Canadian Postal Codes Format
Canadian postal codes are alphanumeric and composed of six characters. Canadian postal codes have the following format: X1X 1X1
where X is a letter and 1 is a digit, a space separating the third and fourth characters. These six characters of Canadian postal codes represent a postal address in Canada.
The first three characters of Canadian postal codes form a forward sortation area (FSA). A forward sortation area is a geographical region.
- The first letter of an FSA stands for a postal district that specifies a particular territory or province.
- The second digit of an FSA shows if the FSA is rural or urban (0 is a rural region; any other digit is an urban region).
- The third letter of an FSA indicates a rural region / city / section of a metropolitan area.
The three characters of Canadian postal codes followed by the space represent a Local Delivery Unit (LDU). A Local Delivery Unit stands for an address or several addresses corresponded to a small town, a large building, a university, a business, a hospital and etc. that receives high volumes of mail regularly.
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