Zip Code biography, Zip Code discography
ZIP Code Lookup is now available.Search our ZIP Code database yourself to test the accuracy of our data!Hit the letter z, or click the word zoom to enable or disable zooming.This project began a very short sketch (a few hours) that I created because I was curious about how the numbering works for zip codes in the states.This version adds several features over the original, including zoom, some new colors (thanks to Eugene Kuo for suggestions), and a better zip code database (because of all the people who emailed and were sad that they couldn't find themselves).Find a ZIP Code in a city.Standardize your address database or find detailed address information.Boost your business with customized maps and reports.Please help improve this article by adding reliable references.ZIP promoted the use of ZIP codes for the USPS during the 1960s and 1970s.The ZIP code is the system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service (USPS).The basic format consists of five numerical digits.An extended ZIP + 4 code includes the five digits of the ZIP code, a hyphen and then four more digits, which enables a piece of mail to be directed to a more precise location than by the ZIP code alone.The term ZIP Code was originally registered as a servicemark (a type of trademark) by the U.Postal Service but its registration has since expired.ZIP codes only loosely tied to cities
2.Background
The postal service implemented postal zones for large cities in 1943.Petersburg 1, Florida
The "16" in the first example and "1" in the second is the number of the postal zone within the city.ZIP codes were announced for the whole country.Robert Moon, an employee of the post office, is considered the father of the ZIP code.He submitted his proposal in 1944 while working as a postal inspector.The post office only gives credit to Moon for the first three digits of the ZIP code, which describe the sectional center facility, or SCF, also called "sec center."The SCF sorts mail to all post offices with those first 3 digits in their ZIP codes, mail is sorted according to the final 2 digits of the ZIP code and the mail is sent to these post offices in the early morning.Sectional centers do not deliver mail and are not open to the public (though the building may include a post office open to the public), and most of the workers work during the midnight hours.Mail picked up at post offices is sent to their own SCF in the afternoon, where the mail is sorted overnight.ZIP, to promote use of the ZIP code.He was often depicted with a legend such as "USE ZIP CODES" in the selvage of panes of stamps or on labels contained in, or the covers of, booklet panes of stamps.Curiously enough, the only time the Postal Service issued a stamp promoting the ZIP code, in 1974, Mr.The ZIP code is often translated into a barcode called Postnet that is printed on the mailpiece to make it easier for automated machines to sort.Unlike most barcode symbologies, Postnet uses long and short bars, not thin and thick bars.Microsoft Word include the feature), or the post office will put one on when it processes the piece.The post office generally uses OCR technology, though a human may have to read the address if absolutely necessary.Postcard printers have begun blocking a section off where the barcode will be placed.The last digit is always a check digit, which is obtained by summing all 5, 9 or 11 digits, taking the Modulo base 10 of this sum (i.Postnet font to create a valid barcode.Additionally, FIM codes A and C indicate that a Postnet bar code is present, allowing this mail to bypass the MOCR and go straight to a barcode scanning machine.FIM code, namely FIM A, to indicate that the Postnet bar code is present.ZIP codes are numbered with the first digit representing a certain group of U.The main town in 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 an adjacent state (q.In some cases, a sectional center facility may serve an area in an adjacent state, usually due to the lack of an appropriate location for a center in that region.For example, 739 in Oklahoma is assigned to Liberal, Kansas; 865 in Arizona is assigned to Gallup, New Mexico; and 961 in California to Reno, Nevada.Geographically, many of the lowest ZIP codes are in the New England region, since these begin with '0'.FPO military addresses for personnel stationed in Europe.The lowest ZIP code is in Holtsville, New York (00501, a ZIP Code exclusively for the U.Other low ZIP codes are 00601 for Adjuntas, Puerto Rico; 01001 for Agawam, Massachusetts, and 01002 for Amherst, Massachusetts.Atlanta) and 33130 (Miami) (these are only examples as each of these cities contain several zip codes in the same range).For example, 40202 is in Louisville, 50309 in Des Moines, Iowa, 60601 in Chicago, 77063 in Houston, 80202 in Denver, 94111 in San Francisco, 98101 in Seattle, and 99950 in Ketchikan, Alaska.Alaska (AK), American Samoa (AS), California (CA), Guam (GU), Hawaii (HI), Marshall Islands (MH), Federated States of Micronesia (FM), Northern Mariana Islands (MP), Oregon (OR), Palau (PW), Washington (WA), Army Post Office Pacific (AP), Fleet Post Office Pacific (AP)
