A postal code is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail.
A ZIP Code is a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service (USPS). Introduced on July 1, 1963, the basic format consisted of five digits. In 1983, an extended ZIP+4 code was introduced; it included the five digits of the ZIP Code, followed by a hyphen and four digits that designated a more specific location.
Postal codes used in the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown dependencies are known as postcodes. They are alphanumeric and were adopted nationally between 11 October 1959 and 1974, having been devised by the General Post Office. A full postcode is known as a "postcode unit" and designates an area with several addresses or a single major delivery point.
A Canadian postal code is a six-character string that forms part of a postal address in Canada. Like British, Irish and Dutch postcodes, Canada's postal codes are alphanumeric. They are in the format A1A 1A1, where A is a letter and 1 is a digit, with a space separating the third and fourth characters. As of October 2019, there were 876,445 postal codes using Forward Sortation Areas from A0A in Newfoundland to Y1A in Yukon.
The postal counties of the United Kingdom, now known as former postal counties, were postal subdivisions in routine use by the Royal Mail until 1996. The purpose of the postal county – as opposed to any other kind of county – was to aid the sorting of mail by differentiating between like-sounding post towns. Since 1996 this has been done by using the outward code of the postcode instead. For operational reasons the former postal counties, although broadly based on the counties of the United Kingdom, did not match up with their boundaries: in some cases there were significant differences. The boundaries changed over time as post towns were created or amended.
Mailsort was a five-digit address-coding scheme used by the Royal Mail and its business customers for the automatic direction of mail until 2012. Mail users who could present mail sorted by Mailsort code and in quantities of 4,000 upwards received a discounted postal rate.
Poste restante, also known as general delivery in North American English, is a service where the post office holds the mail until the recipient calls for it. It is a common destination for mail for people who are visiting a particular location and have no need, or no way, of having mail delivered directly to their place of residence at that time.
Postcodes in New Zealand consist of four digits, the first two of which specify the area, the third the type of delivery, and the last the specific lobby, RD number, or suburb. The present postcode system was introduced in New Zealand in June 2006, which, unlike the previous system, applies to all items of mail with effect from June 2008. In October 2008, New Zealand Post launched a 'remember your postcode' campaign, offering a $10,000 prize for remembering a postcode.
Postal codes were introduced in France in 1964, when La Poste introduced automated sorting. They were updated to use the current 5 digit system in 1972.
Spanish postal codes were introduced on 1 July 1984, when the Sociedad Estatal de Correos y Telégrafos introduced automated mail sorting. They consist of five numerical digits, where the first two digits, ranging 01 to 52, correspond either to one of the 50 provinces of Spain or to one of the two autonomous cities on the African coast.
In a postal system, a delivery point is a single mailbox or other place at which mail is delivered. It differs from a street address, in that each address may have several delivery points, such as an apartment, office department, or other room. Such buildings are often called multiple-dwelling units (MDUs) by the USPS.
A post office box is a uniquely addressable lockable box located on the premises of a post office.
An address is a collection of information, presented in a mostly fixed format, used to give the location of a building, apartment, or other structure or a plot of land, generally using political boundaries and street names as references, along with other identifiers such as house or apartment numbers and organization name. Some addresses also contain special codes, such as a postal code, to make identification easier and aid in the routing of mail.
Postal codes in Malaysia, usually referred to as postcodes, are five digit numeric.
A postal address in Ireland is a place of delivery defined by Irish Standard (IS) EN 14142-1:2011 and serviced by the universal service provider, An Post. Its addressing guides comply with the guidelines of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the United Nations-affiliated body responsible for promoting standards in the postal industry, across the world.
Freepost is a postal service provided by various postal administrations, whereby a person sends mail without affixing postage, and the recipient pays the postage when collecting the mail. Freepost differs from self-addressed stamped envelopes, courtesy reply mail, and metered reply mail in that the recipient of the freepost pays only for those items that are actually received, rather than for all that are distributed. Freepost of preprinted cards issued by businesses is also different from postal stationery sold by postal administrations.
For the purposes of directing mail, Sweden is divided into a number of postcode areas. The Swedish postcode system is administered by the Swedish Mail Service on behalf of the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority.
Postal codes in Thailand are five digit numbers. The first two digits of the postal code denote the province or special administrative area, while the last 3 digits represent the post office within the province. There are exceptions, for example, Bangkok and Samut Prakan province shared the first two digits 10xxx. It's typical to use postal code ended with zero 0 because they are assigned to post office that are responsible for delivering mail to the district. For example, mails to Dusit district destinations uses postal code 10300 except within Chitralada Palace where postal code 10303 is used. 10300 is postal code of Dusit Post Office which handles the delivery throughout Dusit district while 10303 is postal code of Chitralada Palace Post Office which does not deliver mails outside the palace. Other post offices in Dusit district exist, such as Bang Krabu Post Office with postal code 10301, the code used for mails to be delivered to P.O. Box in the post office.
In 2012, the government of Trinidad and Tobago approved the introduction of postal codes starting later that same year. In addition to the postal code implementation the country has embarked on a nationwide address improvement initiative adopting the Universal Postal Union (UPU) S-42 international standard of addressing. The UPU is an arm of the United Nations and is the coordinating body of postal services worldwide. The intent of this exercise is to correct poor addressing in Trinidad & Tobago and assign to each address a six-digit postal code. This change will result in the following:
Postal codes used in Saudi Arabia are colloquially known as postcodes.
