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My parents' house shares a postcode with just one other house. When I was in secondary school, one of my classmates didn't believe a letter would reach me if t
by rahimnathwani 2y ago
My parents' house shares a postcode with just one other house.
When I was in secondary school, one of my classmates didn't believe a letter would reach me if the envelope had only my name and postcode (no house number or street name), so I gave him a stamp and challenged him to try.
I brought the letter to school a couple of days later.
- alistairSH 2y agoHow broadly true is that[1] in the UK (I’m assuming UK here, and not AUS or NZ or some other anglosphere country)? And is it more true in rural areas vs the city? 1 - a post code resolves to something approximating a single physical address, or at least close enough to reliably allow delivery
- rahimnathwani 2y agoNot broadly true in the UK. The median is probably 15 or 20. I've only ever lived in cities.
- rcxdude 2y agoA post code is usually a few streets. Precise enough to prpbably figure put the restof the way in a pinch but still a pretty large number of potential addresses.
- Symbiote 2y agoA post code is usually a few houses, 15 on average according to Royal Mail, so that's usually a single street. There are exceptions in rural areas, where one post code covers multiple streets.
- rcxdude 2y agoIt depends. My postcode covers more like 50.
- HeyLaughingBoy 2y agoThat is insanely specific. By contrast, my US zip-code covers at least 75 square miles, and that's a conservative estimate.
- Symbiote 2y agoIt is extremely convenient when filling in online forms, giving an address over the phone, or when getting into a non-app taxi. Web forms and the in-car navigation prompt first for the postcode, then present a list of the full addresses and you pick one. Over the phone, "W10 6TR" also avoids needing to spell anything, and I encourage you to search Google for it. There's also some human readable part. The W means West London, people who live in West or South West London will be familiar with some numbers - W10 is Ladbrook Grove. B is Birmingham, BS is Bristol, BT is Belfast etc.
- fc417fc802 2y agoAre you referring to the 5 or 9 digit variant? Presumably not the 11 digit one as that corresponds to your unique address. (It follows that the 9 digit variant corresponds to at most 100 mailboxes.) I've never tried inputting my 11 digit code in an online form but at least the 9 digit one is readily accepted. In my experience the last 4 will usually be completed for me based on the street address and if it can't find a match it gives me an error.
- HeyLaughingBoy 2y agoI didn't even know there was an 11 digit code until now! I was referring to the 5 digit code. 9 digit would be closer, but around here 100 mailboxes (zip+4 would actually be 9999 mailboxes) is still quite a few square miles. If I look out my living room window, I can see maybe 10 houses, and that's with a view that comes from living on top of a hill.
- fc417fc802 2y agoZip+4 (9 digit) can't ever be more than 100 mailboxes because 11 digit is guaranteed unique. It follows that a 5 digit zip is limited to 1M boxes. Unless I have a misunderstanding about 11 digit being unique anyway.