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A postal code (known in various countries as a post code, postcode, or ZIP code) is a series of letters and/or digits appended to a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail. Germany was the world's first country to introduce a postal code system in 1941. The United Kingdom followed in 1959 and the United States in 1963. In February 2005, 117 of the 190 countries members of the Universal Postal Union had post code systems. Examples of countries that do not are: Ireland (although a national postal code system will be introduced in 2008 *), Hong Kong, and Panama. Although postal codes are usually assigned to geographical areas, sometimes this is not the case: special codes may be assigned to individual addresses or to institutions with large volumes of post, such as government agencies and large commercial companies. One example is the French Cedex system. Usage conventions Postal services often have their own distinctive formats and placement rules for postal codes (service areas, as a rule, are defined by national borders). In most English-speaking countries the postal code forms the last item of the address, whereas in most continental European countries it precedes the name of the city or town. National prefixes In some countries (for instance continental Europe, where many countries use the same postcode format of four or five numeric digits) it is advisable to prefix the numeric postal code with a country code to avoid confusion when sending international mail to or from that country. The codes used are generally based on Licence plate codes — for instance "D-" for Germany or "F-" for France — rather than ISO 3166-1 alpha-2. Note the ISO Alpha 2-codes are recommended. Alphanumeric postal codes Most postal codes are numeric. The few using alphanumeric postal code systems (with letters and digits) are: Postal zone numbers Before postal codes as described here were used, large cities were often divided into postal zones (or postal districts), usually numbered from 1 up within each city. The newer postal code systems often incorporate the old zone numbers, as with London postal district numbers, for example. Dublin, Ireland still uses postal district numbers, as postal codes are not used in the country at all. (An Post relies on OCR analysis of the entire address instead.) In New Zealand, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch were also subdivided into postal zones, but these have fallen into disuse. Australia Australian postcodes are numeric, consisting of 4-digits. They were introduced in 1967 by the Postmaster-General's Department (PMG), the predecessor of Australia Post. For a history of the PMG / Australia Post see here. Brazil All postcodes in Brazil have 8 digits. Example: 29145-586. Canada Canada uses 6-character alphanumeric postal codes of alternating letters and digits. They were introduced on a trial basis in Ottawa and Manitoba in 1971 and then expanded to the rest of the country between 1972 and 1974. China A postal code in Mainland China administered by the People's Republic of China has 6 different levels and 6 digits. From the left side, the first two digits show a province, a province-equivalent municipality, or an autonomous region. The third digit shows the postal zone. The fourth digit shows a prefectures or a prefecture-level city. The last two digits show a delivery post office. Hong Kong and Macao have no postal codes. Taiwan Area administered by the Republic of China has a separate set of postal codes. Denmark All Danish postal codes have 4 digits. Example: 1000 equals København C. (Copenhagen City) The code is written before the city name. Finland From 1971, Finland uses 5-digit numeric postal codes. First two digits show the postal area and the last three the digits represent post office in the area. Corporations receiving large amounts of mail may have an own postal code. The special postal code 99999 is Korvatunturi, the place where Santa Claus (or Joulupukki in Finnish) is said to live.. France France uses 5-digit numeric postal codes, the first two digits normally representing the Département. Germany German postal codes are numeric, consisting of 5 digits. Between 1990 and 1993 the old 4 digit postal codes in the former West Germany were prefixed with the letter "W", and postal codes in the former East, with "O" (for "Ost" or "East" in German). India India's postal codes are numeric, consisting of 6 digits, such as Kamboi 384230. They are known as Postal Index Numbers or PIN. Italy Italian post codes are numeric, consisting of 5 digits, such as 20121 Milano. Created in 1967 they are commonly known as CAP (Codice di Avviamento Postale). First two digits refers to the administrative province (two provinces when a new province was created after 1967), third digit designates if the town is the chief-town of the province (if a odd number, usually 1 or 9, example 07100 Sassari) or not (if a even number, usually 0 or 8, example 10015 Ivrea). Last two digits indicates