ULD Lodgements Business Letter Services. Introduction Bulk mail products have specific requirements when lodging articles in Unit Loading Devices (ULDs)

ULD LodgementsBusiness Letter Services

IntroductionBulk mail products have specific requirements when lodging articles in Unit Loading Devices (ULDs).

In this moduleThis module covers information relating to the preparation of ULDs for large volume lodgements of Acquisition Mail, Charity Mail, PreSort Letters, Print Post and Unaddressed Mail articles.

Learning outcomesBy completing this module, you will be able to:• identify the Business Letter services where large volume lodgements apply• describe how to correctly prepare a ULD for lodgement

Large Volume Lodgements at a glance

What is a Large Volume Lodgement?

The definition of a large volume lodgement depends on the bulk mail service the articles are being lodged under.

Large volume lodgements apply to the following Business Letter services:

Acquisition Mail, Charity Mail and PreSort Letters – 50,000 or more articles

Print Post – 50,000 or more articles

Unaddressed Mail – more than one Unit Loading Device (ULD) per state

The PreSort Letters service offers reduced prices to those customers who can apply barcodes to their letters, sort them into a particular order, place them into appropriately labelled trays, complete documentation prior to posting at a designated postal outlet and comply with relevant mailing conditions.

Print Post is an Australia Post service for the delivery of approved periodical publications to addresses within Australia.

Unaddressed Mail is an Australia Post service for the delivery of mail which does not include a name or specific delivery address. This mail can be enveloped, wrapped or unwrapped.

Acquisition Mail is an addressed (non personalised) bulk mail delivery service. It allows customers to geographically target an addressed mail campaign to residential address points in specific postcodes, suburbs (localities) or Census Collection Districts (CCDs).


What is a ULD?

Steel cage containers known as Unit Loading Devices (ULDs) can be obtained from Australia Post, subject to availability and in instances where large mail volumes are to be lodged. Contact your mail facility for further information.

ULDs remain the property of Australia Post and all other rules and regulations pertaining to the use of the ULD are applicable. Australia Post reserves the right to charge for any ULD that you damage or do not return.

The maximum weight for a loaded ULD is 600kg (including the weight of the ULD which weigh around 100kg). This means that 500kg is available for the contents. Be aware that ULDs will often exceed the maximum weight limit before they are completely full.

In order to maximise transportation efficiency and ULD utilisation, mailers should ensure that each ULD is used as efficiently as possible.


Arranging articles into ULDsArticles can be arranged in ULDs in a number of ways, depending on article sizes.

Small Letter articles

Small Letter articles must be prepared in trays, with the appropriate tray label attached. The trays are then stacked in the ULD with the tray labels facing outwards.

Large Letter articles

Large Letter articles can be prepared in two ways:• prepared in trays with the appropriate tray label applied and then stacked into ULDs with the tray label facing outwards• (with prior approval) Print Post articles can be bundled securely and brick stacked into the ULD

What is meant by brick stacked?

Brick stacked is a term that describes how the articles are positioned into the ULD. It involves stacking the bundles in an overlapping fashion.

Advanced: ULD Lodgements

ULD Lodgements

Introduction

Customers use ULDs when they are making large volume lodgements.

Australia Post has specific requirements for ULD lodgement for each of the following Business Letter services:

• Acquisition Mail

• Charity Mail and PreSort Letters

• Print Post

• Unaddressed Mail

These requirements are outlined on the following pages.


Large volume lodgements

PreSort Letters, Charity Mail and Acquisition Mail Lodgements

Large volume lodgements for Acquisition Mail, PreSort Letters and Charity Mail contain 50,000 or more articles.

Acquisition Mail, Charity Mail and PreSort Letter customers who have large volume lodgements can arrange to have their articles lodged using ULDs.

Acquisition Mail, Charity Mail and PreSort Letter articles, regardless of their size, cannot be stacked directly into ULDs. They must first be prepared in letter trays with the appropriate tray label attached and then stacked into the ULDs. The trays must be positioned within the ULD with the tray labels facing outwards.


Print Post Lodgements

Large volume lodgements

Large volume lodgements for Print Post contain 50,000 or more articles.

The lodging of Print Post articles in ULDs, whether they fall into the Small Letter category or Large Letter category, follow specific presentation and lodgement requirements:

Small letters - articles cannot be stacked directly into ULDs. They must first be prepared in letter trays with the appropriate tray label attached and then stacked into the ULDs. The trays must be positioned within the ULD with the tray labels facing outwards.

Large letters - articles have two presentation methods:

• prepared in large letter trays with the appropriate tray label attached and then stacked into the ULDs. The trays must be positioned within the ULD with the tray labels facing outwards

• bundled for brick stacking (with prior approval)

Advanced: ULD LodgementsPrint Post LodgementsLarge Print Post articlesThe table below identifies the presentation methods allowed for large articles.