The next two digits represent the sectional center facility (e.ZIP Code just by looking at the first three digits.Despite the geographic derivation of most ZIP codes, the codes themselves do not represent geographic regions; they generally correspond to address groups or delivery routes.Consequently, ZIP Code "areas" can overlap, be subsets of each other, or be artificial constructs with no geographic area.Similarly, 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 is undefined.ZIP codes starting with 20200 to 20599, which are Washington, D.ZIP codes, even if they are not located in Washington itself.While the White House itself is located in ZIP code 20006, it has the ZIP code 20500.The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is located in Rockville, Maryland, at ZIP code 20852, but has been assigned by the Postal Service the address "Washington, DC 20555".Authority's office, "1 Aviation Circle", is in Arlington, Virginia.Rarely, a locality is assigned a ZIP code that does not match the rest of the state; in other words, a zip code may cross state lines.Generally, the locality is so isolated that it most conveniently served from a sectional center in another state.New York ZIP codes (excepting those at Holtsville for the IRS) begin with "1".Some Texas ZIP codes are served from New Mexico and thus bear codes beginning with "8" rather than "7".Returned government parcels from the District of Columbia are sent to ZIP codes beginning with "569", so that returned parcels are security checked at a remote facility (this was put into place after the anthrax scare).Some Arkansas roads north of Bull Shoals Lake can best be accessed by the Protem, Missouri delivery unit (ZIP Code 65733).Fort Campbell (ZIP Code 42223), primarily in Kentucky, also has some roads in Tennessee.ZIP codes only loosely tied to cities
A ZIP code's address and the "city" name written on the same line do not necessarily mean that that address is within that city.The Postal Service designates a single "default" place name for each ZIP code.Additional place names, also of any of these types, may be recognized as "acceptable" for a certain ZIP code.Still others are deemed "not acceptable", and if used may result in a delay in mail delivery.Default place names are typically the actual city or town that the address is located in.However, for many cities that have incorporated since ZIP codes were introduced the actual city name is only "acceptable" and not the "default" place name.Many databases automatically assign the "default" place name for a ZIP code, without regard to any "acceptable" place names.For example, Centennial, Colorado is divided among seven ZIP codes assigned to "Aurora", "Englewood" or "Littleton" as its "default" place names.And since it is "acceptable" to write "Centennial" in conjunction with any of the seven ZIP codes, one can write "Centennial" in an address that is actually in Aurora, Englewood, or Littleton, as long as it is in one of the shared ZIP Codes.However, in many cases only the "default" name can be used, even when many addresses in the ZIP code are in another city.ZIP code 85254, to which the place name "Scottsdale, Arizona," is assigned, is actually inside the city limits of neighboring Phoenix.This has led some residents of the ZIP code to believe that they live in Scottsdale when they actually live in Phoenix.Scottsdale website listing the positive and negative aspects of the city mentioned the 85254 ZIP code as a positive aspect because "Scottsdale" is being used for businesses located outside the Scottsdale city limits.The result of this is that sometimes people must use the name of a different city than their own.The portion which is within Harris county is within the zip code 77071, which must use the city "Houston" instead of Missouri City.Houston is in Fort Bend county in the zip code 77489, and residents there must use the city "Missouri City" for their address even though they are within the city limits of Houston.This phenomenon is repeated across the country.Denver metropolitan area, and ZIP codes in this area were assigned "Englewood" as their "default" place name.An employment center as large as downtown Denver has grown in this area, and its office parks are the headquarters for many internationally recognized corporations."Englewood," a vast suburban area of upscale subdivisions and office parks that have nothing to do with the City of Englewood yet share a split identity with it solely because of ZIP codes.In Indiana the zip code for a town usually indicates the zip code for its corresponding township as nearly all of Indiana's small