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89-579: A ZIP Code (an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan ) is a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service (USPS). The term ZIP was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently and quickly ( zipping along ) when senders use the code in the postal address . The Philippine Postal Corporation also uses this terminology for the postal code system in the Philippines . Introduced on July 1, 1963,

178-465: A postal inspector . The phrase "zone improvement plan" is credited to D. Jamison Cain , a Postal Service executive. The post office credits Moon with only the first three digits of the ZIP Code, which describe the sectional center facility (SCF) or "sec center". An SCF is a central mail processing facility with those three digits. The fourth and fifth digits, which give a more precise locale within

267-529: A New York bank in a bank-by-mail campaign. Wilcox's design was a child-like sketch of a postman delivering a letter. The figure was used only a few times, then filed away. Later, AT&T acquired the design and made it available to the Post Office Department at no cost. ... Miami-based Post Office Department artist Joe Lawrence retained the face but sharpened the limbs and torso and added a mail bag. The new figure, who Lawrence had dubbed Mr. ZIP,

356-554: A cartographic practice. As ZIP Codes are not polygons, but collections of mail routes and points, they are unsuitable for publication or distribution of most data. Polygons for ZIP Codes are not released by the USPS and instead interpolated by 3rd party vendors. These interpolations introduce topological errors and are not standard between vendors. The USPS often discontinues, splits, or otherwise modifies ZIP Codes, making continuous space-time analysis challenging, leading to issues with both

445-669: A certain code. See also postcode lottery . In Brazil the 8-digit postcodes are an evolution of the five-digit area postal codes. In the 1990s the Brazilian five-digit postal code (illustrated), DDDDD , received a three-digit suffix DDDDD-SSS , but this suffix is not directly related to the administrative district hierarchy. The suffix was created only for logistic reasons. The postal code assignment can be assigned to individual land lots in some special cases – in Brazil, they are named "large receivers" and receive suffixes 900–959. It

534-428: A city block, a group of apartments, an individual high-volume receiver of mail, a post office box, or any other unit that could use an extra identifier to aid in efficient mail sorting and delivery. However, the new format was not adopted universally by the public; it eventually became obsolete with modern technology. In general, mail is read by a multiline optical character reader (MLOCR) that almost instantly determines

623-480: A consequence, ZIP Code "areas" can overlap, be subsets of each other, or be artificial constructs with no geographic area (such as 095 for mail to the Navy, which is not geographically fixed). In similar fashion, in areas without regular postal routes ( rural route areas) or no mail delivery (undeveloped areas), ZIP Codes are not assigned or are based on sparse delivery routes, and hence the boundary between ZIP Code areas

712-496: A full, correct ZIP+4 Code and an additional two digits representing the exact delivery point . Furthermore, mail must be sorted in a specific manner to an 11-digit code with at least 150 mailpieces for each qualifying ZIP Code and must be accompanied by documentation confirming this. These steps are usually done with PAVE-certified software that also prints the barcoded address labels and the barcoded sack or tray tags. The assignment of delivery point digits (the 10th and 11th digits)

801-476: A letter. The outward postcode and the leading numeric of the inward postcode in combination forms a postal sector, and this usually corresponds to a couple of thousand properties. Mr. ZIP The USPS has described the origin of Mr. ZIP as follows: Mr. ZIP was based on an original design by Howard Wilcox, son of a letter carrier and a member of the Cunningham and Walsh advertising agency, for use by

890-529: A long city name combined with a multi-letter state abbreviation, such as "Sacramento, Calif." along with the ZIP Code. The abbreviations have remained unchanged, with the exception of Nebraska , which was changed from NB to NE in 1969 at the request of the Canadian Post Office Department , to avoid confusion with New Brunswick . Robert Moon is considered the father of the ZIP Code; he submitted his proposal in 1944 while working as

979-442: A numeric postcode format of four or five digits is commonly used) the numeric postal code is sometimes prefixed with a country code when sending international mail to that country. Postal services have their own formats and placement rules for postal codes. In most English-speaking countries, the postal code forms the last item of the address, following the city or town name, whereas in most continental European countries it precedes

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1068-465: A package. As of October 2019, there are 41,702 ZIP Codes in the United States. Due to convenience, ZIP Codes are used not only for tracking of mail, but also commonly for gathering geographical statistics in the United States by some researchers. ZIP Codes are not created for statistical analysis, thus use for statistical analysis is heavily criticized for numerous reasons and advised against as