Large Print Post articles that are not presented in trays and stacked into ULDs must:• be securely bundled• have all articles in the bundle facing in the same direction• have the appropriate label depending on the sort division attached to the bundle: Residue Bundle label Other State CBD Sort Division Bundle label• be stacked with the address/label face up using the overlapping brick stacking method

Large Print Post Articles

Presentation Options

Small Postcode Direct

Large Postcode Direct

CBD Sort Division Residue

Brick Stacked in ULD YES YES NO – Intrastate

YES – Interstate

NO – Intrastate

YES – Interstate

Trays YES YES YES YES

A bundle of 5 to 20 articles where all addresses belong to a single postcode or CBD Sort division.Trays or bundles containing at

least 300 articles where all addresses belong to a single postcode or CBD Sort Division.

A designated range of postcodes - there are 6: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart.

Articles that are not sorted to a postcode level or sort division level.



ULD presentation

Print Post articles within ULDs can be presented in five different ways, as follows:

• a Single Sort Division

• a Multi Local Sort Division

• a Sort Division with top-up

• Mixed (no sortation)

• Consolidation


Single Sort Division

A Single Sort Division are articles all for a single PSI. (For example all articles for PSI 205.)

Multi Local Sort DivisionA Multi Local Sort Division are articles all for more than one PSI. The articles within the ULD must then be separated by an approved method.

(For example, articles for PSI 205, PSI 207 and PSI 208.)

Sort Division with Top-Up

A Sort Division with Top-Up is where customers can use the spare capacity within the ULD and ‘top-up’ with a mix of different PSIs.

Mixed (no sortation)Mixed (no sortation) or residue is a mixture of PSIs with no other sorting.




Consolidation

Consolidation is the grouping of bundles and trays from different jobs generated by various publishers into a common ULD. Only articles of the same size category can be consolidated, ie small articles cannot be consolidated with large articles.

Each bundle or tray must contain the same publication.

Each ULD of a consolidated lodgement requires:

• a Consolidated Supporting Document (Manifest) detailing the contents of the ULD

• a Consolidated ULD Label listing the publication titles contained in the ULD

• a Print Post Supporting Document (Manifest)



ULD lodgement

After stacking the ULD, a label needs to be attached to the ULD, stating the:

• net weight

• date

• number of articles

• the destination PreSort Indicators

More information about ULD labels is provided later in this module.



Summary

Key points covered for large volume Print Post lodgements were:

50,000 or more articles

Small articles must be presented in trays

Large articles can be presented in trays or bundled

Brick stacking is only allowed for large articles

There are 5 ULD presentation methods

• single sort division• multi local sort division• sort division with ‘top-up’• mixed • Consolidation

A ULD label must be attached to the ULD


Unaddressed Mail Lodgements

Large volume lodgementsLarge volume lodgements of Unaddressed Mail are those which require more than 1 ULD per state.

The lodging of Unaddressed Mail articles in ULDs, whether they fall into the Small Letter category or Large Letter category, have specific presentation and lodgement requirements:

Small letters - articles cannot be stacked directly into ULDs. They must first be prepared in letter trays with the appropriate tray label attached and then stacked into the ULD. The trays must be positioned with the tray label facing outwards.

Large letters - articles have two presentation methods:• prepared in large letter trays with the appropriate tray label attached and then stacked into the ULD.

The trays must be positioned within the ULD with the tray labels facing outwards.• bundled for brick stacking

Brick stacking of Unaddressed Mail articles requires the approval of Australia Post

(Unaddressed Mail Booking office in each state) prior to lodgement.


Unaddressed Mail Lodgements

ULD presentation

This table describes the four levels of ULD sorting available:

Level Title Description

1 Direct Delivery Centre ULD Contains articles destined for only one delivery office

This is the highest level of sort

2 Single PSI Region ULD Contains articles for delivery from different delivery offices that share the same single PSI

3 Direct Mail Centre ULD Contains articles for delivery from different delivery offices for a particular mail centre

4 State ULD Contains articles for delivery by a single state

This is the lowest level of sort

Advanced: ULD LodgementsUnaddressed Mail Lodgements

ULD fill levelsThe maximum allowable weight of a ULD is 600kg. The ULD is 100kg, which means a maximum of 500kg is available for the contents.The minimum ULD fill level is dependant on the level of sort being used as detailed below:Fill levels for sort levels 1 – 3 : ULD fill levels for sort levels 1 - 3 are detailed in the table below:

Fill levels for sort level 4 : For sort level 4, there is no minimum fill so the ULD should be filled as close to capacity as is practical within the maximum weight.

More information about minimum and maximum fill levels can be found in the Unaddressed Mail service guide.

