ZIP stands for Zoning Improvement Plan which began on July 1, 1963 as a solution to the explosive growth of business mail. The Post Office didn't require anyone to use the new ZIP Code system at the beginning, but in 1967, the Post Office required mailers of second-class and third-class mail to presort by ZIP Code. In 1963, the Department selected a system advanced by department officials, and, on April 30, 1963, Postmaster General John A. Gronouski announced that the ZIP Code would begin on July 1, 1963. Preparing for the new system was a major task involving realignment of the mail system. The Post Office had recognized some years back that new avenues of transportation would open to the Department and began to establish focal points for air, highway, and rail transportation. By July 1963, a five-digit code had been assigned to every address throughout the country. The first digit designated a broad geographical area of the United States, ranging from zero for the Northeast to nine for the far West. This was followed by two digits that more closely pinpointed population concentrations and those sectional centers accessible to common transportation networks. The final two digits designated small post offices or postal zones in larger zoned cities.
The Purpose of Zip Codes
U.S. ZIP Code Areas provides area, post office name, and population for each ZIP Code area in the United States. U.S. ZIP Code Areas represents five-digit ZIP Code areas used by the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail more effectively. The first digit of a five-digit ZIP Code divides the country into 10 large groups of states numbered from 0 in the Northeast to 9 in the far West. Within these areas, each state is divided into an average of 10 smaller geographical areas, identified by the 2nd and 3rd digits. These digits, in conjunction with the first digit, represent a sectional center facility or a mail processing facility area. The 4th and 5th digits identify a post office, station, branch or local delivery area.
Dodge Dealer Zip Codes in Utah
84065
84043
84095
84118
Utah Zip Code Translations: Barcoding
The ZIP code is often translated into a barcode called Postnet that is
printed on the mail piece to make it easier for automated machines to sort.
Unlike most barcode symbologies, Postnet uses long and short bars, not thin and
thick bars. The barcode can be printed by the person who sends the mail (some
word-processing programs such as WordPerfect and Microsoft Word include the
feature), or the post office will put one on when it processes the piece. The
post office generally uses OCR technology, though a human may have to read the
address if absolutely necessary. (The automated machinery has the tendency to
paste the coding over the bottom half-inch of postcards, often obliterating the
signature. Postcard printers have begun blocking a section off where the barcode
will be placed.)