1157-561: A post office to close and its associated ZIP Code to be deallocated. For example, Centralia, Pennsylvania 's ZIP Code, 17927, was retired in 2002, and ZIP Codes for Onoville (14764), Quaker Bridge (14771) and Red House (14773) in New York were prevented from going into use in 1964 in preparation for the Kinzua Dam 's completion. Each ZIP Code has one or more "postal city" names assigned to it. Since ZIP Code boundaries are based on

1246-593: A process called ZIP-code marketing. Point-of-sale cashiers sometimes ask consumers for their home ZIP Codes. Besides providing purchasing-pattern data useful in determining the location of new business establishments, retailers can use directories to correlate this ZIP Code with the name on a credit card to obtain a consumer's full address and telephone number . ZIP-Coded data are also used in analyzing geographic factors in risk, an insurance and banking industry practice pejoratively known as redlining . This can cause problems, e.g. , expensive insurance, for people living near

1335-478: A quarter of a mile (400 metres) apart. The structure is alphanumeric, with the following six valid formats, as defined by BS 7666: There are always two halves: the separation between outward and inward postcodes is indicated by one space. The outward postcode covers a unique area and has two parts which may in total be two, three or four characters in length. A postcode area of one or two letters, followed by one or two numbers, followed in some parts of London by

1424-640: A region (if applicable) often gets the first ZIP Codes for that region; afterward, the numerical order often follows the alphabetical order. Because ZIP Codes are intended for efficient postal delivery, there are unusual cases where a ZIP Code crosses state boundaries, such as a military facility spanning multiple states or remote areas of one state most easily serviced from a bordering state. For example, ZIP Code 42223 serves Fort Campbell , which spans Christian County, Kentucky , and Montgomery County, Tennessee , and ZIP Code 97635 includes portions of Lake County, Oregon , and Modoc County, California . In general,

1513-650: A result of a new postcode system being introduced. Some postal code systems, like those of Ecuador and Costa Rica , show an exact agreement with the hierarchy of administrative divisions . Format of six digit numeric (eight digit alphanumeric) postal codes in Ecuador , introduced in December 2007: ECAABBCC Format of five digit numeric Postal codes in Costa Rica , introduced in 2007: ABBCC In Costa Rica these codes were originally used as district identifiers by

1602-410: A single ZIP Code. This is because different parts of one ZIP Code can be in different districts. One proposal to eliminate the possibility of extreme partisan gerrymandering calls on using ZIP Codes as the basic units for redistricting. Postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode , post code , PIN or ZIP Code )

1691-575: A single exception, these codes are in the format: ANN XXXX The single exception is the Dublin D6W postal district. It is the only routing key area in the country that takes the format ANA instead of ANN: D6W XXXX While it is not intended to replace addresses, in theory simply providing a seven-character Eircode would locate any Irish delivery address. For example, the Irish Parliament Dáil Éireann is: D02 A272 Postal codes in

1780-466: A study period. Datasets providing a similar approximate geographic extent to ZCTA are commercially available. Despite these issues, ZCTAs are still very popular with researchers in fields like epidemiology, and among government agencies, with some states employing them to publish and distribute public health data during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data is often used in direct mail marketing campaigns in

1869-570: A town with a high crime rate and sharing its ZIP Code, while they live in a relatively crime-free town. (See Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, above.) California outlawed this practice in 2011. ZIP Codes may not currently be used to identify existing legislative districts. Although the website of the United States House of Representatives has a "Find Your Representative" feature that looks up congressional districts based on ZIP Codes alone, it often returns multiple districts corresponding to

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1958-403: A two digit numeric code can represent 100 locations, a two character alphanumeric code using ten numbers and twenty letters can represent 900 locations. The independent nations using alphanumeric postal code systems are: Countries which prefix their postal codes with a fixed group of letters, indicating a country code, include Andorra , Azerbaijan , Barbados , Ecuador and Saint Vincent and

2047-444: A unique, six-digit postal code . For domestic properties, an individual postcode may cover up to 100 properties in contiguous proximity (e.g. a short section of a populous road, or a group of less populous neighbouring roads). The postcode together with the number or name of a property is not always unique, particularly in rural areas. For example, GL20 8NX/1 might refer to either 1 Frampton Cottages or 1 Frampton Farm Cottages, roughly

