Poll: When you give your address do you give the 9 digit zip code?

Someone said she was being geeky when she gave me her 9 digit zip. I thought she was just being practical. If you have someones full zip you can screw up the rest of the address and the letter or package will still be delivered. I always use it. OK I'm a geek so maybe she has a point.

i knew my 9-digit zip when i was a kid, but never bothered to learn it in any place i've lived subsequently

Which makes me laugh since it was around when you were a kid. I think of it as a new fangled invention.

I think I used in the first 2 weeks after I had moved here because I was so proud of having it :D But now I got lazy...

I haven't a clue what mine is.... it seems pretty extraneous.

it is rather helpful, actually. I don't know mine either. But I should! :)

You can go to usps.com and click on "Find a ZIP Code"

USPS - Zip Code Lookup

I not only have it bookmarked but I gave it a shortcut.

When you use the 9 digit zip delivery is more certain and its faster.

01060-3231

who knew?

I've always envied ya'll with the zeros at the beginning of your zip codes.

I miss my 9-series ZIP code.

Actually, it screws some things up, especially if you've found a poorly coded database (like the one the Red Cross made for the America Eats Out [or something like that] fundraiser.) It treated the 0XXXX zip codes as XXXX, and searching for a 0XXXX zip code would return no results. (It looked like all of NJ wasn't participating.)

...that sounds like the best fundraiser ever.

...oh, wait.

Helpful to whom? :)

To better ensuring you get all your mail. Makes mistakes a lot harder.

I dunno... I've never had a problem. *shrugs*

Maybe it helps more in big cities.

You have never had a problem? You never had mail take more than 1 day to get someplace? You never ever misaddressed something? You never had someone misaddress something to you?
Mail will get there if you don't use the zip code at all but it makes the system work better. The same is true with the 9 digit zip. It won't prevent all those problems but it will on average get to the destination faster and get lost less often.

*shrugs*

I use snail mail so infrequently that it's not much of a concern.

Heh, I was going to suggest that maybe he forgot to put an e before it. ^_^

Helpful to the system, not to any specific person. :-)

01108-2902
01108-1604 (I think)
01089-4712

:D

I have been giving mine out since I realized I had mine memorized. Somehow 1937 just stuck in my head.

I started using it whenever I had it ever since I sent Misch a package and left off one digit of his address and it was returned to me. With the 9 digit zip it would have gotten there.

The nine digit ZIP is mostly for pre-sorted bulk mail. Companies use it to get better postal rates.

Knowing the five digit ZIP is enough to get the mail to its destination, and it will sometimes arrive (albeit later) if the ZIP is incorrect.

The +4 will help it get into the system quicker, but only marginally. First class mail crosses the country in three days or less (barring abnormal mail volumes). Individually mailed pieces still have to be sorted into delivery sequence, while the bulk mail arrives at the carriers case in sequence.

My apartment has 2 different and equally acceptable addresses (#2R and Ste. 3). The two addresses have different +4's. I have a problem with my carrier dropping mail from other addresses into my box. All of the misdelivered have +4's for #1R.

The only problem I've ever had with a five digit ZIP was the first letter I ever mailed. Stamps were 17 cents then, and that letter taught me that the return address goes in the corner. :-)

N2L 3X4

What are these extra digits you speak of? ;)

You don't need them in Canada, there are so few people everyone is on a first name basis :-)

I hear they have indoor plumbing now, though...

I just had the perfect example of why you should use the 9-digit-zip.

I had to overnight FRFF tickets to some Budgiedome performers. I wrote Howard instead of Hayward in the address. The Post office called me (at an ungodly hour) because there is no Howard avenue in the town and I gave them the correct one. If I had used the 9-digit-zip it would have been delivered without having to call me. It is a fail safe when you make a mistake on the address.

Woah.. How did the post office know your phone number??

When you send something express mail the form has a place to send the sender's phone number and another for the recipient's.

Ah.  Okay.

Also, if you have a name and address, it's not too hard to look up a phone number.  Even if it wasn't provided, it's easily findable.