Zip and area codes

[1995hoo]

I love seeing the old-style precursor to the ZIP Code in that letter–"Washington 4, D.C." I've always been tempted to try using one of those to send a postcard to a relative just to see if it would work. Something like "Brooklyn 9, NY" instead of "11209."

[The High Plains Traveler]

I love seeing the old-style precursor to the ZIP Code in that letter–"Washington 4, D.C." I've always been tempted to try using one of those to send a postcard to a relative just to see if it would work. Something like "Brooklyn 9, NY" instead of "11209."

Especially because the ZIP code had been introduced by that time, and a government agency should have been using it.

[BamaZeus]

I love seeing the old-style precursor to the ZIP Code in that letter–"Washington 4, D.C." I've always been tempted to try using one of those to send a postcard to a relative just to see if it would work. Something like "Brooklyn 9, NY" instead of "11209."

I wonder why they did that for Washington, but clearly used zip codes for every other town mentioned in the letter (Rolla, MO 65401, etc)? 

As a side note, I still occasionally give out my phone number in the "old style", even though that was long out of use by the time I was born.  "give me a call at GLendale 4-XXXX"

[Scott5114]

I love seeing the old-style precursor to the ZIP Code in that letter–"Washington 4, D.C." I've always been tempted to try using one of those to send a postcard to a relative just to see if it would work. Something like "Brooklyn 9, NY" instead of "11209."

I wonder why they did that for Washington, but clearly used zip codes for every other town mentioned in the letter (Rolla, MO 65401, etc)? 

The MO towns are all part of the preprinted letterhead, but Washington 4 was typed by whoever. Presumably the typist couldn't be bothered to look up the right zip code or was just hadn't broken the habit of sending them to Washington 4 yet (zip codes were only two years old at this point). Also odd is that the "MO" is omitted from all of those addresses; perhaps it was assumed that all of them would be understood to be in Missouri?

[kkt]

I love seeing the old-style precursor to the ZIP Code in that letter–"Washington 4, D.C." I've always been tempted to try using one of those to send a postcard to a relative just to see if it would work. Something like "Brooklyn 9, NY" instead of "11209."

Sure, it would.  You can omit the zipcode entirely and it'll still work.  It might be delayed a day or two, that's all.

[PurdueBill]

My experience has been that a wrong zip code is worse than no zip code.  If it is omitted, the piece is kicked out for manual treatment, probably for someone to look it up, or if it recognizes the city and state it falls back on that.  If the machinery picks up a zip code that turns out to be wrong, the automatic equipment sends the piece into the batch for the incorrect zip code, sending it to the wrong place where it has to be found and turned around.  I know someone who actually did an experiment with this kind of thing a couple years ago, sending two pieces the same day to the same address, one without zip code at all, and one with digits transposed.  The one with the wrong zip code was almost a week later than the one with none at all.  Why they didn't also include a "control" piece with a fully correct address is beyond me--if you're going to do that much of the experiment, why not do everything?

[hbelkins]

Why do we even need city and state anymore, anyway? Why not just the ZIP? (going off-topic here, I know...)

[kphoger]

Why do we even need city and state anymore, anyway? Why not just the ZIP? (going off-topic here, I know...)

A typo in the ZIP without an accompanying city and state would not make it to right location.  A typo in the ZIP with an accompanying city and state would.

Funny story:  When I growing up in rural Kansas, my mom worked at the hospital (this was 1990—1999).  At some point during that time, a lady who lived out of town wanted to send a thank you note to my mom for caring for her as a patient.  But she didn't know my Mom's last name or our address.  So she just mailed the note (from out of town) addressed "Nurse Sue / Atwood, KS".  Sure enough, it ended up in my mom's hands.

[Duke87]

As a side note, I still occasionally give out my phone number in the "old style", even though that was long out of use by the time I was born.  "give me a call at GLendale 4-XXXX"

Interesting that you get away with giving out a 7 digit phone number in any format! Around here, you need an area code to dial anything these days... even simply for differentiation. Give me only the last seven digits and I have to say "hmm, is that 201, 203, 212, 347, 516, 551, 631, 646, 718, 732, 845, 848, 862, 908, 914, 917, 929, 973 or...?" All of those area codes I just listed are within an hour's drive.

[kkt]

Why do we even need city and state anymore, anyway? Why not just the ZIP? (going off-topic here, I know...)