2136-399: A variety show that the post office used to explain the importance of using ZIP Codes. In 1983, the U.S. Postal Service introduced an expanded ZIP Code system that it named ZIP+4 , often known as "plus-four codes", "add-on codes", or "add-ons". A ZIP+4 Code uses the basic five-digit code plus four additional digits to identify a geographic segment within the five-digit delivery area, such as

2225-477: Is a caricature of a mail carrier , wide-eyed and drawn with his letter bag trailing him in such a way as to imply his travelling at extreme speed, and sometimes holding on to his hat with his free hand. His limbs were very thin, almost like those of a stick figure . He was particularly used on posters promoting ZIP Code use. Mr. ZIP appeared on the selvage (non-postally valid areas) of stamp panes (more commonly called "sheets") for many stamp issues, beginning with

2314-599: Is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail . As of August 2021, the Universal Postal Union lists 160 countries which require the use of a postal code. Although postal codes are usually assigned to geographical areas, special codes are sometimes assigned to individual addresses or to institutions that receive large volumes of mail, such as government agencies and large commercial companies. One example

2403-600: Is an error to associate the postal code with the whole land lot area (illustrated). A postal code is often related to a land lot , but postal codes are usually related to access points on streets. Small or middle-sized houses, in general, only have a single main gate, which is the delivery point. Parks, large businesses such as shopping centers and big houses, may have more than one entrance and more than one delivery point. Czechoslovakia introduced Postal Routing Numbers (PSČ – poštovní směrovací čísla) in 1973. The code consists of 5 digits formatted into two groups: NNN NN. Originally,

2492-656: Is intended to ensure that every single mailable point in the country has its own 11-digit number. The delivery-point digits are calculated based on the primary or secondary number of the address. The USPS publishes the rules for calculating the delivery point in a document called the CASS Technical Guide. ZIP Codes designate delivery points within the United States (and its territories). There are four types of ZIP Codes: Unique ZIP Codes are used for governmental agencies, universities, businesses, or buildings receiving sufficiently high volumes of mail to justify

2581-632: Is that assigned to the headquarters of Walmart (72716). They may also be assigned to a single program, such as the Postal Service's Operation Santa Claus program, under which children are invited to write to Santa Claus at "North Pole 88888". An example of a PO box-only ZIP Code is 22313, used for boxes at the main post office in Alexandria, Virginia , including those used by the United States Patent and Trademark Office . In

2670-529: Is the French CEDEX system. There are a number of synonyms for postal code; some are country-specific: The development of postal codes happened first in large cities. Postal codes began with postal district numbers (or postal zone numbers) within large cities. London was first subdivided into 10 districts in 1857 (EC (East Central), WC (West Central), N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, and NW), four were created to cover Liverpool in 1864; and Manchester / Salford

2759-650: Is the French Cedex system. Before postal codes as described here were used, large cities were often divided into postal zones or postal districts, usually numbered from 1 upwards within each city. The newer postal code systems often incorporate the old zone numbers, as with London postal district numbers, for example. Ireland still uses postal district numbers in Dublin . In New Zealand, Auckland , Wellington and Christchurch were divided into postal zones, but these fell into disuse, and have now become redundant as

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2848-437: Is therefore committing the ecological fallacy by attempting to disaggregate aggregate data. As ZIP Codes are not continuous, not everyone in the United States has one, and there are ZIP Codes for non-populated or geographic areas, resulting in there not being one ZCTA for every ZIP Code. ZCTAs are not updated as frequently as the USPS updates ZIP Codes, resulting in further temporal analysis issues when ZIP Codes change during

2937-522: Is undefined. For example, some residents in or near Haubstadt, Indiana , which has the ZIP Code 47639, have mailing addresses with 47648, the ZIP Code for neighboring Fort Branch, Indiana , while others living in or near Fort Branch have addresses with 47639. Many rural counties have similar logistical inconsistencies caused by the aforementioned sparse delivery routes, often known as Rural Routes or by some other similar designation. There are generally no ZIP Codes for deliveries to other countries, except for

