What Are The Last Four Digits Of A Zip Code For? (1 Viewer)

[Chuck C]

e.g.

44139-4067...what's the 4067 all about?

thanks

 

[Todd Henry]

The zip+4 system further narrows down your address to the street and sometimes what part of the street to make it easier for the post office to sort your mail.

 

[Jay H]

Todd beat me to it. You can lookup a Zip+4 address just by your street number and street so obviously there is a method to this madness but I am not familiar with that stuff.

Jay

 

[MickeS]

It's just to make it easier for those lazy mailmen!
/Mike

 

[Malcolm R]

From the USPS website:
Why are ZIP+4 Codes used?
In 1983, the Postal Service began using an expanded ZIP Code called "ZIP+4." A ZIP+4 Code consists of the original 5-digit ZIP Code plus a 4-digit add-on code. The 4-digit add-on number identifies a geographic segment within the 5-digit delivery area, such as a city block, office building, individual high-volume receiver of mail, or any other unit that would aid efficient mail sorting and delivery.

 

[Elizabeth S]

What I hate are online order forms which have not accommodated the extra 4 digits and are locked to 5 spaces. It totally goes against the concept of trying to help the postal system be more efficient.

 

[MikeAlletto]

What I hate are online order forms which have not accommodated the extra 4 digits and are locked to 5 spaces. It totally goes against the concept of trying to help the postal system be more efficient.

The post office doesn't require it so why should online places? Most of the time it just fills it in automatically. I don't have a clue what my +4 address is.

 

[Todd Hochard]

I've been told by one of my mail-sorter friends, that the +4 slows down mail delivery for the average, low-volume citizen. Something about being routed through a different system.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

It helps the government know which "Happy Camp" to send you to in the event of the next civil war.

 

[Chuck C]

fine work everyone, i love htf

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

44139-4067...what's the 4067 all about?

Well, for that matter, what's the 44139 about? Why only pick on the last four digits?
(The first five narrow your location down to region, state, city, and sometimes part of city. As noted the other four narrow it down further. The plain fact is that, as with area codes, and 7-digit dialing, we have too many people crammed into too few places, and we need more digits to separate them all out. The zip code added 4 digits for the same reason that the area codes can now have numbers other than "1" and "0" as the second digit, and that 10-digit dialing for even local calls is becoming more common - whereas about fifteen years ago I lived in a town where you only dialed four digits for local calls. If you tried dialing the seven digit number starting with "271", you'd end up with whoever had the number 271-2711, 12, 13, etc. )
Regards,
Joe

 

[Jay H]

The first two digits can signify your region, i.e. 07 is north jersey while 08 is south jersey so you can tell the region/state by the first two digits.
And of course, there is the USPS Zip lookup utility here:
Link Removed
Jay

 

[Joel Mack]

Technically, all you need to mail something is the nine-digit zip.
At least it used to work. Back when they first implemented it, I sent a test letter to a friend and only put the Zip+4 on the front of the envelope. It got to it's destination with no discernable delay.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

The first two digits can signify your region, i.e. 07 is north jersey while 08 is south jersey so you can tell the region/state by the first two digits.

By "region" I meant postal regions - Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, etc. In some cases you don't even get down to the state until you hit the third digit. The "0" in your examples indicates Northeast (MA is 02, CT 06). NY is included in the Mid-Atlantic group with PA, DE, and others, all of which have zip codes beginning with "1" statewide. The numbers increase as you move west, with CA zips, for instance, beginning with "9".

Regards,

Joe

 

[Julian Reville]

It got to it's destination with no discernable delay.

With "discernable" being the operative word.
I think ALL of the digits just give PO employees something to laugh about when they throw the mail into which ever bag is closest. I just love it when I get a service charge on a bill I paid days in advance of the due date, and it only had to go across town.

 

[MikeAlletto]

I just love it when I get a service charge on a bill I paid days in advance of the due date, and it only had to go across town.

Its that postal blacklist...i'm on it too

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I just love it when I get a service charge on a bill I paid days in advance of the due date, and it only had to go across town.

There's a great way to solve this... electronic banking.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I just love it when I get a service charge on a bill I paid days in advance of the due date, and it only had to go across town.

Well, as a former employee of the Post Awful, I have to stand up for my former comrades. This sort of thing is far more likely to be the result of your payment sitting in somebody's in-box at the offices of the company that you're paying than of any delay in delivery of the mail. You might want to check the date your checked cleared your bank and compare that to the date your payment was posted. Even allowing for the fact that your bank takes its sweet time in clearing your checks, you'll often find that the check clears before the payment is posted. That's because many companies pull the checks out of all incoming bills, photocopy them, and get them to the bank the same day. Only later do they send the copies and payment coupons up to the department that actually posts the payment to your account, a process that can take days. (I also used to work in accounts receivable and collections, so I know how this process works, too.)

Regards,

Joe

 

[Julian Reville]

There's a great way to solve this... electronic banking.

The most recent one was for a "city" water bill; I use the term "city" loosely because it resembles a medieval fiefdom more closely than it does a real government. Do you think there is much chance they could handle electronic banking? (not that I would ever give them a chance to totally screw up my bank account).
As an example: we have been under water restrictions for 5 years now due to a drought. Last month, the water dept finally put a notice in with the bills saying they WOULD now start enforcing the restrictions and turn off your water if you broke them. Since the restrictions involve odd-even days, I called them to ask when their day started, you know, midnight to midnight, or a more decent hour (I really like getting up at midnight to turn on a sprinkler). Their answer: "It starts when the day starts".
When I called them about the $10 service charge for "late payment" the response was: "That's the date we posted it. There's nothing that can be done about it". Which translated means: "Tough shit, if you don't like it, get you water somewhere else." If the Gestapo had had this much power, Hitler would still be in office.
Anyway, back to the Post Office. I think they do a great job for 34 , I mean, 37 cents; probably at least 20 cents worth of effort goes into every letter. Not bad for a semi-autonomous government agency. Last December, we had a really early winter storm that dumped 6 inches of snow & ice, very rare for Georgia. No mail delivery for 3 days.
"Neither rain nor snow........"

 

[Paul Richardson]

When I had a P.O. Box, the +4 digit was the same as my box number.