This is a rather nagging question I have as a citizen of the U.S…I see a lot of Canadian adresses from friends, tv, etc…Those postal codes on the end puzzle me as to how the system works…Like, for example, I know that for the U.S. zip codes, the country/territories are divided into ten sections(0-9), each of those divided(01?-??), each of those divided, etc…But, does anyone know the logic behind this seemingly puzzling(to this American) yet obviously effective system that Canada uses? Thanks.
Google gave this…
Here is part of it from www.gdtcanada.com
"The forward sortation area (FSA) boundary file represents the first 3 digits in a Canadian postal code. The first character in the FSA identifies a Canadian province, territory or district. The second and third characters help identify the exact area in a city, town or other geographic location where mail will be delivered.
Canadian postal codes usually represent one block or apartment building in urban areas and are coded to enumeration area centroids in rural areas or where no reference data is available."
It almost sounds like they work better than our ZIP codes but we’ll fix THAT as soon as Canada becomes a state.
The postcodes here (similar, eg M20 4YE) identify a particular road or street. So in theory, you can mark a house number and the post code and the letter should arrive.
But what the hell’s a letter? 
In my particular postal code there are about 6 houses. I believe that the codes are different for each side of the street as well (like the odd/even numbering of houses.
Also interesting is the designation of the first letter of the code. It indicates the province of the address and starts alphabetically in the east to the west and then north.
First Digit of FSA Province or Territory Total
A Newfoundland 31
B Nova Scotia 58
C Prince Edward Island 7
E New Brunswick 41
G Quebec 122
H Quebec 122
J Quebec 137
K Ontario 84
L Ontario 155
M Ontario 101
N Ontario 118
P Ontario 55
R Manitoba 61
S Saskatchewan 45
T Alberta 137
V British Columbia 189
X Northwest Territory 5
Y Yukon Territory 3
Canada 1472
The cool thing about the Canadian Postal Code system is you can email Santa Claus c/o North Pole, H0H 0H0…
…and he’ll write back!
The North Pole is in a rural area of Quebec?!?!? :eek:
Yeah, but Santa wants to secede!
“Sortation”???
<sigh>
~VOW
Thank-you everyone…I tried a Google search already, I forgot to say…but I couldn’t find anything other than a Postal Code finder at Canada Post’s 'site( I’m not one of those lazy types that doesn’t like to use Google…LOL)…Again, Thanks to all those who did/will reply.
Of course, that won’t ever happen. If it ever joined the USA, Canada would become 10 states and 3 territories. Sixty-star flag, anyone?
Before that happens, though, we will have completed our preparations, and admitted fifty new provinces, plus a dozen or so territories. It’ll be fun to have both Nunavut and Canadian Samoa, for instance. And NAFTA already has a start on the trilingual packaging.
But we won’t be adding points to the Maple Leaf. 
Not in a RURAL area of Quebec… the H indicates that Santa lives in Montreal! :eek:
Or Laval matt_mcl