Publication 28 - Postal Addressing Standards > 3 Business Addressing Standards > 31 General > 314 Purpose of Standardization
The purpose of standard abbreviations and compression guidelines is to provide a uniform reference when there is a need to condense address data. The standards contain the following components: an address format model indicating preferred address data element locations, a progression of optional line compression steps, and a table of standard abbreviations for the most commonly used business words. These tools are designed to meet the following objectives: