What do positions 11 through 14 identify?

• A. The date of the request in julian date format
• B. The serial number used for that request day
• C. The mailing address
• D. The ship to address

Answer: (B)

In this kind of fixed-field format, the section spanning those positions is used to store a four-digit serial number that uniquely identifies each request for that day. It acts as a daily tracking code so every item filed or processed on the same day can be distinguished from one another. The date of the request would typically appear in a different field and would not be a four-digit serial, since Julian dates are not restricted to four digits and would be placed elsewhere. Mailing and ship-to addresses are text fields meant to hold full street, city, state, and ZIP information, not a compact numeric code. So the four-digit block is specifically for the daily serial number used for that day’s requests.