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Here's a neat bit of zip code esoterica: domestic US mail can be sent to US embassies abroad via special addresses in Washington DC. [1] Each embassy has a uni
by jffry 5y ago
Here's a neat bit of zip code esoterica: domestic US mail can be sent to US embassies abroad via special addresses in Washington DC. [1]
Each embassy has a unique nonexistent house number and street name within the 20521 zip code.[2] For example, the embassy in Paris is "9200 Paris Pl, Washington, DC 20521-9200".
Oddly, the only duplicated number in the list is "3180 Grenada Pl" and "3180 St George’s Pl"; St George's is the capital of Grenada.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_Code#Scope_and_international_mail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_Code#Scope_and_internation...
[2] https://www.state.gov/official-addresses/ https://www.state.gov/official-addresses/
- bombcar 5y agoMost post offices have a zip code one higher than the town for the post office boxes. And since a small post office will have less than 9999 boxes you can identify one by zip+4.
- Stratoscope 5y agoI remember testing this theory when I lived in Los Gatos, CA around 1980 and had a PO Box there. Los Gatos has three zip codes: 95030 for the downtown area where I lived, 95031 for the PO boxes at the downtown post office, and 95032 for the east part of town and the hills. I put a stamp on an envelope and wrote nothing but 95031-nnnn on the envelope, where nnnn was my PO Box number. Mailed it from some other local town, and sure enough it was delivered to my PO Box!
- smelendez 5y agoThis may be because St. George's seems to have no longer have any municipal government per https://www.nowgrenada.com/2017/05/continued-uglification-urban-st-george/ https://www.nowgrenada.com/2017/05/continued-uglification-ur...
- nathancahill 5y agoAnother bit of zip code quirkiness: Zip code data is copyrighted to the USPS and can not be reused without purchased permission. To get around that, the openly available ZIP Code Tabulation Areas from the US census are a rough approximation of the same data, so it gets used often as a free alternative.
- EMIRELADERO 5y agoThat... can't be true. First of all, US copyrights can't be registered for mere facts. "This ZIP code corresponds to this location" (and a list with this string for all ZIP codes/locations) is a fact, and therefore not copyrightable. However, even if one could convince a judge that it is (What arguments they could use, I have no idea) the whole thing falls apart because the USPS is a government agency, and works released by the U.S government hold no copyright protection inside the U.S
- nathancahill 5y agoIt is indeed true. Here's the order form: https://postalpro.usps.com/Standardizeyouraddresslist/AISOrderForm https://postalpro.usps.com/Standardizeyouraddresslist/AISOrd...
- kingcharles 5y agoFacts are copyrightable in bulk. For instance, if I collate all the horse race results of the 19th Century into a single book, I could copyright it.
- JimDabell 5y agoWhat you are referring to is the “sweat of the brow” doctrine. This is not correct in the USA. A work must show at least some creativity in order to qualify for copyright protection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweat_of_the_brow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweat_of_the_brow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications,_Inc.,_v._Rural_Telephone_Service_Co https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications,_Inc.,_v._R....
- kingcharles 5y agoThank you - I knew there must be a name for this doctrine but I could never find it.
- tssva 5y agoThe USPS is an independent federal agency not funded by tax dollars and its employees are not federal government employees. Since works produced by the USPS are not produced by federal government officers or employees they are copyrightable.
- fsckboy 5y agohere's a neat bit of address and zipcode esoterica that isn't esoteric at all, but apparently the people who code mailing address software (some of whom I hope read HN) don't bother to learn how USPS addresses work. Here is a hypothetical New York City address (that I have faked/obfuscated). Note that a penthouse is not an apartment. Note also how the APT or the PH (or suite or floor) goes on the same line as the street address, not a line by itself. 750 5TH AVE PH 1 NEW YORK NY 10002-2590 I mention it because when you print it wrong, or don't allow me to enter it correctly as my address, it actually messes up the delivery. (Looking at you, Peapod grocery delivery) Here's where you can confirm how it is recommended that addresses be printed: https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction!input.action https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction!input.action
- smelendez 5y agoWhy does putting PH 1 on another line mess up the delivery? (I assume the other issue is that there's an APT 1 and a PH 1 in the building)?
- xeromal 5y agoNot the poster you asked, but a lot of times the address boxes will "help" you buy parsing what you write and correcting it. Maybe his penthouse address gets corrected to the second line and USPS delivers it incorrectly. My personal issus are the apartment selectors. I live in a complex with about 300 units and having to scroll all the way to the bottom is a huge pain in the ass. lol
- swores 5y agoI don't know if this would be useful in your case, and it's desktop only, but in the UK because the convention is to have the house/apartment/anything number at the start of the line when I need to choose my address from a dropdown box I select the field, then type my numbers and it selects the right one. This works for dropdown boxes in general where you know the first letters/characters you are looking for (but I can imagine scenarios where it would be no hope, like if all the addresses are written with the differentiating number/detail at the end not the start). Page down / end keys are also useful for long lists (again, not so helpful on mobile).