Tray Type Intrastate ULD Interstate ULD

Small Trays (8 trays per layer) 24 trays (3 layers) 36 trays (4.5 layers)

Large Trays (6 trays per layer) 12 trays (2 layers) 15 trays (2.5 layers)

1 Direct Delivery Centre ULD2 Single PSI Region ULD3 Direct Mail Centre ULD

4 State ULD

Advanced: ULD LodgementsUnaddressed Mail LodgementsULD lodgement

After stacking, a label needs to be attached to the ULD.

Australia Post does not provide reprinted ULD labels, so customers need to produce their own. The label must be a minimum of 135mm x 90mm and follow the layout recommended below:

Sortation Level State

Destination

ULD Type

PSI Number

Gross Weight

Lodged By

Lodgement Date

Delivery Week Commencing

Advanced: ULD LodgementsUnaddressed Mail Lodgements

Summary

Key points covered for large volume Unaddressed Mail lodgements were:

• Large lodgements are more than 1 ULD per state

• Small letters must be presented in trays

• Large letters can be presented in trays or bundled

• Brick stacking is allowed for Large letters on approval from Australia Post

• There a 4 levels of ULD sorting:

• Direct Delivery Centre• Single PSI Region• Direct Mail Centre• State

• There are minimum and maximum ULD fill levels

• ULD label must be attached


Summary

You have now completed this module.

The key points covered were:

ULDs remain the property of Australia Post

The maximum weight of a ULD is 600kg (including the weight of the ULD)

Large volume ULD lodgements apply to:

• Acquisition Mail

• Charity Mail and PreSort Letters

• Print Post

• Unaddressed Mail

Small articles cannot be stacked in ULDs; they must be sorted into trays first

Large articles can be bundled and brick stacked into ULDs

You now need to complete a short assessment to check your understanding of the information covered in this module. This assessment consists of 10 multiple-choice questions and should take you approximately 10 minutes to complete. To pass the assessment, you need to answer at least eight of these questions correctly.Attempt this assessment as many times as you need to. If you do not pass, it is recommended that you review this module again.

Assessment

Assessment

1 What is the maximum weight of a ULD?

a. 500kgb. 100kgc. 600kgd. 300kg

Correct answer = CThe maximum weight of a ULD is 600kg. The ULD itself weighs 100kg, therefore the maximum weight of the contents is 500kg.

Assessment

2 True or false?

Small letter articles can be bundled and stacked directly into the ULD.

a. Trueb. False

Correct answer = BSmall letter articles must first be prepared into trays and then stacked into the ULD.

Assessment

3 True or false?Large letter articles can be bundled and stacked directly into the ULD.

a. Trueb. False

Correct answer = ALarge letter articles can either be prepared in trays and then stacked into the ULD or they can be bundled and then stacked into the ULD.

Assessment

4 To which Business Letter services do large volume lodgements apply?

a. Impact Mail, Print Postb. PreSort Letters, Reply Paidc. Charity Mail, Print Post, Reply d. Acquisition Mail, PreSort Letters, Print Post, Charity

Mail, Unaddressed Mail

Correct answer = DLarge volume lodgements apply to the following Business Letter services:• Acquisition Mail, PreSort Letters and Charity Mail – 50,00 or more articles• Print Post – 50,000 or more articles• Unaddressed Mail – more than 1 ULD per state

Assessment

5 True or false?PreSort Letters can be bundled and stacked directly into the ULD.

a. Trueb. False

Correct answer = BAll PreSort Letter articles regardless of the letter size must be placed in letters trays and then the letter trays stacked into the ULD.

Assessment

6 True or false?Print Post Small letter articles can be bundled and then stacked directly into the ULD.

a. Trueb. False

Correct answer = BPrint Post Small letter articles must be placed in letters trays and then the letter trays stacked into the ULD.

Assessment

7 True or false?Print Post Large letter articles can be bundled and then stacked directly into the ULD.

a. Trueb. False

Correct answer = APrint Post Large letter articles can be placed large letter trays or bundle and then stacked into the ULD.

Assessment

8 True or false?Unaddressed Mail Small letter articles must first be prepared in letter trays and then stacked into the ULD.

a. Trueb. False

Correct answer = AUnaddressed Mail Small letter articles cannot be stacked directly into ULDs, they must first be prepared in trays.

Assessment

9 True or false?Unaddressed Mail Large letter articles must first be prepared in letter trays and then stacked into the ULD.

a. Trueb. False

Correct answer = BUnaddressed Mail Large letter articles can be prepared in trays or bundled for stacking into the ULD.

Assessment

10 True or false?A ULD label must be attached to the ULD for Print Post and Unaddressed Mail lodgements.

a. Trueb. False

Correct answer = AFor Print Post and Unaddressed Mail ULD lodgements a ULD label must be attached to identify the contents of the ULD.

Documents

ULD Lodgements Business Letter Services. Introduction Bulk mail products have specific requirements when lodging articles in Unit Loading Devices (ULDs)