town post offices have rural routes."Acceptable place names" also come into play in areas of the country where many citizens identify more strongly with a particular urban center than the municipality they actually live in.The same thing applies in many cities that have more than one zip code, like Evansville, Indiana or Jacksonville, Florida.For example, ZIP code 03750 is for Etna, New Hampshire, but Etna is not a city or town; it is actually a village district in the town of Hanover, which itself is assigned the ZIP code 03755.Kirkwood, NJ but actually serves the entirety of Voorhees Township, NJ.This is also the case in LaGrange, New York, a portion of which is served by the 12603 ZIP code based in the neighboring Town of Poughkeepsie.The rest of LaGrange is served by the LaGrangeville Post Office.Another example is Armstrong Township of Vanderburgh County, Indiana.While the rest of the county uses the 477 prefix, Armstrong Township, despite having no incorporated town, uses the zip code 47617 and addresses itself "Armstrong, Indiana".The postal designations for place names become de facto locations for their addresses, and as a result it is difficult to convince residents and businesses that they actually are located in another city or town different from the "default" place name associated with their ZIP codes.ZIP codes so that their cities can be the "default" place name for addresses within the ZIP code.This confusion also can have financial implications for local governments, because mail volume is among the factors used by the U.Sometimes local officials in a community that is not the "default" place name for a zip code but is an "acceptable" place name will advise residents to always use the name of the community, because if the census estimate of that town's population is low they will get fewer State and Federal funds that are computed based on population.Division and reallocation of ZIP codes
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.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 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 the county were 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.ZIP codes also change when postal boundaries are realigned.Previously, many inner suburbs, such as Bethesda and Takoma Park, had been in the Washington, D.As a result of the change, ZIP codes in Maryland beginning with 200 were changed to new ZIP codes beginning with 207, 208 or 209, depending on their location, and ZIP codes straddling the D.Military (used to route mail for the U.Standard (all other ZIP codes).As examples of Unique ZIP codes, certain governmental agencies, universities, businesses or buildings that receive extremely high volumes of mail have their own ZIP codes, such as 81009 for the Federal Citizen Information Center of the U.ZIP code is 22313, which is used for P.In the area surrounding that post office, home and business mail delivery addresses use ZIP code 22314, which is thus a Standard ZIP code.Standard Examples
While ZIP codes classified as Unique by the USPS always serve a single address, it should not be assumed that a zip code is Unique simply because it serves a single building, complex, or address.Standard ZIP codes rather than Unique ZIP codes, because USPS carriers must distribute the mail to multiple boxes, offices, or buildings within the facility.In a Unique ZIP code, mail distribution within the single address is handled internally, rather than by USPS employees.ZIP codes fall outside the three types.APO and FPO ZIP codes are codes in use for U.Armed Forces members and their dependents overseas.FPO ZIP codes were numerically close to the allocations for those cities.New York City, NY is an extreme example.In the case of SCF 110 (Floral Park), it serves both eastern Jamaica, eastern Flushing, and northwestern Nassau as well.Delivery services
Delivery services other than the USPS, such as FedEx, United Parcel Service and DHL require a ZIP code for optimal internal routing of a package.Statistics
ZIP codes are used not only for tracking of mail but in gathering geographical statistics in the United States.ZIP codes (called ZIP Code Tabulation Areas or ZCTAs).Complete datasets are commercially available.ZIP code with the name on a credit card to obtain a consumer's full address and telephone number.This can cause problems (e.ZIP code, while they themselves actually live in a relatively crime free town (e.ZIP code and returns a list of store or business locations, usually in order of increasing distance from the input ZIP code.The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.This Spencer County, Indiana town of 2,100 handles nearly 1 million Santa Claus letters every year from around the world from at least 10 countries and in various languages.In 1964, at the height of his popularity, Smokey Bear, mascot of the U.Forest Service, received so much fan mail that