Only as a double-check, in case you accidentally transpose the digits.  Many PO boxes have a unique 9-digit ZIP code; I tried addressing a card just to that ZIP, nothing else, and it got there fine.

[agentsteel53]

heh, a friend of mine got a package from Belgium addressed only to (somewhat anonymized)

John Smith
USA-12345

no street address, but it arrived, as 12345 is a very small town, and the mailman knew my friend by name.

[6a]

heh, a friend of mine got a package from Belgium addressed only to (somewhat anonymized)

John Smith
USA-12345

no street address, but it arrived, as 12345 is a very small town, and the mailman knew my friend by name.

This goes back maybe 10-12 years, but I moved to a place that had a rural route address (Rt. 1, Box 123A).  Apparently it took my grandmother back to the good ol' days, because I got a package addressed

My Name
Route 1
Appomattox, Va

The ordeal I went through to get said Route 1 address is another story, but I got my mail just fine.  UPS had a fit, though, since you couldn't find it on a map.

[1995hoo]

Walter Gretzky said that when his son played for the Oilers he'd receive fan mail with addresses like "Wayne Gretzky, Kanada." Canada Post knew who Wayne Gretzky was and sent it all to Edmonton.

[Scott5114]

Around here rural routes have box numbers appended to them. So it's not just Route 1, it's something "Route 1 Box 53". Before the Goldsby/Washington area received actual street addresses, our address was "RR 1 Box 31-B1" since we were at the "beginning" of our subdivision, then our across the street neighbor was "Box 31-B1A", then "B1B" was next to us, the "B1C'...

[6a]

That's what I meant, and since you split this off, I'll go into more detail.

My address was Rt. 1 Box 564C, Appomattox VA 24522 (this address doesn't exist anymore, so don't worry.)

My grandmother, rest her soul, saw the RR part and always sent me things as Rt. 1, Appomattox, no ZIP; apparently going back to her depression-era mind or whatever. 

The process of getting my box was a bit convoluted.  When I bought the house it had no mailbox - the previous owner had a PO Box in town.  I called the PO and asked about having an address, they told me to put up a box with a piece of paper inside, and put up the flag.  The mailman would give me an address.  A week later, no address.  Called the PO, after a bit of talk, I found out the mailman didn't come down my road...I had to petition for a RR extension.  It was granted, and I got my address.  To the day I moved out the mailman turned around in my driveway and went back up the road.  Now it has a name and a proper address, damn them to hell. 

The power company had the same problem.  The service stopped at my house, so guess who was the last to get reconnected after a storm?  Good thing I had a wood stove.

[Mr. Matté]

Just as a public service to those who read from the bottom up (ie Off-topic, then the roads stuff) such as myself and are confused as hell about "that letter," it's referring to this:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=87.msg174863#msg174863

[algorerhythms]

Why do we even need city and state anymore, anyway? Why not just the ZIP? (going off-topic here, I know...)

A typo in the ZIP without an accompanying city and state would not make it to right location.  A typo in the ZIP with an accompanying city and state would.

Funny story:  When I growing up in rural Kansas, my mom worked at the hospital (this was 1990—1999).  At some point during that time, a lady who lived out of town wanted to send a thank you note to my mom for caring for her as a patient.  But she didn't know my Mom's last name or our address.  So she just mailed the note (from out of town) addressed "Nurse Sue / Atwood, KS".  Sure enough, it ended up in my mom's hands.

A couple years ago, the state of Maryland sent me a letter (asking me why I didn't file a state tax return with them for a year when I never lived in Maryland). They addressed it to my correct street address, but for the town/state part of the address they used "Norman, MD" and the zip code they used had a couple transposed digits, causing it to correspond to some town in Texas. The letter still somehow made it.

[1995hoo]

Back in the 1980s I messed up the ZIP code on something I was sending to my grandparents in Brooklyn–I wrote the ZIP code for Far Rockaway, where my other grandmother lived. They received it anyway, said it arrived with the "11691" crossed out and "11209" written in its place. I guess back then they didn't have the same degree of automated mail-sorting they do now and so it was more likely that mistakes of that sort would be caught.

[BamaZeus]

As a side note, I still occasionally give out my phone number in the "old style", even though that was long out of use by the time I was born.  "give me a call at GLendale 4-XXXX"

Interesting that you get away with giving out a 7 digit phone number in any format! Around here, you need an area code to dial anything these days... even simply for differentiation. Give me only the last seven digits and I have to say "hmm, is that 201, 203, 212, 347, 516, 551, 631, 646, 718, 732, 845, 848, 862, 908, 914, 917, 929, 973 or...?" All of those area codes I just listed are within an hour's drive.

