressed and destined for delivery to locations within the United States and its territories.

EPN - Executive Plaza North

Foreign or International Mail - Mail addressed and destined for delivery to locations not in the United States or its territories.

GPO - Government Printing Office

IC - Institutes and Centers

Inter-office Correspondence - Generated by and intended for delivery to NIH activities on- and off-campus

Mail Stop Code (MSC) - The four-digit ZIP Code add-on used to locate, pick-up and deliver mail to NIH activities and clustered mail boxes on- and off-campus

NSC - Neuroscience Center

NSA - North Stonestreet Avenue

Optical Character Reader (OCR) – USPS computer-controlled automation equipment that locates, reads, and interprets address information

Permit Imprints - Simplified method to affix postage to each piece of mail.

Special - Correspondence sent by NIH offices through inter-office mail that requires a signature upon delivery

Tracer Action – Action to locate a piece of non-delivered accountable mail

USPS - United States Postal Service

ZIP+4 - a nine digit numeric code incorporating the original five-digit ZIP Code, a hyphen, and four additional digits. The first five digits identify the city and delivery office. The four-digit add-on identifies a specific delivery segment such as a city block, a floor of a building, a department with a firm, or a group of post office boxes.​

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