PRINTING & MAILING GLOSSARY
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| A SIZES | Common sizes of sheets of paper used in the graphic arts and printing industry outside of North America are ISO Sheet sizes . ISO (International Standards Organization) uses the metric system and sheets are measured in millimeters. |
| ACCORDIAN FOLD | A simple zigzag folds with 6-panels and two parallel folds that go in opposite directions. Same as Z fold. |
| ANCILLARY SERVICE ANDORSEMENT | Forwarding, return or address correction service included within a mail class. Depending on the mail class these services are performed at a charge or at no additional charge, if and when the service is actually rendered. |
| ANTIALIASING | The process of smoothing out jagged edges on curves and diagonal lines in a bitmap image. |
| AUTOMATED DISCOUNT | A postage reduction offered to mailers who pre-barcode their mail pieces and meet addressing, readability and other requirements for processing on automated equipment. (back to top) |
| BANGTAIL | A promotional or payment envelope with a second flap, that is perforated and designed to be used as an additional order form or change of address form. |
| BARCODE | A series of vertical bars and spaces that represent the delivery point Zip Code™. The barcode facilitates automated processing by barcode readers and scanners. |
| BLEED | Extending the artwork beyond the trim edge leaving an extra 0.125" margin on all sides. This ensures a clean cut with no white area showing. |
| BMC | BMC or Bulk Mail Center is a highly mechanized mail processing plant that distributes Standard Mail® and Package services in piece and bulk form. |
| BOOGER GLUE | An viscous adhesive with a peelable bond used to seal direct mail pieces or rolled into little balls to be thrown at coworkers. |
| BRM | BRM or Business Reply Mail is a service that allows a permit holder to receive First-Class™ mail back from customers and pay for only the returned pieces. |
| BRE | BRE or Business Reply Envelope is an envelope enclosed in mailings that bears the words "Business Reply Mail" and the endorsement "No postage Necessary if Mailed in the United States" The envelope is included in the mailing for the recipient to respond without paying postage. (back to top) |
| C FOLD | Common type of tri-fold for letters and brochures where the piece has two parallel folds in a roll fold configuration. This allows the panels to nest inside each other properly, the folded in end panel is usually 1/32" to 1/8" narrower than the other panels. |
| CALL OUT | Short blocks of copy that direct reader attention to special benefits or features worthy of emphasis. |
| CARRIER ROUTE | The addresses to which a carrier delivers mail. Files with heavy concentration in one area usually qualify for carrier route discounts. |
| CASS CERTIFICATION™ | (Coding Accuracy Support System) Is the process required by the Post Office™ to clean up files, verifying that the addresses are correctly abbreviated, the directionals are added, and ZIP + 4™ has been appended. In order to receive an automation discount you must have the file CASS Certified™. The /United States Post Office™ certifies the software that vendors use. |
| CHESHIRE LABEL | Names and addresses printed (by continuous laser) on plain white computer paper, usually 4 across (4-up). To affix a Cheshire label to a mailing piece you must use a machine that cuts slits and glues the label and affixes the label to the mail piece. The machine is called a Cheshire machine, thus the name of the labels. |
| CMYK | The 4 ink colors used by a printing press. C is cyan (blue), M is magenta (red), Y is yellow, and K is black. The four inks are placed on the paper in layers of dots that combine to create the illusion of many more colors. CMYK color describes the reflected light spectrum or colors which can be reproduced from light reflecting off of ink and traveling into the eye. |
| COATED PAPER | Paper with a clay or other coating applied to one or both sides is coated paper. The coating can be dull, gloss, matte, or other finishes. Coated paper generally produces sharper, brighter images and has better reflectivity than uncoated paper. |
| CONTINUOUS LASER | Forms manufactured from a continuous web, so that they can be pin fed and addressed by a Continuous Laser. |
| COUNTS | Number of records contained within a file. |
| CROP MARKS | Crossed lines placed at the corners of an image or a page to indicate where to trim. (back to top) |
| DOG EAR | A letter fold at the side of one of the creases, an indentation occurs. |
| DOUBLE PARALLEL FOLD | Paper is folded in half and then folded in half again with a fold parallel to the first fold. To allow for proper nesting the two inside folded panels are 1/32" to 1/8" smaller than the two outer panels. |
| DOUBLE GATEFOLD | Paper is folded into three parallel folds. The left and right edges of the paper fold and meet in the middle, without overlapping, along a center fold. The outer panels (the ones that fold in to the middle) are usually 1/32" to 1/8" smaller than the inner panels (the ones covered by the panels that fold in) to allow for proper folding and nesting. |
| DPI | A measure of the resolution of a printer is called DPI or dots per inch. It properly refers to the dots of ink or toner used by an imagesetter, laser printer, or other printing device to print your text and graphics. In general, the more dots, the better and sharper the image. |
