What is Postal Code?

What is Postal Code?

A postal code is the series of letters or digits required when sending a letter to an address. Once the zip code is used, it becomes possible for other transactions. In February 2005, 117 of the 190 countries of the Universal Postal Union had postcodes. Countries that do not use a national postal code system include Ireland and Ghana.

Different terms in several countries

Postcode is expressed in different terms in several countries. Some of these are those:

  • Postal code : Usually used in Canada.
  • Zip code : It is the standard term in the United States and Philippines. ZIP stands for Zone Improvement Plan.
  • PIN code : Standard term used in India; PIN is short for Postal Directory Number. Sometimes it is called a PIN code unnecessarily.
  • Postcode : It is popular in many English-speaking countries and is also a standard term in the Netherlands.
  • CAP code : It is a standard term in Italy. The acronym CAP means codice di avviamento Postale (Postal Sending Code) in Italian.
  • CEP code : It is a standard term used in Brazil. CEP is short for postal addressing code.
  • Eircode : It is the standard term in Ireland.
  • NPA code : The postal routing number (NPA) is the name given to the postal code in Switzerland.
  • PLZ code : It is the standard term in Austria, Germany, and German-speaking Switzerland and Liechtenstein. PLZ is an abbreviation of Postleitzahl (post routing number).
  • PSČ code : It is the standard term in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

What is a Postal Code?

When delivering mail and packages, postal codes are formed by collating the numbers that make up a specific identification code allocated to a specific location for easy identification. Postcodes are also widely adopted for sorting mail in a large number of letters or packages.

Postcode is used in other countries except USA and Philippines. It was first found in 1959 and started to be used. Post codes are not just numbers like zip codes. A postal code consists of numbers and letters. Intended use reference, census, route planning, collecting demographic etc. are such reasons.

What is a Zip Code?

The Zonal Improvement Plan (ZIP Code) is a numerical and letter system developed and used in the United States and Philippines. It is used to identify specific locations where mail and parcels can be delivered easily and accurately.

Zip codes are used only in the USA and the Philippines. It was first found in 1963 and started to be used. Zip code consists of numbers only. Zip code is used for reference and identification.

Zip codes are those that have been used by the United States Postal Service (USPS or USP.S.) since 1963. In English, ZIP is a primitive word for the full-form Zonal Improvement Plan and has been chosen so that mail can be delivered to different postal addresses more efficiently. Basically it is a five digit number. A more expanded ZIP + 4 code consisted of five digits of the postal code, a composite symbol, and four additional numbers (e.g. 02201-1020 Postal + 4 Boston Town Hall Code) in 1983. It makes it easier to find a more specific location.

What is a Pin Code?

Postal Index Number, also known as PIN Code, is a system of postal codes unique to India. Postal Index Number (Abbreviations: PIN Number) is a system that provides a certain numerical identification. This unique number aids in reaching the correct destination for any type of mail sent. PIN codes in India have a 4 digit number and are sorted by the Indian Postal Department. The pin system was started on 15 August 1962.

There are 9 needles areas in India. The first digit of the pin code indicates the region of India (country). The first 2 numbers together represent any of the postal offices in this area. The first 3 numbers together represent the region, while the last 3 numbers represent the delivery post office. These numeric codes make it very easy to split postage by geographic area.

What is a Postcode?

An official code used by the post office, similar to the US postal code, that adds numbers and letters to addresses to speed mail delivery. A short string of letters and numbers that is part of an address and shows exactly where a place is

What is a CAP Code?

The Italian postal code (acronym CAP) is a postal code used by companies operating in the field of postal services to distinguish and designate the physical destination of correspondence. It was introduced in Italy in 1967, and officially activated on July 1st. It is a numeric code.

What is a CEP Code?

The CEP System in Brazil was created with the objective of organizing, streamlining and facilitating the postal system, locating and distributing correspondence in a logical way. From 1972 to 1991, postal codes for all of Brazil were in the format xxxxx (five digits). With the increase in population, the five-digit CEP system became insufficient in large cities. With this, in 1991, the Correos altered the format of the postal codes for all of Brazil, which became eight digits: xxxxx-xxx (five digits - hyphen - three digits).

What is an Eircode?

Eircode is a system that would give each holding in Ireland a unique seven-digit identification code. The postcode system enables people and businesses to find all addresses in Ireland. Eircode is provided by An Post, which provides the postal service in the Republic of Ireland.

What is a NPA code?

The postal routing number (NPA) is the name given to the postal code in Switzerland. The numbers consist of four digits. The Swiss Post introduced in 1964 the postal routing number after the German (Deutsche Bundespost) and American (United States Postal Service).

The postal routing numbers have been formed according to a logical principle. Each of the four digits gives a geographical indication of the place to which it corresponds:

  • 1st digit: large geographic region
  • 2nd digit: smaller area around a city
  • 3rd digit: journey (this figure still refers to the time when all mail was delivered by train)
  • 4th digit: locality

What is a PLZ code?

The postcode has existed in Germany since 1941, when two-digit postcode area numbers were introduced in the German Reich, initially for parcel and parcel services. From 1944 these postal code areas also applied to correspondence. The numbers continued to be used after the Second World War. In 1962 in the Federal Republic of Germany and in 1965 in the GDR there was a change to separate postcode systems. Both control systems were replaced in 1993 by a five-digit system developed by the Deutsche Bundespost for reunified Germany.

What is a PSC code?

Poštovní směrovací číslo, abbreviated to postal code is used in postal services as part of the address primarily to identify the place of delivery in automated sorting of shipments. It is a numerical designation (in many countries a combination of numbers and letters) of the territorial district of the delivery (address) post office, or of a smaller delivery district or post box.

Difference Between ZIP Code and Postal Code

These two codes are essentially the same for their purposes. However, in countries other than the US, the postal code is used. In the USA, zip code is used.

Zip codes and zip codes are numeric characters that help define geographic locations for fast mail and parcel delivery in a particular region of the world. The codes given by the postal administration according to the regions of the cities in order to ensure that the shipments are delivered to their recipients more easily are called postal codes or zip codes.

192 countries in the world (as of 2020) are members of the Universal Postal Union (UPU). All of these countries make address definitions using zip codes or zip codes.