Canadian equivalent of a ZIP + 4 code. It consists of six alphanumeric characters in ANA-NAN sequence, where A represents one of 20 alphabetic characters and N represents a number from 0 to 9 (for example, HOA-9Z0). The first three characters represent a Forward Sortation Area (FSA), the last three characters, a Local Delivery Unit (LDU). The first character of the FSA represents a province, a group of small provinces or, together with the second character, a subdivision of a large province. The province codes run from east to west, with A being the most eastern province, Saint John. If the second digit is the number 0, the last character must also be 0, and the entire code represents a small, single-coded town. If the second digit is a number from 1 through 9, then the FSA code represents part of a large, multicoded city and the LDU represents a blockface within that city. For example, the province of Toronto is represented by an M or L in the first position. The second position would be a number from 1 to 9, and the third position could be any of 20 alphabetic characters. The FSA, therefore, could be M1A, M2A, M3A, M2B, and so on. Following these rules, there are a total of 180 codes possible for Toronto, including the various LDUs representing blockfaces within Toronto.
The CPC was created to facilitate mail handling and delivery, but it is used by direct marketers the same way the ZIP code is used in the United States to group, characterize, and select name and address records.