| DROP SHIP | A shipment being delivered to a Post Office™ that is not normally used by the Mailing House. When a job is dropped shipped it is normally trucked and delivered to a location closest to the most concentrated area you are mailing in. |
| DUMPS | Printed display of a data file or a portion of that data file for purposes of reviewing data prior to personalization. |
| DUPLEX LASER | Lasers two sides. When imaging is occurring on both sides of the sheet. This is done in one pass and is generally double the cost of Simplex lasering. |
| EMBOSSING | Heat and pressures reshapes the surface of the paper to create a three-dimensional design or image. Single, multi-level, beveled, and sculptured are the styles of embossing. |
| EPS | EPS or Encapsulated PostScript is a vector format designed for printing to PostScript printers and imagesetters. It is considered the best choice of graphics format for high resolution printing of illustrations. EPS files are typically created and edited in illustration programs such as Adobe Illustrator. (back to top) |
| FELT FINISH | An uncoated, uncalendered paper that has a surface texture created by pressing the paper with patterned woven wool or synthetic felt belts during manufacturing. |
| First-Class™ | First-Class™ mail comprises of three subclasses: postcards, letters and sealed parcels and Priority Mail®. This is the fastest way to get something in home and the most expensive method through USPS®. |
| FLAT | This is a piece of mail that exceeds the maximum size of a letter. If the piece exceeds 6 1/8" tall x 11.5" wide, it would qualify as a flat and be in a different postage rate structure that a letter. |
| FOIL STAMPING | Application of foil, a special film-backed material, to paper where a heated die is stamped onto the foil, making it adhere to the paper surface leaving the design of the die. |
| FOUR UP | The term used to describe a layout, which contains four forms per sheet. |
| FPO | FPO means "For Position Only". The placement of a blank placeholder in the required location to indicate where an actual image is to be placed on the final artwork. |
| FRICTION FEEDER | This machine is attached to the inserter to enable it to feed material that has been folded in the "Z" or accordion style. It can also be used with any insert that will feed with an open end into the envelope first. |
| FTP | FTP or File Transfer Protocol is a secure area where art and data file can be posted to through the internet. This is a very common way to transport files. (back to top) |
| GALLEY | An output of a file can be produced in a galley format. Usually it contains all information included on the file and is helpful if the mailing is being followed up by telemarketing. |
| GANG | To reproduce two or more different printed products simultaneously on one sheet of paper during one press run. |
| GHOST BAR | A quality control method used to reduce ghosted image created by heat or chemical contamination. |
| GREEK TEXT | Nonsense text used as a placeholder for actual text used to check layout and overall appearance without the distraction of the actual text. |
| GUTTER | The inside margins or blank space between two facing pages is the gutter. Gutter space is used to accommodate binding in books and magazines. The amount of gutter needed varies depending on the binding method. |
| HEADLINE | A line or lines of text usually set in a larger typeface than body copy that introduce articles or sub-sections of articles and stories in books, newsletters, newspapers, magazines, web pages, and other publications. |
| HAIRLINE | A very thin line or gap about the width of a hair or 1/100 inch. |
| INDICIA | Imprinted designation on mail that denotes postage payment. A permit imprint. |
| INKJET | Small size and precision placement of the dots of ink produce very near photo-quality images. An Inkjet machine refers to color contained in cartridges, heated, vaporized, and laid down a strip at a time rather a page at a time creating an effect closer to continuous tone than traditional inkjet technology. |
| INSERTER | This is a piece of equipment that inserts material into an envelope mechanically. The maximum size of envelope that that can run on a normal inserter is 6 x 9. (back to top) |
| JPEG | A temporary storage bitmap image format used for on-screen display or email exchange of large low-resolution photographs. JPEGs may look good on-screen and may produce nice inkjet prints, but it is not suitable for high resolution commercial printing. |
| JUMBO INSERTER | This is an inserter that mechanically inserts up to 6 components into a 9 x12 or smaller. |
| JUSTIFICATION | Alignment of text or graphic elements on a page usually either left or right, but can also refer to top, bottom, sides, middle or full alignment. |
| KERNING | The space between characters of body text. |
| KEY CODING | To code a file in order to track data source, where the data was mailed and to track responses. Key codes are appended before the mail is produced and the client decides on the coding structure. This can be a unique sequence number or any alpha or numeric type of coding. (back to top) |
| LANDSCAPE | The term used to describe horizontal orientation of a printed piece or mailer. |
| LASER | A type of printer that prints by fusing toner to paper. There are cold and hot fusion printers. |
| LASER FILL | This is a term used for variable information that we would incorporate into a letter. This information is specific to the record and not just static information. Usually laser fill includes the name, address, city, st, ZIP®, salutation, and may include some other variable info throughout the letter copy |