3026-556: Is used as a building number, while the city in which the embassy or consulate is located is combined with the word "Place" to form a fictional street name. Each mission uses a ZIP+4 Code consisting of 20521 and the diplomatic pouch number. For example, the U.S. Embassy in India has this address in India's postal system: Embassy of the United States of America Shantipath, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi, 110021 as well as this U.S. address: Embassy of

3115-624: The East Coast , such as 02115 ( Boston ), 10001 ( New York City ), 19103 ( Philadelphia ), 21201 ( Baltimore ), 20008 ( Washington, D.C. ), 30303 ( Atlanta ), and 33130 (Miami) (these are only examples, as each of these cities contains several ZIP Codes in the same range). From there, the numbers increase heading westward and northward east of the Mississippi River , southward west of the Mississippi River, and northward on

3204-817: The National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica and the Administrative Territorial Division , and continue to be equivalent. The first two digits of the postal codes in Turkey correspond to the provinces and each province has assigned only one number. They are the same for them as in ISO 3166-2:TR . The first two digits of the postal codes in Vietnam indicate a province . Some provinces have one, other have several two digit numbers assigned. The numbers differ from

3293-749: The Northwest Territories and Nunavut share the letter X. The first two digits of the postal codes in Germany define areas independently of administrative regions. The coding space of the first digit is fully used (0–9); that of the first two combined is utilized to 89%, i.e. there are 89 postal zones defined. Zone 11 is non-geographic. Royal Mail designed the postal codes in the United Kingdom mostly for efficient distribution. Nevertheless, people associated codes with certain areas, leading to some people wanting or not wanting to have

3382-1059: The West Coast . For example, 40202 is in Louisville , 50309 in Des Moines , 60601 in Chicago , 63101 in St. Louis , 77036 in Houston , 80202 in Denver , 94111 in San Francisco , 98101 in Seattle , and 99950 in Ketchikan, Alaska (the highest ZIP Code). The first digit of the ZIP Code is allocated as follows: The second and third digits represent the sectional center facility (SCF) (e.g. 477xx = Vanderburgh County, Indiana ), and

3471-516: The modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) and modifiable temporal unit problem (MTUP). As the ZIP Codes are postal routing numbers, individuals and organizations without concrete spatial locations may be given their own number, making it impossible to associate demographic data with them. Demographic data is not consistent between ZIP Codes, and no effort is made to ensure they are proper enumeration units for analysis. As ZIP Codes are not made with

3560-484: The 5 cent Sam Houston stamp issued January 10, 1964, although the 5¢ Battle of the Wilderness stamp of May 5, 1964, is sometimes listed as the "first" because it appears earlier in most stamp catalogs due to its inclusion in a five-issue Civil War series. He also appeared on non-postally-valid labels inside, or on the cover of, stamp booklets. Stamp collectors sometimes collect the corner block of four stamps with

3649-606: The Grenadines . ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes were recommended by the European Committee for Standardization as well as the Universal Postal Union to be used in conjunction with postal codes starting in 1994, but they have not become widely used. Andorra , Azerbaijan , Barbados , Ecuador , Latvia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines use the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 as a prefix in their postal codes. In some countries (such as in continental Europe , where

ZIP Code - Misplaced Pages Continue

3738-645: The Netherlands , known as postcodes, are alphanumeric, consisting of four digits followed by a space and two letters (NNNN AA). Adding the house number to the postcode will identify the address, making the street name and town name redundant. For example: 2597 GV 75 will direct a postal delivery to Theo Mann-Bouwmeesterlaan 75, 's-Gravenhage (the International School of The Hague). Since 1 September 1995, every building in Singapore has been given

3827-456: The SCF, were proposed by Henry Bentley Hahn Sr. The SCF sorts mail to all post offices with those first three digits in their ZIP Codes. The mail is sorted according to the final two digits of the ZIP Code and sent to the corresponding post offices in the early morning. Sectional centers do not deliver mail and are not open to the public, although the building may include a post office that is open to

3916-493: The United States of America 9000 New Delhi Place Washington, DC     20521-9000 Individuals posted at diplomatic missions overseas are now assigned a Diplomatic Post Office address and unique box number. The ZIP Code identifies the diplomatic mission destination and is different from the diplomatic pouch number in the example above. While delivered through the pouch system, mail to such addresses are not considered "Diplomatic Pouch" materials, and as such must adhere to

