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This article makes only passing reference to 11 digit ZIPs, whereas it concentrates a lot on ZIP+4. I'd like to see more information on ZIP11. I remember when it was first implemented, but I know very little about it. --
Tim Sabin (
talk) 16:08, 30 March 2010 (UTC)reply
I don't think there's anyone continually working on this article, you may want to do a little research yourself. Wikipedia will be the better for it.--
Wehwalt (
talk) 16:20, 30 March 2010 (UTC)reply
There is no such thing as a ZIP+6, just a ZIP+4. You are referring to the
Intelligent Mail barcode instead, but individuals would never write out the extra two digits on their own and its not technically part of the ZIP code.--
2601:642:C301:119A:9DF5:701B:DAFA:9F10 (
talk) 01:08, 14 June 2018 (UTC)reply
RE: ZIP Code, Background
Second address format shows a proper ZIP Code address as:
Mr. John Smith
3256 Epiphenomenal Avenue
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55416
The previous paragraph stated:
“Simultaneously with the introduction of the ZIP code, two-letter state abbreviations were introduced. These were to be written with both letters capitalized.”
Therefore, the proper address format with ZIP Code and two-letter state abbreviation should be:
Mr. John Smith
3256 Epiphenomenal Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55416
Just a minor correction from a retired old postmaster.
Paul L. Fletcher
1816 N. Moreland Ave.
Indianapolis, IN 46222-4828 — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
76.251.236.211 (
talk) 22:23, 28 December 2011 (UTC)reply
Postal zones in big cities are seen in advertisements from 1920
As of this writing, the article states that postal zones in big cities (such as "Minneapolis 16") began in 1943. But I have been looking at journal and magazine advertisements from 1920, and have seen several examples of them. Here are two:
Boston 9, Mass. and
Boston 9, Mass.. Perhaps someone can look deeper into the history of these zone numbers. Possibly me, later, although not right now. —
¾-10 21:03, 10 February 2013 (UTC)reply
Credit Card Authorisations
The requirement of the vast majority of US pay-at-the-pump, er, pumps, is a royal pain to visitors from Abroad who don't have a ZIP code. A gas station cashier in Mesquite NV told me that visitors can get a special ZIP code from their card's issuer, but I suspect that this may only apply to Canadians (she specifically mentioned "snowbirds") as no-one I asked back here in the UK, nor British ex-pats, had ever heard of such a thing. If Jane of Mesquite is correct then it could be worth a mention from someone who knows what they're talking about.
Mr Larrington (
talk) 16:25, 8 October 2014 (UTC)reply
Requested move 13 August 2016
The following is a closed discussion of a
requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a
move review. No further edits should be made to this section.
ZIP code →
ZIP Code – The other day, an editor capitalized "ZIP code" to "ZIP Code" throughout the article. Indeed, the whole thing is trademarked as "ZIP Code"
[1]. Should the article be moved to
ZIP Code, which has always been a redirect, and which currently redirects here?
Largoplazo (
talk) 23:43, 13 August 2016 (UTC)reply
Interesting. For a government-created term, the GPO manual is "official", but I don't know how strong a criterion that is for Wikipedia's decisions on capitalization.
Largoplazo (
talk) 00:23, 14 August 2016 (UTC)reply
Essentially neutral, leaning support now. (Willing to go with consensus, cheers) —
Andy W.(talk ·ctb) 15:32, 15 August 2016 (UTC)reply
Move. "ZIP code" is an odd mix of capitalisation: use "zip code", as people often do casually, or "ZIP Code", for the official name. I prefer "ZIP Code" myself, because official terms are generally more solid, more encyclopedic, than informal usage, but either one is better than this mongrel usage.
Nyttend (
talk) 03:21, 14 August 2016 (UTC)reply
Move: based on my reading of
trademark rules and the one example of a multi-word name,
Cadbury Creme Egg, title capitalisation seems the correct way to go. If the word "code" were descriptive of the product and not an integral part of the name, as a non-proper noun, I would vote for it to remain as it is.
ww2censor (
talk) 12:02, 14 August 2016 (UTC)reply
Move: ZIP Code is a proper name and should be capitalized. Postal code is the generic term.
Concept14 (
talk) 03:10, 17 August 2016 (UTC)reply
Support - Based off use in the GPO PDF linked above.
Meatsgains (
talk) 02:22, 19 August 2016 (UTC)reply
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a
requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a
move review. No further edits should be made to this section.
Influence of Time Warner on introduction of Zip codes?
The page ZIP Code says nothing about the influence of Time Warner. Can somebody help to clarify this!? Thanks! — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
78.54.130.124 (
talk) 11:46, 28 November 2017 (UTC)reply
External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 3 external links on
ZIP Code. Please take a moment to review
my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit
this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
Readded to the main talk. It's not clear why that was archived (to the incorrect archive) while things six years older remained here.
