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I live in a .zip code that spans eastern Emeryville and north Oakland and most web forms these days force correct my address to Emeryville and won’t let me chan

by malyk 9y ago

I live in a .zip code that spans eastern Emeryville and north Oakland and most web forms these days force correct my address to Emeryville and won’t let me change it to Oakland. As an engineer I get it, but damn if it isn’t annoying to not be able to have your real address on your packages...if only for aesthetic reasons.

softawre 9y ago
"real address" is a misnomer. There's a difference between who you pay your taxes to, and who delivers your mail. These are two different things, and when delivering mail, the latter is the one that matters.
pc86 9y ago
I live in a borough that has its own governing council, mayor, and police force. Half a square mile and a few thousand resident. However, everyone's mailing address is the name of the city we're adjacent to, which also has its own governing council, mayor, and police force. Putting in my town's name results in mail not getting delivered. Mailing address != physical address, at least when it comes to city/township/borough organization.
niftich 9y ago
ZIP Codes are not geographical entities and don't correspond to geographical extent; rather, they are a hybrid between a discrete number of finite delivery-points and an abstract way of capturing a postal delivery route. They are often abused as geographical entities, which the Census Bureau has tried to rectify with ZCTAs [1], but it's unclear whether most informal use of Zip Codes is haphazard, or actually conforms to ZCTAs. However, Zip Codes directly map to one preferred place name designated by the USPS, and zero or more acceptable alternative place names. These are usually inspired by, but don't necessarily correspond to municipalities and political units that the lots in question belong under. You're more than likely talking about Zip Code 94608, of whose preferred name is 'Emeryville', but 'Oakland' is an acceptable name [2]. There is a lot of software that takes the shortcut and autofills or autocorrects the preferred name, especially because informal lists of Zip Codes seem to be easier and/or cheaper to get a hold of than through official sources at the USPS [3]. Perhaps a nationally-known example is the Las Vegas Strip, most of whose famous casino-hotels are located in the unincorporated town and CDP of Paradise, but covered by two Zip Codes that only accept Las Vegas as the name. In rural areas with weak local government, people develop an affinity for the preferred place name of their address' Zip Code, because it's a standardized way of referring to the locale where more specific names are not widely known. [1] https://www.census.gov/geo/reference/zctas.html https://www.census.gov/geo/reference/zctas.html [2] https://california.hometownlocator.com/zip-codes/data,zipcode,94608.cfm https://california.hometownlocator.com/zip-codes/data,zipcod... [3] https://www.usps.com/nationalpremieraccounts/manageprocessandaddress.htm https://www.usps.com/nationalpremieraccounts/manageprocessan...

by malyk 9y ago

softawre 9y ago

"real address" is a misnomer. There's a difference between who you pay your taxes to, and who delivers your mail. These are two different things, and when delivering mail, the latter is the one that matters.

pc86 9y ago

I live in a borough that has its own governing council, mayor, and police force. Half a square mile and a few thousand resident. However, everyone's mailing address is the name of the city we're adjacent to, which also has its own governing council, mayor, and police force. Putting in my town's name results in mail not getting delivered. Mailing address != physical address, at least when it comes to city/township/borough organization.

niftich 9y ago

ZIP Codes are not geographical entities and don't correspond to geographical extent; rather, they are a hybrid between a discrete number of finite delivery-points and an abstract way of capturing a postal delivery route. They are often abused as geographical entities, which the Census Bureau has tried to rectify with ZCTAs [1], but it's unclear whether most informal use of Zip Codes is haphazard, or actually conforms to ZCTAs. However, Zip Codes directly map to one preferred place name designated by the USPS, and zero or more acceptable alternative place names. These are usually inspired by, but don't necessarily correspond to municipalities and political units that the lots in question belong under. You're more than likely talking about Zip Code 94608, of whose preferred name is 'Emeryville', but 'Oakland' is an acceptable name [2]. There is a lot of software that takes the shortcut and autofills or autocorrects the preferred name, especially because informal lists of Zip Codes seem to be easier and/or cheaper to get a hold of than through official sources at the USPS [3]. Perhaps a nationally-known example is the Las Vegas Strip, most of whose famous casino-hotels are located in the unincorporated town and CDP of Paradise, but covered by two Zip Codes that only accept Las Vegas as the name. In rural areas with weak local government, people develop an affinity for the preferred place name of their address' Zip Code, because it's a standardized way of referring to the locale where more specific names are not widely known. [1] https://www.census.gov/geo/reference/zctas.html https://www.census.gov/geo/reference/zctas.html [2] https://california.hometownlocator.com/zip-codes/data,zipcode,94608.cfm https://california.hometownlocator.com/zip-codes/data,zipcod... [3] https://www.usps.com/nationalpremieraccounts/manageprocessandaddress.htm https://www.usps.com/nationalpremieraccounts/manageprocessan...