4005-576: The ZIP Code which are combined with to use for mapping and data presentation. The process of creating ZCTAs and their use for statistical analysis are heavily criticized in the literature. First, the creation of ZCTAs from Census blocks encounters issues when a Census block straddles multiple ZIP Codes. Addressing this is another instance of the MAUP, and the solution of dividing aggregate units between ZIP Codes causes some individuals to fall into ZCTAs that do not match their ZIP Code. The creation of these units

4094-688: The ZIP Codes 01002 and 01003 for Amherst, Massachusetts ; 01002 is used for mail in town, while 01003 is reserved for the University of Massachusetts Amherst . Until 2001, there were six ZIP Codes lower than 00501 that were numbered from 00210 to 00215 (located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire ) and were used by the Diversity Immigrant Visa program to receive applications from non-U.S. citizens. The numbers increase southward along

4183-490: The ZIP+4 Code must be looked up individually for each box (e.g. using the USPS's official ZIP Code Lookup tool, and being sure to enter just city and state, not the 5-digit ZIP). The ZIP Code is often translated into an Intelligent Mail barcode that is printed on the mailpiece to make it easier for automated machines to sort. A barcode can be printed by the sender (some word-processing programs such as WordPerfect include

4272-460: The affected area can notify correspondents, order new stationery, etc. In rapidly growing communities, it is sometimes necessary to open a new sectional center facility, which must then be allocated its own three-digit ZIP-code prefix or prefixes. Such allocation can be done in various ways. For example, when a new sectional center facility was opened at Dulles Airport in Virginia, the prefix 201

4361-427: The area surrounding that post office, home and business mail delivery addresses use ZIP Code 22314, a standard ZIP Code. ZIP Codes are numbered with the first digit representing a certain group of U.S. states, the second and third digits together representing a region in that group (or perhaps a large city) and the fourth and fifth digits representing a group of delivery addresses within that region. The main town in

4450-439: The areas served by each physical post office, they often do not coincide with the boundaries of local government units. For example, suburban and unincorporated areas may share a postal city name with a neighboring municipality, even if no part of its ZIP Code is actually within that city. Delivery services other than the USPS, such as FedEx , United Parcel Service , and DHL , require a ZIP Code for optimal internal routing of

4539-535: The army, and the zone system would enable inexperienced clerks to sort mail without having to learn the delivery area of each city carrier. For example: Mr. John Smith 3256 Epiphenomenal Avenue Minneapolis 16 , Minnesota The "16" is the number of the postal zone in a specific city. By the early 1960s, a more organized system was needed, and non-mandatory five-digit ZIP Codes were introduced nationwide on July 1, 1963. The USPOD issued its Publication 59: Abbreviations for Use with ZIP Code on October 1, 1963, with

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4628-687: The assignment to them of exclusive ZIP Codes. Government examples include 20505 for the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C., and 81009 for the Federal Citizen Information Center of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) in Pueblo, Colorado . An example of a university-specific ZIP Code is 21252, which serves Towson University . An example of a private address unique ZIP Code

4717-802: The basic format comprised five digits. In 1983, an extended code was introduced named ZIP+4 ; it included the five digits of the ZIP Code, followed by a hyphen and four digits that designated a more specific location. ZIP Code and ZIP+4 are registered trademarks of the United States Postal Service, which also registered ZIP Code as a service mark until 1997. The early history and context of postal codes began with postal district/zone numbers . The United States Post Office Department (USPOD) implemented postal zones for 178 large cities in May 1943. Postmaster General Frank Walker explained that many experienced postal clerks were going into

4806-458: The center-point of the ZCTAs. ZIP Codes are inherently discrete or point-based data, as they are assigned only at the point of delivery, not for the spaces in between the delivery points. The United States Census Bureau then interpolates this discrete data set to create polygons by attempting to match ZIP Code extents with Census blocks. The resulting aerial units represent the approximate extent of

4895-465: The correct ZIP+4 Code from the address—along with the even more specific delivery point —and sprays an Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) on the face of the mail piece that corresponds to 11 digits—nine for the ZIP+4 Code and two for the delivery point. For post office boxes , the general but not invariable rule is that each box has its own ZIP+4 Code. The add-on code is often one of the following:

4984-401: The county was changed to 208xx codes, while 208xx codes outside that county were changed to 207xx codes. Because Silver Spring (whose postal area includes Wheaton ) has its own prefix, 209, there was no need to apply the reshuffling to Silver Spring; instead, all mail going to 209xx ZIP Codes was simply rerouted to the new sectional center facility. On the other hand, depopulation may cause

5073-429: The feature), but this is not recommended, as the address-to-ZIP lookup tables can be significantly out of date. Customers who send bulk mail can get a discount on postage if they have printed the barcode themselves and have presorted the mail. This requires more than just a simple font ; mailing lists must be standardized with up-to-date Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS)-certified software that adds and verifies

5162-435: The first group marked a district transport centre, the second group represented the order of post offices on the collection route. In the first group, the first digit corresponds partly with the region, the second digit meant a collection transport node (sběrný přepravní uzel, SPU) and the third digit a "district transport node" (okresní přepravní uzel). However, processing was later centralized and mechanized while codes remained

5251-544: The first three digits designate a sectional center facility , the mail sorting and distribution center for an area. A sectional center facility may have more than one three-digit code assigned to it. For example, the Northern Virginia sectional center facility in Merrifield is assigned codes 220, 221, 222, and 223. In some cases, a sectional center facility may serve an area in an adjacent state, usually due to

5340-514: The following letters only: A, C, D, E, F, H, K, N, P, R, T, V, W, X, Y. This serves to avoid confusion in OCR, and to avoid accidental double-entendres by avoiding the creation of word lookalikes, as Eircode's last four characters are random. Most of the postal code systems are numeric; only a few are alphanumeric (i.e., use both letters and digits). Alphanumeric systems can, given the same number of characters, encode many more locations. For example, while

5429-423: The fourth and fifth digits represent the area of the city (if in a metropolitan area ), or a village/town (outside metro areas), e.g. 47722 (4=Indiana, 77=Vanderburgh County, 22= University of Evansville area). When a sectional center facility's area crosses state lines, that facility is assigned separate three-digit prefixes for the states that it serves. In some urban areas, like 462 for Marion County, Indiana ,

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5518-513: The general public, members of whom would mail items without ZIP Code, almost invariably at the full rate for First Class Mail, which by regulation had to be delivered if at all possible and feasible. This was particularly true of older mailers. Mr. ZIP was the Post Office's answer to this, apparently intended to teach small children to always use the ZIP Code as they got older and also to encourage their parents and grandparents to do so. Mr. ZIP

5607-532: The idea of extending the postal district or zone numbering plans beyond large cities to cover even small towns and rural locales had started. These developed into postal codes as they are defined today. The name of US postal codes, "ZIP Codes", reflects this evolutionary growth from a zone plan to a zone improvement plan, "ZIP". Modern postal codes were first introduced in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in December 1932, but

5696-722: The independent countries of the Federated States of Micronesia , the Republic of the Marshall Islands , and the Republic of Palau , each of which is integrated into the U.S. postal system under a Compact of Free Association . Another exception is ZIP Codes used for overseas stations of U.S. armed forces. Mail to U.S. diplomatic missions overseas is addressed as if it were addressed to a street address in Washington, D.C. The four-digit diplomatic pouch number

5785-727: The lack of a proper location for a center in that region. For example, 739 in Oklahoma is assigned to Amarillo, Texas ; 297 in South Carolina is assigned to Charlotte, North Carolina ; 865 in Arizona is assigned to Albuquerque, New Mexico ; and 961 in California to Reno, Nevada . Many of the lowest ZIP Codes, which begin with '0', are in the New England region. In the '0' region are New Jersey (non-contiguous with

5874-409: The last four digits of the box number (e.g. PO Box 107050, Albany, NY 12201-7050), zero plus the last three digits of the box number (e.g., PO Box 17727, Eagle River, AK 99577-0727), or, if the box number consists of fewer than four digits, enough zeros are attached to the front of the box number to produce a four-digit number (e.g., PO Box 77, Juneau, AK 99750-0077). However, there is no uniform rule, so

5963-576: The letters 'F', 'I', 'O', 'Q', 'U' and 'Y' for technical reasons. But as almost all existing combinations are now used, these letters were allowed for new locations starting 2005. The letter combinations "SS" ( Schutzstaffel ), "SD" ( Sicherheitsdienst ), and "SA" ( Sturmabteilung ) are not used, due to links with the Nazi occupation in World War II . Postal codes in Canada do not include