the specific town or village or the delivery post office (only in new provinces created after 1992). In the case of main cities (like Rome, Milan, Naples, Venice etc.) last digits designates the urban postal district (usually are the generic 00 or 70 in other minor provincial chief-towns). Moldova Moldova's postal codes are alphanumeric, consisting of 2 letters, "MD", followed by a dash, followed by 4 digits, such as Chişinău MD-2001. The first digit of the postal code refers to one of designated postal zones (such as 2 for Chişinău). The rest designates smaller administrative units or districts and streets within the municipial area of Chişinău. See also Official site of Poşta Moldovei Netherlands Postal codes in the Netherlands are alphanumeric, consisting of 4 digits, followed by two letters. Adding the house number to the postcode will adequately identify the adress, thus making the street name and town name redundant. For example: 2597 GV 75 will be adequate to direct a postal delivery to the International School of The Hague. New Zealand From 1977 to June 2006, New Zealand had a post code system of four-digit codes which were only required on mail sent in bulk. A new system was then introduced, required for all mail. It has 1800 four-digit codes with a much finer granularity than the old codes, with each suburb and PostShop lobby having its own postal code. The first three digits will specify location and the last digit the type of delivery (street, PO Box Private Bag, or Rural delivery). Norway From 18th March 1968, Norway uses a 4 digit system; postnummersystemet. The numbers start on 00 and increases with the distance from the capital city Oslo. The highest post numbers are found in the county of Finnmark, near the Russian border, where the numbers start with 99. At the moment the lowest post code in use are 0001 (0slo), and the highest 9991 (Båtsfjord). Poland In Poland postal codes are numeric, consisting of 5 digits, 2+3 separated by a hyphen. Portugal
South Africa South African postal codes are numeric, consisting of four digits. For a list of postal codes or to search by Location or Post Code see South African Post Office. Spain Spanish postal codes are numeric, consisting of five digits. There are a postal code by province: 52 postal codes of 52 provinces. Russia Post codes in Russia are 6 digits long. To assist in their machine reading, envelopes are printed with something like a 9-segment outline for each digit, which the sender fills in. Sweden Since 12 May 1968, Sweden has used 5-digit numeric post codes sorted by geographical location. Numbers starting with 10-19 are part of Stockholm; otherwise, the lower numbers are part of the bigger city areas in the south, and go upwards where the higher numbers are part of the bigger city areas in the north. Switzerland Switzerland uses 4-digit numeric post codes, sorted by geographical location. Taiwan Taiwan Area administered by the Republic of China uses postal codes of 3+2 digits. There are 368 sets of 3-digit codes for rural townships, urban townships, county-controlled cities, districts (Hsinchu City and Chiayi City have districts, but they are coded 300 and 600 respectively without 3-digit subdivisions), Pratas Islands, Spratly Islands, and Diaoyutai Islands claimed by the ROC while administered by Japan as Senkaku Islands. Omitting the supplemental 2 digits to write 3 digits is ordinarily okay, but a correct 5-digit code will speed up the mails. The left-hand digit is for a large postal zone as follows: Turkey Turkey postcodes are five numeric characters in length.First two digits are the same with province code in ISO 3166-2:TR(also first two digits of car licence codes). For example; postcodes of areas in Istanbul begins with 34. Last three digits represent the area in that province. United Kingdom UK postcodes are alphanumeric and between six and eight characters in length (including a single space character used to separate the outward and inward parts of the code). For example the post code for the House of Commons is SW1A 0AA. These codes were introduced by the Royal Mail over a fifteen year period from 1959 to 1974. They have been widely adopted not just for their original purpose of automating the sorting of mail but for many other purposes — see for example The UK Postcode Lottery. However, as the format of the codes does not achieve its objective of primarily identifying the main sorting office and sub-office they have been supplemented by a newer system of five digit codes called Mailsort. Mail users who can deliver mail to the post office sorted by mailsort code receive discounts, whilst delivery by postcode does not provide any incentive. United States The United States uses 5-digit numeric "ZIP codes". Since 1983, the US Postal Service has been promoting an extended version called "ZIP+4", which adds a hyphen and 4 additional digits following the main ZIP code to identify a smaller geographical area or single large entity. | |||||||||
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