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Admin
For those of us outside the US, could anyone explain the zip code one?
Admin
Since addresses on envelopes are all OCR'ed these days, using O for 0 is a clever* solution.
Admin
Zip-codes in the US are not alphanumeric, strictly numeric.
Admin
ZIP ("Zone Improvement Program") codes are five-digit postal codes ranging from 00501 to 99950, indicating where in the United States a letter or parcel should be delivered to. Per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_Code, the codes with a leading zero are used in Connecticut (CT), Massachusetts (MA), Maine (ME), New Hampshire (NH), New Jersey (NJ), New York (NY, Fishers Island only), Puerto Rico (PR), Rhode Island (RI), Vermont (VT), Virgin Islands (VI), Army Post Office Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East (APO AE); Fleet Post Office Europe and the Middle East (FPO AE).
The leading zero is supposed to be mandatory, but B.J.H. has given us evidence that if it's absent the letters can get through anyway!
In the photo, the organization sending this letter (epic.org) has used a letter O in place of the leading zero.
Admin
Think of it like the UK Postal Code... But not as well confgured...
Admin
0h, I see now.
Admin
I recall (perhaps it was a previous WTF) where a database was being loaded with a zipcode column, and it was erroring out only on the east-coast zipcodes that looked like "08" or "09" or had 8's and 9's in them somewhere. Very puzzling until someone mentioned "octal".
Admin
I imagine the USPS has seen enough 4-digit zipcodes on mailpieces that them considering "1470" to be "01470" is special-cased into their OCR software.
Admin
I imagine the USPS has seen enough 4-digit zipcodes on mailpieces that them considering "1470" to be "01470" is special-cased into their OCR software.
Addendum 2025-05-03 09:07: Meaning that EPIC's ham-handed attempt to fix their screwed up zip-as-numeric with a leading "O" = "oh" was unnecessary.
Admin
I live in a country that uses four-digit postcodes.
I once ordered something from a US company, who saw my 4-digit postcode, added a leading zero, and shipped it to the corresponding US address. It did eventually reach me --- after twice crossing the Pacific Ocean.
Admin
In reverse, I do recall seeing some Australian address-validation software that tried to assign Australian Delivery Point IDs to Washington state (USA) addresses as if they were in Western Australia. But for reasons that elude me, the only time I've seen the leading zero on some Australian postcodes removed is when someone imported text files into Excel without understanding the common ways that Excel makes your job harder by trying to make it easier.
Admin
Treating postcodes (Zip codes) as numbers is an old problem that young programmers need to keep re-learning. Same with phone numbers. Similar with fractional currency!
I had an unusual event buying something in the US a few years ago on my credit card and the terminal wanted my zip code. I entered my 4 digit postcode, since I'm from Australia, and it went through, unsurprisingly to me. Bit the vendor was surprised it worked. )
Admin
Officer Johny Holzkopf presents: Fun with Postleitzahlen (PLZ): During a time of transition in western Germany, "Aufnullen" was a thing: Instead of prefixing with zeros to a specific width, zeros were added at the end, e. g., "123" became "1230". In eastern Germany, trailing zeros could be omitted to a certain point, like "30" instead of "3000", or "304" instead of "3040", even though the system was inteded to be 4 digits. After 1990, until the 5-digit system was implemented in whole Germany, there were prefixes "O" (eastern part) and "W" (western part) for the otherwise 4-digit numbers, to avoid confusion, like "O-2300" vs. "W-2300". Today's system requires the leading 0 to be present, which is a great opportunity for "clever" software to omit it, because hey, it's just numbers, right?