Zoning Improvement Plan (ZIP Codes)

First Mention: 1963

Some of AZ Zips

Use: Help the US Postal Service keep up with the rapidly growing business and technological powerhouse the United States was becoming.

ZIP codes seem like a standard to identify who you are. Everyone knows their ZIP code and it is hard to think of providing an address without providing the ZIP code as well. However, the Zoning Improvement Plan Code system was started in 1963! There are people older than the ZIP code system. So how did this, now common day form of identification come about?

In the 1930s the United States had coal running through its metal rail veins. The railroad industry was at its peak, with the United States Postal Service acting as one of its main customer. Mail was delivered from coast to coast primarily by rail with more than 10,000 mail carrying trains. Yet, as the computer started inching its way into American buisenesses and homes the ability to categorize, follow, and correspond multiple memos, bills, and so on called for greater stress on the postal office constituting 80 percent of the railroad business.

In 1960 the US government issued for a new coding system to help categorize and stream line the US Postal Office Services. The ZIP Coding system was adopted and put into effect on July 1st, 1963.

The system works works by assigning the first digit based on geographic location, the Northeast having 0 while areas in the West like California were assigned a 9. Then the next two digits were based on the numbers of the major metropolitan center in the local area. Followed by this the last two digits are based on the local postal offices in your neighborhood. In a few years all addresses had an associated ZIP code and the system has become a part of American Society.