XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.books   
   From: ted@loft.tnolan.com   
      
   In article ,   
   Your Name  wrote:   
   >In article , ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted   
   >Nolan ) wrote:   
   >> In article ,   
   >> Doc O'Leary   wrote:   
   >> >In article ,   
   >> > ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan ) wrote:   
   >> >   
   >> >> >Not minding the big/little mixup, anyone who reads the full Wikipedia   
   >> >> >entry will see that you are grossly mistaken.  To the extent that it can   
   >> >> >be idealized as geographically big endian, it also exhibits a *lot* of   
   >> >> >special cases that make it useless as a location designation:   
   >> >>   
   >> >> "imperfect" & "useless" are two different things.  For instance,   
   >> >> advertisers target zipcodes based on location all the time.   
   >> >   
   >> >My mistake.  They're not "useless" in the sense that you *can't* use   
   >> >them to refer to a location/area.  What I meant to mean is that, in   
   >> >order to use them, you must be able to access the USPS database to know   
   >> >what location/area a ZIP code exactly refers to.  I contrast it to   
   >> >things like GPS, which use a predictable, open notation to reference a   
   >> >location. For the purposes of science fiction, postal codes don't really   
   >> >make much sense very far into the future, never mind when it comes to   
   >> >people living on space stations, the Moon, or other planets.   
   >> >   
   >>   
   >> OK, sure.  Agreed: Zipcodes have no intrinsic meaning.   
   >   
   >   
   >In New Zealand the postcodes (the same as zip codes) have no real use at all.   
   >   
   >New Zealand Post had postcodes for decades, but few people bothereed to   
   >use them, then New Zealand changed all the postcodes and bluffed that mail   
   >without them wouldn't get to it's destination, and still few people use   
   >them ... and yet the mail still gets to where it's meant to go.   
   >   
   >The issue isn't postcodes that mean mail doesn't arrive. It's that the   
   >fool sending the mail didn't address it properly in the first place (no   
   >street number, no city, etc.) and adding a postcode doesn't fix most of   
   >those problems.   
      
   Well, with a US style zipcode it *does* fix most of those problems.   
   5-digit zips get you state, city and post office (more or less),   
   and the USMAIL often won't even look at the written City/State   
   portion unless there's a problem.  9 & 11 digit codes get you down   
   to individual PO Boxes and houses.   
      
   >   
   >It doesn't help that the fools in New Zealand Post stupidly have one   
   >postcode for street addresses and a differnt postcode for post office box   
   >addresses in the same area (i.e. each post offce box building has it's own   
   >postcode).  :-\   
      
   Why is that stupid?  That's the way it generally works with the US zipcodes.   
   For instance 29206 is the non-PObox zipcode for Forest Acres and 29260   
   is the PObox zipcode.  So I know a letter addressed to 29206 is going   
   to Forest Acres, but not to a PO Box and that something addressed to   
   zip+4 29260-1234 is going to PO Box 1234 in the Forest Acres Post Office.   
   You want *more* information in your postal codes, not less!   
      
   >   
   >The only people who really use New Zealand Post postcodes are big   
   >businesses who get a discount for bulk mail that is pre-sorted into   
   >regions.   
      
   In general, individual postal customers (you & me) will use 5 digit zips   
   in the US.  9 & 11 digit zips are usually used by commercial mail and   
   most people don't know their 9 & 11 digit code.   
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