6052-414: The letters D, F, I, O, Q, or U, as the optical character recognition (OCR) equipment used in automated sorting could easily confuse them with other letters and digits. The letters W and Z are used, but are not currently used as the first letter. The Canadian Postal Codes use alternate letters and numbers (with a space after the third character) in this format: A9A 9A9 In Ireland, the eircode system uses

6141-510: The list of two-letter state abbreviations which are generally written with both letters capitalized. An earlier list, publicized in June 1963, had proposed capitalized abbreviations ranging from two to five letters. According to Publication 59 , the two-letter standard was "based on a maximum 23-position line, because this has been found to be the most universally acceptable line capacity basis for major addressing systems", which would be exceeded by

6230-439: The mailing regulations of the host country. An example address is: JOHN ADAMS UNIT 8400 BOX 0000 DPO AE     09498-0048 Like area codes , ZIP Codes are sometimes divided and changed, especially when a rural area becomes suburban . Typically, the new codes become effective once announced, and a grace period (e.g., one year) is provided in which the new and old codes are used concurrently so that postal patrons in

6319-695: The name of the city or town. When it follows the city, it may be on the same line or on a new line. In Belarus , Kyrgyzstan , Russia and Turkmenistan , it is written at the beginning of an address. In Japan , it is written at the start of the address when written in Japanese, but at the end when the address is written in the Latin alphabet. Postal codes are usually assigned to geographical areas. Sometimes codes are assigned to individual addresses or to institutions that receive large volumes of mail, e.g. government agencies or large commercial companies. One example

6408-522: The new postal code system launched in 2015, known as Eircode provides a unique 7-character alphanumerical code for each individual address. The first three digits are the routing key, which is a postal district and the last four characters are a unique identifier that relates to an individual address (business, house or apartment). A fully developed API is also available for integrating the Eircode database into business databases and logistics systems. With

6497-537: The number of a neighbouring department. The first digit of the postal codes in the United States comprises discrete states. From the first three digits one can infer the state, with a few exceptions where an area is served by a central office in an adjacent state. Similarly, in Canada , the first letter indicates the province or territory, although the provinces of Quebec and Ontario are divided into several lettered sub-regions (e.g. H for Montreal and Laval ), and

6586-462: The number used in ISO 3166-2:VN . In France the numeric code for the departments is used as the first two digits of the postal code, except for the two departments in Corsica that have codes 2A and 2B and use 20 as postal code. Furthermore, the codes are only the codes for the department in charge of delivery of the post, so it can be that a location in one department has a postal code starting with

6675-402: The part of researchers. In an attempt to satisfy demand " by data users for statistical data by ZIP Code area", the U.S. Census Bureau calculates approximate boundaries of ZIP Code areas, which it calls ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs). Statistical census data is then provided for these approximate areas. The geographic data provided for these areas includes the latitude and longitude of

6764-620: The part of the selvage bearing Mr. ZIP; these are called "ZIP blocks". As the Post Office promoted the use of ZIP codes, Mr. ZIP was also displayed in post offices as a 4.5-foot tall plywood figure. Mr. ZIP was featured prominently alongside the band the Swingin' Six in a televised Post Office-sponsored variety show. The songs included lyrics such as, "Meet the fellow called Mr. ZIP. What he can do for you will make you really flip. So if you have any further postal demands, we're gonna leave you in his hands." A corresponding character named Mrs. ZIP

6853-481: The public, and most of their employees work the night shift . Items of mail picked up at post offices are sent to their own SCFs in the afternoon, where the mail is sorted overnight. In the case of large cities, the last two digits as assigned generally coincided with the older postal zone number. For example: Mr. John Smith 3256 Epiphenomenal Avenue Minneapolis, MN     554 16 In 1967, these became mandatory for second- and third-class bulk mailers, and

6942-627: The remainder of the '0' area), Puerto Rico , the U.S. Virgin Islands , and APO/FPO military addresses for personnel stationed in Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia, and onboard vessels based in the waters adjoining those lands. The lowest ZIP Code is in Holtsville, New York (00501, a ZIP Code exclusively for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service center there). Other low ZIP Codes are 00601 for Adjuntas, Puerto Rico ; 01001 for Agawam, Massachusetts , and

