You must have written “CEDEX” on one of the letters you sent by post. You probably also noticed that only companies (or organizations) had access to this particular mention.
Apart from the fact that it stands for “Corporate Mail with Exceptional Distribution” and that it was created in 1972, what does that imply?
A paid service of the Post Office
For an individual, an address is made up of the surname and first name of the recipient, the number and name of his street, the postal code, his locality and possibly the country.
The CEDEX code is used by companies that have subscribed to a paid subscription with the Post Office. The postal address is then slightly different from those of individuals: we find the name of the company, the number and the name of the street, sometimes the post office box, the postal code, the name of the city followed by the mention CEDEX.
It should also be noted that the CEDEX code should not be confused with the CIDEX code (acronym for “Courrier Individuel à Distribution Exceptionnelle”) which is intended for individuals and which is often used in housing estates where each inhabitant does not have his own Letter box.
A specific utility
Among the great advantages of having a CEDEX code, that of having the guarantee that the mail will be treated in priority and in a reduced time. This is a real advantage for companies that manage a large volume of parcels or mail.
For example, almost all e-commerce platforms use this postal service. Thus, the postal address of the company’s head office is 9, rue des Bateaux-Lavoirs – ZAC Port d’Ivry 94200 Ivry-sur-Seine CEDEX.
The 5-digit number upstream of the city, in the address containing CEDEX, then gives indications to the postal workers. If the first two (or three) numbers indicate the department where the company’s head office is located (like a traditional postal code), the following designate the distributing office. There may be several per agglomeration, as is the case in Paris.
This code can also be supplemented by an arrondissement number which is then located after the acronym CEDEX (for example: 75 XXX PARIS CEDEX 02 in reference to the 2nd arrondissement of the capital).
