Do you know by heart what your +4 Zip Code is? I don’t know mine, except that it starts with an 8.
If you don’t, you can look it up here.
Do you know your DPB (Delivery Point Barcode)? That is 2 digits that follow the ZIP, ZIP+4 in the most extensive barcodes. Rarely printed, but they exist and are read by scanners. Your full address is ZZZZZ-YYYY-XX, which brings it down to a single box or slot. Usually the DP is the last 2 digits of an address, e.g., if your address is 1234 Fake Street, your DP is 34. There are some exceptions.
I know mine.
I need to try an experiment where I just put the Zip+4+DPB on an envelope and see if it gets back to me. Would be worth the [del]25c[/del] [del]32c[/del] [del]36c[/del] [del]39c[/del] 45c.
Yes. I’ve used it for a couple of decades.
Some time ago, the post office gave me a directory of all Zip+4 in New York. Looking through it, you could find the addresses of some celebrities (I remember Isaac Asimov and Walter Cronkite) who got so much mail they had their own Zip+4.
I would have to look at my incoming mail if I needed to use it, which I have never had to do
I do not. I did look it up, but I didn’t bother to do more than glance at it.
You may be surprised to find that most of your incoming mail has it encoded in the barcode already, supplied by lookup software at the point of origin.
Not only is the (ZIP, ZIP+4, DP) encoded, but there is also a single-digit checksum. But that was the old way, called Postnet. The machines still read it, although it has been superseded by Intelligent Mail Barcode, which encodes a lot more stuff than just 11-digit ZIP codes. It’s required on most bulk mail since May 2011.
nm, misread something.
Those are citizen relocation codes. With any luck, we’ll … never need 'em.
Yes, but only because it’s easy to remember, as it actually winds up being a repeat of the numbers in my main ZIP code.
I know mine (…1415). But I’ve stopped entering the full nine digits anywhere, as they don’t seem to make any difference in terms of items arriving.
That’s probably because they are generated from address lookup software anyway, which needs only a street address, city, state, and 5-digit zip to look up the rest. I suspect that even if you put in a wrong ZIP+4, it would be overridden.
I’ve known mine since I moved into my apartment building 17 years ago. I’ve lived in my unit on the fifth floor for the past 16 years. The first year I was here, I was on the third floor.
After I made the two floor move, I noticed the last number on the ZIP+4 code changed from three to four.
It seemed amazing at the time.
Not three to five?
I know mine and using it does seem to speed up USPS delived packages. No data, just a feeling.
Yeah, but I also remember my calling card number from college, and phone numbers from 15 years ago that I only used a handful of times. Numbers almost never leave me.
Yes, but I’ve been living here more than 20 years.
Yup. 3415.
Yep. Not that hard - 4 numbers repeat.
2343