7031-490: The same SCF, such as in San Diego County, California , where the three-digit prefixes 919 and 920 are used for suburban and rural communities, and 921 for the city of San Diego itself, although all three are processed through the same SCF. Despite the geographic derivation of most ZIP Codes, the codes themselves do not represent geographic regions; in general, they correspond to address groups or delivery routes. As

7120-555: The same considerations as other enumeration units, and is not possible without committing the ecological fallacy . This again becomes an issue with the MAUP. They have been found not to have significant correlations with health indicators, which can lead to poor conclusions. Despite these issues, ZIP Codes remain popular among researchers in fields such as public health due to their convenience, public familiarity with them, ability to anonymize subject addresses through aggregation, and possible ignorance of more appropriate enumeration units on

7209-533: The same. After separation, Slovakia and the Czech Republic kept the system. Codes with an initial digit of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 are used in the Czech Republic, while codes with an initial digit of 8, 9, or 0 are used in Slovakia A code corresponds to a local postal office. However, some larger companies or organizations have their own post codes. In 2004–2006, there were some efforts in Slovakia to reform

7298-480: The system was abandoned in 1939. The next country to introduce postal codes was Germany in 1941, followed by Singapore in 1950, Argentina in 1958, the United States in 1963 and Switzerland in 1964. The United Kingdom began introducing its current system in Norwich in 1959, but it was not used nationwide until 1974. The characters used in postal codes are: Postal codes in the Netherlands originally did not use

7387-444: The system was soon adopted generally. The United States Post Office used a cartoon character , which it called Mr. ZIP , to promote the use of the ZIP Code. The name "Mr. ZIP" was coined by D. Jamison Cain. Mr. ZIP was often depicted with a legend such as "USE ZIP CODE" in the selvage of panes of postage stamps or on the covers of booklet panes of stamps. Mr. ZIP was featured prominently alongside musical group "The Swingin' Six" in

7476-553: The system, to get separate post codes for every district of single postmen, but the change was not realized. Postal codes are known as Postal Index Numbers (PINs; sometimes as PIN codes) in India. The PIN system was introduced on 15 August 1972 by India Post. India uses a unique six-digit code as a geographical number to identify locations in India. The format of the PIN is ZSDPPP defined as follows: The first digit represents nine total zones: eight regional and one functional. In Ireland,

7565-618: The three-digit prefix will often exist in one county, while, in rural and most suburban areas, the prefix will exist in multiple counties; for example, the neighboring 476 prefix is found in part or entirely in six counties: Gibson, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh, and Warrick. In some cases, an urban county may have more than one prefix. This is the case with Allen (467, 468), Lake (464, 463), St. Joseph (465, 466), and Vanderburgh (476, 477) counties. Cities like Chicago , Houston , Los Angeles , and New York City have multiple prefixes within their city limits. In some cases, these may be served from

7654-482: Was allocated to that facility; therefore, for all post offices to be served by that sectional center facility the ZIP Code changed from an old code beginning with 220 or 221 to a new code or codes beginning with 201. However, when a new sectional center facility was opened to serve Montgomery County, Maryland , no new prefix was assigned. Instead, ZIP Codes in the 207 and 208 ranges, which had previously been assigned alphabetically, were reshuffled so that 207xx ZIP Codes in

7743-483: Was split into eight numbered districts in 1867/68. By World War I , such postal district or zone numbers also existed in various large European cities. They existed in the United States at least as late as the 1920s, possibly implemented at the local post office level only (for example, instances of "Boston 9, Mass" in 1920 are attested ) although they were evidently not used throughout all major US cities (implemented USPOD -wide) until World War II . By 1930 or earlier,

7832-456: Was unveiled at a convention of postmasters in October 1962. The character's original name had been Mr. P.O. Zone , but was changed to Mr. ZIP along with the new term "ZIP code." The Post Office had little difficulty in getting mass mailers to use the ZIP Code as it could make its inclusion a condition for receiving preferential mailing rates and soon did. However, there was some resistance by

7921-411: Was used in local parades and a Mrs. ZIP beauty pageant. The National Postal Museum does not have documentation about her origins. The character was largely phased out by the late 1970s, but the Post Office retained rights to the copyrighted figure. Mr. ZIP appeared in the blank selvage of United States stamps until January 1986. The Post Office re-introduced Mr. ZIP to stamps in 2013, celebrating

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