| LEADING | The distance between lines. An example of this would be either single space or double space. |
| LETTERART | Term used to describe the actual text and layout that will be used in a form letter. This is usually provided by the client on hard copy or diskette. This will include the Font style and size that will be used. It will also include what information will be variable and what will be hard copy, or text that will always be the same. |
| LETTER FOLD | The term used to describe the style of fold in which the sheet is folded 1/3 of the way and then 1/2 way. |
| LIGATURE | Two or more letters combined into one character. |
| LPI | The number of lines per inch is the LPI, sometimes also called line or screen frequency. You can think of LPI as the halftone resolution. The way printers reproduce images, simulating continuous tone images by printing lines of halftone spots. |
| LINEN FINISH | A text paper finish with a pattern simulating the look of linen cloth. |
| LINK | In graphic layout programs it refers to the external image or graphic file that is referenced in the document. All document links must be provided to vendor in order to print correctly. |
| MACHINE FINISH | Smooth finish paper that gets its surface texture during the papermaking process rather than as a separate manufacturing operation. (back to top) |
| MATCH MAILING | The term used to describe a mailing which the package has more than one item that is personalized and must be "matched" to insure that all names in one package are the same. |
| MATTE FINISH | Coated paper with a dull, no-gloss finish without luster. |
| METER | This machine allows postage to be mechanically applied directly to a mail piece by imprinting it with a meter logo that includes the postage rate and date. |
| METER TAPE | This is a strip of paper that has postage which has been applied by a meter machine and is then applied to the mail piece with adhesive. |
| MERGE | This is a process used to combine two or more different files together to obtain one file. The Purge process usually follows this process. |
| NCOALink ® | NATIONAL CHANGE OF ADDRESS -An address correction service that the USPS® provides to mailers through USPS® licensees. The USPS® maintains the database for the entire country, using change of address cards that are filled out by the consumer to update the file. |
| NET MAIL FILE | A file that is created after all processing has been done. This represents exactly what was mailed out. |
| NIXIE FILE | A do not solicit file that list houses have, that consumers can call and request to be added to, so they no longer receive "junk" mail. |
| NON-MATCH MAILING | All pieces in the package are generic except for the piece that is addressed. |
| NON-PROFIT | Only political committees, voting registration officials and organizations that meet specific standard for qualified non profit organizations and that have received specific authorization form the USPS® may mail eligible matter at the Non-Profit Standard Mail® rates. |
| NORTH/SOUTH SPLIT | When a form as multiple up (2,3,4,5,6etc) on a single sheet we need to perform a split that will allow us to cut and process the forms in postal sequence. When a form is two up, usually the top of every sheet goes in order and the order continues with stacking the all the bottom forms under the top forms. So visualize an 8.5 x 11 form with 2 5.5 x 8.5 records. We would laser everything and cut the 8.5 x 11 sheets in half and stack the top forms on top of the bottom forms to keep the continuity of the postal stream. (back to top) |
| OE | Outer Envelope |
| ONE UP | The term used to describe the layout of printed material that is one record per sheet. |
| OWE | Outer Window Envelope |
| Portable Document Format or PDF is a file format created by Adobe Systems, Inc. using the PostScript printer description language and is highly portable across computer platforms. | |
| PECKER TRACK | Chunk of Ink stuck in the Paper Path on the press, that leaves a dotted spot on the sheet. |
| PERMIT NUMBER | The number assigned by The United States Postal Service® which gives the mailing house authorization to mail using a pre-printed indicia instead of affixing postage. |
| PIGGY BACK LABEL | A label that is applied with the backing attached so that the label can be removed and reapplied to another piece. |
| PITCH | Refers to the amount of horizontal space used for each character of fixed-width fonts. This is often specified in characters-per-inch (CPI), typically where 10-pitch equals 12-point, 12-pitch equals 10-point, and 15-pitch equals 8-point. |
| POINT | A unit of measurement, often used to measure type size, equal to 0.013837 inch (approximately equal to 1/72"). |
| POSTCARD | If the piece is a card (single or double) measuring no smaller than 3.5 x 5 and no larger than 6 x 9, it qualifies at postcard rates. |
| POSTAGE REQUEST | The request for money needed to cover the postage for a mailing. |
| PMS | Obsolete reference to Pantone Matching System. The correct trade name of the colors in the Pantone Matching System is Pantone colors, not PMS Colors. |
| PRECANCELLED STAMPS | Stamps that are not physically cancelled by the Post Office™. These stamps cannot be used for non-presorted mail. They are for presorted mail only. |
| PRESORT | A mail preparation process where mail is sorted to the finest extent required by the standards for the rate claimed. To get a presort discount you must have a minimum of 500 identical pieces for 1st class mail and 200 for standard class mail. |
