Mailsort is an alternative coding scheme used by the Royal Mail for bulk mailing. In exchange for significant discounts, the sender of the mail must sort it themselves into batches.
Mailsort uses a three level coding. Every postcode is allocated a Mailsort direct code, which is a 5-digit number representing a specific sorting office and section within the office. These numbers are reallocated from time to time to match changes in sorting arrangements (e.g. if sorting of AB6 codes moves to a different sorting office, AB6 will move to a different direct code), and therefore are not listed here. In general each direct code covers several districts, and each district or sub-district lies entirely within one code. There are a few exceptions where different sectors of a district have different codes, but these are being eliminated by (permanent) re-postcoding of the affected addresses.
The second level is the residual code, which consists of the first three digits of the direct code (sometimes written with 00 appended). Residual codes are used when a given bulk mailing does not contain 25 items for the same direct code; recipients of UK mail may therefore see them from time to time.
Finally, the codes are divided into 16 blocks, and bulk mailers will deliver each block to their local sorting office separately; thus a large mailing will probably arrive at block A (Scotland) a few days before block P (Southwest). The following table lists the 16 blocks and the ranges of mailsort codes allocated to them in late 1996.
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