When were Zip Codes added to our addresses' by the USPS?
Zip Codes went into effect in the USA in 1963 in order to fasten delivery of mail. ZIP stands for Zone Improvement Plan. This plan was devised by the Post Office Department and worked out well. Most businesses had automated mailing systems was able to easily handle the 5 digits that would allow mailings to bypass as many as six mail-handling steps.
Trying to encourage people to use ZIP codes, the Post Office Department ran a wide promotional campaign. This is an example of one of the earliest advertisements with a popular character Mr. Zip, created for the campaign.
More Info:
www.oldstuffonly.com
What are your thoughts on this subject?
41 Comments
Patrick Riggs
Although a couple of numbers were added to addresses in 1943 to help mail sorters, the numbers were not officially coined "Zip Codes" until 1963.
Pat Wells
Good question, however it's important to remember that people all around the world are participants on this site, so using "our" sort of snuffs them out. "United States'" would have been a better choice.
Elsy O. Stromberg
Mark Trenier, They weren't called that.
Gordon Mehaffey
Lise Mitchell,
It WAS faster for awhile BUT certainly no longer! Horrible, to say the least😫
Gordon Mehaffey
Peter Brown,
Peter, rather unusual to say the least!
My great-grandmother lived in a corner in a rural area in Indiana. A home was on each corner and the cross roads (n-s & e-w) were each in a different township. The kids who lived in these 4 homes all went to different high school even though they all lived across the street from each other!
Denise Clemons
Makes me feel old...
finsfone
1963 is correct. When they used 2 numbers they were not called zip codes. Look it up!
Shelley Welch Dunivan
I remember.
scottlarock
benoaks, huh?...
scottlarock
I remember...
jmw
Film but 👍
sgpelzer
Large cities had 2 number zips in 1943... 1963 is not the correct answer, with the question stated the way it is... just venting, no big deal, just glad answers are checked before publishing!
Carol Ann Lapadot-Schell
lonnycorbin, weren't those called zones?
recordpete
lonnycorbin, No they were called zones.
Fred Zeb Fudpucker
filmnut, .....It helped me, I was there and turned 21 in 19 63.
Peter Brown
Interesting factoids. Zip Code boundaries run along backyard fences so that both sides of a given street have one code. Your nine digit Zip Code will bring mail to your home without city or state. I live at the boundary of three Zip Codes on a very short block. My next-door neighbors on either side each have a different Zip Code. Three buildings, one block, three Zip Codes. Three differemt Mail Carriers.