1. The "ZIP" in Zip Code is an acronym which stands for "Zone Improvement Plan."
2. How many zip codes are there? If someone offered you $1,000,000 if you got even within 50%, could you guess accurately? Me neither, as I had no idea before researching for this blog.
3. In fact, there are now about 42,000 ZIP codes in the United States! That may seem like a huge number, but consider that Canada has 861,094 postal codes (their version of zip codes!).
4. I say “about” that many because the number of ZIP codes we have changes each year – often dramatically. In fact, there are about 5,000 changes to ZIP codes every year, including getting rid of old ones and creating new ones.
5. Each ZIP code now has an average population of about 7,631 men, women, and children.
6. Before 1963, zip codes didn’t exist in their present form, and mailing addresses just consisted of your home number, street, city, and state.
7. In 1943 during World War II, most able bodied young mailmen and postal employees had to go serve overseas, so a two-digit coding system for each major city was introduced to help the new, inexperienced replacement workers.
8. But our modern ZIP code system is attributed to a postal inspector named Robert Moon, who developed the concept in 1963 to ease the flow of mail and improve organization in his Philadelphia mail center.
9. Moon's ZIP code system first had only three digits, which identified the region and even city where the mail was going making it far faster for postal workers to sort, and it was officially adopted by the USPS.
10. The ZIP code acronym and system were soon trademarked by the United States Postal Service. Interestingly, that trademark has now expired and they chose not to renew it, meaning that anyone can use "ZIP" without conflict.
So what do the numbers in your Zip Code represent?
11. The first digit of any ZIP code represents a state or group of states. For instance, “1” is for Deleware, New York, and Pennsylvania. As you go from the eastern states west, the codes for those states go up.
12. The first three numbers of any Zip Code earmark the code for that particular post office sectional center facility (called an SCF).
13. The last two digits reference the location, usually zooming in on the particular area. But they can also be a holdover from the system of two-digit zip codes that each big city had before 1943. For example, the 2-digit code for Minneapolis used to be 16, so the city’s modern zip code is 554-16.
14. You’ve probably also noticed a four-digit code that follows the regular 5-digit ZIP code. Added in 1983, the additional four-digit ZIP code is primarily used by businesses who ship high volumes. These businesses get a discount on the cost of mailing if they include the last four digits because it helps facilitate a faster and more efficient mail flow.
15. Most people also have no idea that ZIP codes do more than just help us sort the mail. In fact, the codes are also used by bankers and lenders in issuing credit card authorizations, as well as factoring heavily into assigning insurance ratings.
16. But all ZIP codes are not created equally; there are actually four classifications of ZIPs. These include ‘Unique’ codes (for high volume addresses), ‘PO Boxes’, ‘Military’ & ‘Standard’.
17. But once introduced, everyone didn’t take an instant shine to ZIP codes, and it took a while for them to become commonly used. In fact, The U.S. Post Office even promoted the use of their new codes in the 1960s and 70s by unveiling their own mascot, Mr. ZIP, also known as Zippy.
18. Even the National Forest Service’s Smokey Bear chipped into to promote the ZIP code system. In 1964, the character responsible for making "Only you can prevent forest fires" a household mantra got his own ZIP code, 20252.
19. In a strange partnership, Hollywood helped to promote the use of ZIP codes when TV icon Ethel Merman recorded a song to the melody of "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah” for the post office.
20. The White House has not only one, but two of its own ZIP codes; one for the POTUS and one for his family to receive personal mail (20500).
21. Here are some other areas with their own special postal codes:
The World Trade Center also had its own ZIP code before September 11,
The Empire State Building,
Saks Fifth Avenue in New York,
Dodgertown in California
Wal-Mart headquarters
General Electric in Schenectady, N.Y. (12345)
For two weeks every summer during the Burning Man Festival, the city of Black Rock City, NV, receives its own ZIP code (89412)
22. The most famous ZIP is 90210 in Beverly Hills, known worldwide thanks to the 90’s TV show.
23. But that’s not the wealthiest ZIP code in the U.S. That designation belongs to both 07620 - Alpine, N.J. - and 33109 - Fisher Island, Fla.
24. Other notable ZIP codes include:
32976 A mobile home park in Barefoot Bay, Florida is large enough to have its own code.
91210 As is the shopping mall in Glendale Galleria in Glendale, California.
17927 This ZIP code was assigned to a mine in Centralia, Pennsylvania. But since an underground fire has burned inside the mine for over 40 years, the USPS revoked their ZIP code in 1992.
77230 Was assigned to Hurricane Katrina victims taking shelter in the Houston Astrodome in 2005 and is still in service today as a P.O. box code.
25. Here are a few other fun ZIP codes:
10001 New York, NY (aka Empire State, NY)
90909 Not real, but featured on TV’s Veronica Mars
31415(Pi) Savannah, GA. Brilliant!
55555 Young America, MN
22222 Arlington, VA including Arlington Cemetery for U.S. veterans
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