Postal Code Basics

Let's talk about mail systems. Unlike in electronic mails or other newer forms of mail systems, the traditional mail system was and is still being managed, operated and supervised by human beings, by real people. At the time when postal mail was at its peak as the primary mode of long distance communication, people worldwide sent thousands and millions of postal mail each day, and you can only imagine how hard and tedious it was to sort through all these letters everyday and make sure they get to their appropriate recipients at the soonest possible time.

And so how exactly did the people at the post offices overcome this dilemma? Simple. They invented a surefire way of making people help them sort through large bulks of mail properly, and this was done through the ingenious method of implementing postal codes.

A postal code is a standardized series of numbers and/or letters written along with the postal address for the essential purpose of sorting mail. Other accepted interchangeable terms include ZIP code, postcode, or post code.

The first country to identify the need for a postal code system was Germany. And so in 1941, the Germans were the first to implement their own national postal code system. Roughly 18 years later, the United Kingdom followed suit, and the United States too, four years later.

As of February 2005, 64 years after it was first introduced, out of 190 countries that comprise the Universal Postal Union, 117 have their own postal code systems. Some examples of countries that prefer not to implement their own national systems include Vietnam, Panama, Hong Kong and Ireland. Take note, postal codes are not limited to numbers only. Alphanumeric postal codes are also being used. Some countries with alphanumeric postal codes include Venezuela, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Malta, and Jamaica.