Dekimasuよ! 18:10, 11 March 2018 (UTC)reply
Indeed, Wikipedia should reflect the common usage, not try to impose an arguably more correct usage.
fgnievinski (
talk) 18:14, 6 July 2023 (UTC)reply
Requested move 11 March 2018
The following is a closed discussion of a
requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a
move review. No further edits should be made to this section.
The result of the move request was: consensus not to move the page at this time, per the discussion below.
Dekimasuよ! 03:46, 18 March 2018 (UTC)reply
ZIP Code → zip code – Lower case it per
MOS:CAPS - that previous RM had mainly dubious rationales, per
MOS:CAPS, capitilization should only be used when the terms are consistently capitilized,
ngrams reveal a very mixed usage with "zip code" not only being the most common, but also preferred by MOS as least amount of capitilization. Or at the very least it should go to "ZIP code" and not "ZIP Code".
Galobtter (
pingó mió) 13:15, 11 March 2018 (UTC)reply
Using the plural
ngrams it is even clearer that the dominant style is lower cased, with second being "ZIP code"
Galobtter (
pingó mió) 13:15, 11 March 2018 (UTC)reply
Oppose per
MOS:TMRULES. "Capitalize trademarks, being proper names." "Capitalize IKEA, IBM, as acronyms/initialisms," which ZIP is.
Largoplazo (
talk) 13:37, 11 March 2018 (UTC)reply
I'd argue that it is now more of a common word. It's relatively rare for it to be styled as "ZIP Code" so I'd say it should atleast be to "ZIP code"
Galobtter (
pingó mió) 17:01, 11 March 2018 (UTC)reply
I appreciate your point. However, normally when one speaks of a trademark becoming a common term, it's a matter of making it generic, using it to refer to any instance of a class of things of which the trademark is only one brand. Examples: "kleenex" to denote any facial tissue, not just Kleenex brand, or "jello" to denote any flavored dessert gelatin, not just Jell-O brand (and, on the other hand, not to refer to any Jell-O brand products, such as puddings, that aren't flavored dessert gelatins). Uses of "zip code" still generally refer to the U.S. ZIP Code, rather than representing a genericization covering postal code worldwide. Or, let's flip that: if people are using "zip code" generically to denote postal codes, well, this is not the article about
postal codes generally. It's about the specific postal code system branded as ZIP Code.
Further, the idea of "zip code" becoming generic vanishes as soon as one steps outside the United States. Anywhere else in the English-speaking world, I imagine that people think of U.S. postal codes just as they think of Canadian postal code and Australian postal codes. They may have no idea that we have a trademark for ours. And those who are aware of the trademark, I would expect a priori, would be fully aware of its status as such, and would expect the capitalization.
Largoplazo (
talk) 17:44, 11 March 2018 (UTC)reply
Oppose move - article is properly titled as is per
WP:COMMONNAME and the acronym ZIP should remain all caps per
MOS:CAPSACRS.--
John Cline (
talk) 17:57, 11 March 2018 (UTC)reply
Oppose for the reasons stated above. It is clearly a trademark and should be titled as trademarked. It's like how many people in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s informally referred to "xeroxing," but the correct trademark is always Xerox and the correct verb is photocopying. --
Coolcaesar (
talk) 18:56, 11 March 2018 (UTC)reply
Oppose per above. However, maybe further discussion should be had on whether it's "ZIP Code" or "ZIP code".
Paintspot Infez (
talk) 12:09, 12 March 2018 (UTC)reply
We have discussed that and are discussing that, so feel free to join in.
Largoplazo (
talk) 12:10, 12 March 2018 (UTC)reply
Partial support It's not clear to me whether "ZIP" is sufficiently widely used as a generic term to be lower-cased, although the Google ngrams are interesting and a Google search for "ZIP code" shows many uses of the term for postal codes outside the US, but "code" is a common noun and there's no reason to capitalize it in this context.
Peter coxhead (
talk) 12:19, 12 March 2018 (UTC)reply
ZIP Code is a proper name of itself, and capitalized therefor. The quality sources I noticed give it this way as well.--
John Cline (
talk) 13:20, 12 March 2018 (UTC)reply
Oppose. The USPS, which manages them, calls them ZIP Codes. To comply with
WP:NOR, we should either call them what the USPS calls them or have a good, sourced reason why not.
Doctor Whom (
talk) 15:25, 12 March 2018 (UTC)reply
Oppose Per Doctor Whom. ZXCVBNM (
TALK) 03:52, 13 March 2018 (UTC)reply
Oppose:USPS's trademarked name is per the article name so there is no reason to vary that usage. At the very most it might be renamed "ZIP code" per some sources but certainly not lowercase.
ww2censor (
talk) 14:31, 13 March 2018 (UTC)reply
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a
requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a
move review. No further edits should be made to this section.
Distribution area for ZIP Code 34119
Distribution location for ZIP Code 34119
8.26.227.206 (
talk) 18:08, 3 December 2021 (UTC)reply
If that is a question, there must be better places to ask it. —
Tamfang (
talk) 06:19, 13 March 2023 (UTC)reply