Comments on: Why Must I Still Fill Out My City, State, and Zip Code? http://hughbuchanan.com/blog/2009/06/06/zip-codes-are-enough/ My Ramblings Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:28:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: hugh http://hughbuchanan.com/blog/2009/06/06/zip-codes-are-enough/comment-page-1/#comment-17 hugh Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:28:41 +0000 http://hughbuchanan.com/blog/?p=144#comment-17 I had no idea that there were situations where towns shared zip codes... that makes absolutely no sense to me. But even so, the majority of addresses can be validated with the address line assuming there aren't two addresses in the same zip code like 123 Main Street. I live in Branford, CT (06405) which has several areas of town with their own name/post office. I live very close to the Stony Creek Post Office. Some people write "Stony Creek, CT 06405" but the official town is still Branford. The mail gets routed to the Stony Creek post office purely because of the street I live on (Buena Vista Rd). I don't know how common the Sayville/Cherry Grove situation is. In Los Angeles it was the opposite situation, there are a gazillion zip codes. Bottom line, you can make <em>most</em> people happy if the form asks for your zip code and automatically guesses the city/state... folks that live in Cherry Grove can go in and edit the form to say Sayville if its wrong. They at least wont have to change their state from New York so it's still saving the user time. I had no idea that there were situations where towns shared zip codes… that makes absolutely no sense to me. But even so, the majority of addresses can be validated with the address line assuming there aren’t two addresses in the same zip code like 123 Main Street.

I live in Branford, CT (06405) which has several areas of town with their own name/post office. I live very close to the Stony Creek Post Office. Some people write “Stony Creek, CT 06405″ but the official town is still Branford.

The mail gets routed to the Stony Creek post office purely because of the street I live on (Buena Vista Rd).

I don’t know how common the Sayville/Cherry Grove situation is. In Los Angeles it was the opposite situation, there are a gazillion zip codes.

Bottom line, you can make most people happy if the form asks for your zip code and automatically guesses the city/state… folks that live in Cherry Grove can go in and edit the form to say Sayville if its wrong. They at least wont have to change their state from New York so it’s still saving the user time.

]]> By: GEMKLD http://hughbuchanan.com/blog/2009/06/06/zip-codes-are-enough/comment-page-1/#comment-15 GEMKLD Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:53:34 +0000 http://hughbuchanan.com/blog/?p=144#comment-15 I agree with you on the state thing but the city is a little tricky. Unless the zip has the +4 extension on it you may overlap cities. Take my TOWN for example; the town of Sayville shares a zipcode with Fire Island Cherry Grove. I frequently get email addressed to me correctly but with the city (town) of Cherry Grove. No big deal you say (and neither do I) but the postal employees may especially if they are not really looking at the ZIP. This is of course only with the hand written mail that cannott go through the OCR for the zip and is automatically routed to the correct destination. Be that as it may, this one piece of handwitten mail that is supposed to go over the Great South Bay via ferry ends up at my house and has to be redelivered (or vice-versa) may cost the post office much more than that little adhesive sticker in the top right hand corner. I agree with you on the state thing but the city is a little tricky. Unless the zip has the +4 extension on it you may overlap cities. Take my TOWN for example; the town of Sayville shares a zipcode with Fire Island Cherry Grove. I frequently get email addressed to me correctly but with the city (town) of Cherry Grove. No big deal you say (and neither do I) but the postal employees may especially if they are not really looking at the ZIP. This is of course only with the hand written mail that cannott go through the OCR for the zip and is automatically routed to the correct destination.
Be that as it may, this one piece of handwitten mail that is supposed to go over the Great South Bay via ferry ends up at my house and has to be redelivered (or vice-versa) may cost the post office much more than that little adhesive sticker in the top right hand corner.

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