he was assigned his own ZIP code, 20252.ZIP code 12345 belongs to the world headquarters for General Electric in Schenectady, New York.Each year, the facility receives many letters from children to Santa Claus, addressed to "North Pole 12345".Spiegel catalog and the company's address, "Chicago 60609."In a popular episode of the 1960s TV series Batman, the villain Chandell mentioned being located in ZIP code 9999979.Although the producers knew this could not be an actual ZIP code, it is likely that this was used as an attempt to bring more attention to ZIP codes as part of mailing addresses.In the movie based on the Green Acres television series, Hooterville's ZIP code was given by Mr.Federal Citizen Information Center's Consumer Information Catalog have become famous for its ZIP code in Pueblo, Colorado, 81009 (which is assigned uniquely to the center).Newton Falls, Ohio, has the ZIP code 44444.On Seinfeld, Newman, a USPS employee, tells his girlfriend "I'll tell you a little secret about ZIP codes.Boston Mass Oh Two One Three Four."ZIP code of WGBH, the show's originating station in Boston, Massachusetts.When the show was reincarnated in 1999, the show's URL was recited instead.In another Simpsons episode, "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday," Lisa Simpson asks a postal employee, during a class trip to the post office, what the purpose of the ZIP + 4 code is.Little does she know that she is being monitored by authorities who suspect she has discovered that the code has no importance.Starting in 2000, National Geographic magazine instituted a regular monthly feature to focus on the community in one ZIP code.Cambridge, Massachusetts, name 02138, the Harvard Square (which includes Harvard University) ZIP code.Harvard graduates is entitled 02138.In the television mystery series Veronica Mars, "09ers" is a slang term used to describe students whose families live in the fictitious ZIP code 90909, the affluent part of Neptune, California.The comic strip "Peanuts" featured a character called 5, whose last name is a ZIP code in Sebastopol, California: 95472.The television show Full House makes fun of Wayne, New Jersey's palindromic zip code (07470).General Electric Company facility located in Schenectady, NY.That facility used to be the company headquarters.The property is in both Schenectady and the Town of Rotterdam, NY.As a result, to reach the town's post office, users dialed the ZIP code, 97526.ZIP code 10048 was assigned to the World Trade Center complex in New York, New York (until its destruction on September 11, 2001).The White House has its own secret ZIP + 4 code, separate from the publicly known 20500, for the President of the United States and the First Family to receive private mail.ZIP code is 48222, a marine post office in Detroit, Michigan used to route mail to and from passing Great Lakes commercial vessels, the last of its kind in the ZIP code system.Barefoot Bay, Brevard County, Florida is a deed restricted community mobile home park large enough to have its own ZIP code: 32976.The Glendale Galleria in Glendale, California, is a shopping center large enough to have its own ZIP code: 91210.ZIP code 17927 of Centralia, Pennsylvania, where an underground mine fire has been burning for over 40 years, was revoked by the USPS in 2002."Postal service moves to reconnect with customers in Katrina's wake".External links
ZIP Code lookup webpage from the United States Postal Service.ZIP Code Lookup with Google Gadget Shows city name, state name, latitude, longitude of all U.Begin Geocoder Free download of all U.ZIP codes, including city, state, latitude, longitude, and county.Open Source zip code database put together from a variety of sources.ZIP, CITY, STATE, COUNTY, LATITUDE, LONGITUDE, ZIP_CLASS)
ZIP Code datasets freely available from the US Census Bureau.Note: Zip code data is derived from the U.Line ZCTAs (ZIP Code Tabulation Areas) which may be different than the
USPS defined zip code delivery routes.USPS zip code is not a geographical area but a route which may not be definable as a polygon.Zip Code Map Version 2.Look up ZIP Codes and city names nationwide.ZIP Codes by City Displays a list of ZIP Codes within a city.ZIP Codes by County Displays a list of ZIP Codes within a county.Carrier Routes in a ZIP Code.Street Names by ZIP Code Displays a list of street names within a ZIP Code.ZIP Codes in a Radius Displays a list of ZIP Codes in a radius from a center ZIP Code.House Numbers by ZIP Code Displays a list of house numbers within a ZIP Codes.Most PopularLook up and verify Canadian addresses.Search by name, phone number or address.See 28 other unique LookupsCheck out the other free online Lookups available at Melissa Data.Save money every time you mail!Put this comprehensive ZIP Code directory to work for you.Copyright 2008 by Melissa DATA Corp.
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