| PRESSURE SENSITIVE LABEL | A label that you can peel from it's backing and stick on to something only once. |
| PROOF | A general term for a variety of options for seeing what your file will look like when printed. |
| PURGE | A process used to remove duplicate records from within a file. There are several different ways to select the duplicates off. This criteria is provided by the client and must be given to the programmer before the process is started. (back to top) |
| RAGGED | Lines of text that are allowed to end naturally, leaving varying amounts of white space at the end of lines rather than forcing it to line up flush with the margin. |
| RGB | A common color profile used for on screen application, RGB stands for the colors of Red, Green, Blue. Usually not suitable for commercial printing. RGB color describes the projected light spectrum or colors that are projected into the eye from a light source. |
| RIGHT ANGLE FOLD | The term used to describe a style of fold, which has a minimum of two folds, the last of which is a 90 degrees from the previous fold. |
| ROLL FOLD | A piece of paper folded in roll folds has two or more parallel folds that fold in on each other. |
| ROTATED | Forms lying in a side position. Also known as landscape. |
| SALUTATION | How do you want the recipient addressed on the letter? Dear First Name Last Name, Dear First Name, Dear Mr. Last Name, etc. |
| SAMPLES | Samples of the job in progress. Can be a "John Q Sample" format or a live name sample. |
| SANS SERIF | A type of font which does not have serifs -- the little extra strokes found at the end of main vertical and horizontal strokes of some letterforms. |
| SATIN FINISH | Smooth paper with a low gloss finish having more luster than matte but not high gloss. |
| SEEDS | Implanted names by the client and/or the mailing vendor so that they can see how the piece faired through production and the mail stream. Can be supplied already in the mail file or as a separate list to include in the mailing. |
| SERIF | A type of font with a little extra stroke found at the end of main vertical and horizontal strokes of some letterforms. |
| SHEET | Paper cut into sheets as opposed to paper on a continuous roll. Usually supplied 8.5 x 11, 8.5 x 14, 11 x 17 or 12 x 18. |
| SHEET-FED | A printing press that uses individual sheets of paper, as opposed to continuous rolls of paper used on web presses. |
| SIGNOFFS | The term used to describe the act of submitting something to a client for their review and approval. |
| SIMPLEX LASER | Lasers on one side only. Laser size is usually 8.5 x 11, 8.5 x 14, 11 x 17 or 12 x 18. |
| SLIT AND NEST | The term used to describe a style of fold that will result in a detached coupon nested in two thirds of a page folded in half. |
| SPOT COLOR | A specially mixed ink using in printing. The Pantone Matching System is the most common type of spot ink used today. |
| SPREAD | Facing or adjacent pages in a layout or adjacent pages laid out for printing. (back to top) |
| STAMP | A physical piece that must be affixed to the mail piece with adhesive notating postage. Stamps come in many different denominations and classes. |
| STANDARD CLASS | This is what used to be called "Bulk". To qualify for Standard class you must have a minimum of 200 identical pieces. Standard Class can include, letter size, non-letter size, irregular parcel. |
| SUPPRESSION FILE | A file that is provided by the client of records they do not want to include in the mailing for one reason or another. This file gets passed against the mail file and all matches are removed from the mail file. |
| TABLOID | A sheet of paper that is half the size of a broadsheet and twice the size of standard letter size paper is known as tabloid size. Tabloid is an 11x17 sheet size. |
| TEASER | An intriguing (and sometimes provocative) question or statement designed to catch reader attention and "pull" them into the copy. Envelope messages are a common use of the teaser. |
| TEMPLATE | A master copy of a publication used as a starting point to design new documents. |
| THERMOGRAPHY | Raised printing similar in appearance to engraving but using a different process. In thermography, a special powder is added to the ink printed on the paper. The printed piece is heated and the powder and ink mixture dries to form a raised effect on the paper. |
| THREE UP | Three records to a sheet. |
| TIFF | One of the most commonly used and versatile graphics formats which is ideal for high resolution printing. |
| TOOTH | The surface feel of paper. |
| TRACKING | The adjustment of letter spacing for words, phrases, and extended blocks of text. |
| TWO UP | Two records to a sheet. (back to top) |
| UNCOALink ®TED PAPER | Paper that does not have any kind of coating applied. Uncoated paper is available in many different finishes, colors, and weights and is generally more absorbent than coated papers. |
| VERSION | Some mailings are comprised of different components or versions. Could be different printed material or a different letter, etc. |
| WAFER SEAL | Is a sticker that is used to close a package of a self-mailer. The wafer seals come in several sizes and can be white, clear or opaque, perfed or non perfed. |
| X - HEIGHT | The distance between the baseline of a line of type and tops of the main body of lower case letters. |
| Z FOLD | A Z fold is a fold with 6-panels and two parallel folds that go in opposite directions. Same as accordian fold. |
| 3602 | A proof of delivery form that is filled out by the mailing house and is verified and stamped by the USPS®. (back to top) |