Fortunately, although Alabama has 4 different area codes, they're regional ones and not overlays, at least for now.  We can still dial only 7 digits to complete a call unless calling a different part of the state.  My wife and I do have two different area codes for our phones, though, since she originally got her phone while living in the Huntsville area and I got mine here in Tuscaloosa.

*EDIT* I stand corrected.  I checked into it and apparently since 2010 NE Alabama now has an overlay area code 938 that I have yet to dial myself.  It overlays the 256 Huntsville/Shoals/Anniston/Gadsden area, and apparently requires 10 digit dialing there.

I figure it's only a matter of time until Birmingham gets its own code and West Alabama is given something other than 205.

[kphoger]

Back in the 1980s I messed up the ZIP code on something I was sending to my grandparents in Brooklyn—I wrote the ZIP code for Far Rockaway, where my other grandmother lived. They received it anyway, said it arrived with the "11691" crossed out and "11209" written in its place. I guess back then they didn't have the same degree of automated mail-sorting they do now and so it was more likely that mistakes of that sort would be caught.

Even with automated sorting, I believe the "error" ones still go into a bin and are sorted by hand.  So, even if a letter went to the wrong substation due to a ZIP error, then there would still be a person there to manually figure out the correction and forward it on.

[HazMatt]

Back in the 1980s I messed up the ZIP code on something I was sending to my grandparents in Brooklyn—I wrote the ZIP code for Far Rockaway, where my other grandmother lived. They received it anyway, said it arrived with the "11691" crossed out and "11209" written in its place. I guess back then they didn't have the same degree of automated mail-sorting they do now and so it was more likely that mistakes of that sort would be caught.

Even with automated sorting, I believe the "error" ones still go into a bin and are sorted by hand.  So, even if a letter went to the wrong substation due to a ZIP error, then there would still be a person there to manually figure out the correction and forward it on.

That's right.  I used to work at the Hickory, NC plant before they shut it down.  Sometimes the machine will kick it out if it's an obvious mismatch, or the destination post office will send it back to have us manually work it.  Packages are even easier since they're manually sorted anyway.  The most common error I've seen is people putting their own zip code instead of where it's actually going.

[jp the roadgeek]

As a side note, I still occasionally give out my phone number in the "old style", even though that was long out of use by the time I was born.  "give me a call at GLendale 4-XXXX"

Interesting that you get away with giving out a 7 digit phone number in any format! Around here, you need an area code to dial anything these days... even simply for differentiation. Give me only the last seven digits and I have to say "hmm, is that 201, 203, 212, 347, 516, 551, 631, 646, 718, 732, 845, 848, 862, 908, 914, 917, 929, 973 or...?" All of those area codes I just listed are within an hour's drive.

Even another one: 475 (overlay of 203)

[Scott5114]

If you are mailing it at the post office, they can correct the error there. I was sending a package once and transposed two digits on the zip code. When I went to send it, the automated postal kiosk rejected the address as invalid and told me to see a clerk. The clerk was able to type in the address and get the correct zip code, crossing my bad zip out and writing the correct one.

[Dougtone]

As a side note, I still occasionally give out my phone number in the "old style", even though that was long out of use by the time I was born.  "give me a call at GLendale 4-XXXX"

Interesting that you get away with giving out a 7 digit phone number in any format! Around here, you need an area code to dial anything these days... even simply for differentiation. Give me only the last seven digits and I have to say "hmm, is that 201, 203, 212, 347, 516, 551, 631, 646, 718, 732, 845, 848, 862, 908, 914, 917, 929, 973 or...?" All of those area codes I just listed are within an hour's drive.

As a force of habit, I always tend to give the area code when referencing a telephone number, probably since my cell phone (also my primary phone) has a 315 area code, whereas I live in the 518 area code.  I've had the same phone number since I was in college and see no reason to change.

Using the ZIP+4 (those extra four digits at the end of a zip code) is a bit trickier for me to do, but it's helpful to use whenever possible.

[mgk920]

If you are mailing it at the post office, they can correct the error there. I was sending a package once and transposed two digits on the zip code. When I went to send it, the automated postal kiosk rejected the address as invalid and told me to see a clerk. The clerk was able to type in the address and get the correct zip code, crossing my bad zip out and writing the correct one.

You can do the same address look-up on the USPS website.

Mike