2023 marks sixty years of the ZIP code.
On July 1, 1963, the United States Postal Service introduced the five digit Zone Improvement Plan (ZIP) Code.
The ZIP Code wasn’t the first of its kind. In 1857, London was divided into ten postal districts, each with a two-letter code. The first nationwide postal code system was introduced in Ukraine in 1932, though the system was stopped in 1939, likely due to the impending onset of World War II. At the same time, across the US, cities used postal codes to divide urban areas into smaller segments (e.g., “Boston 9, Mass”), but this was a very localized system, and manual mail sorting was still incredibly laborious — even more so as customer use of the mail doubled in the two decades after World War II. Thus, this localized system in the US, while helpful, didn’t resolve key national issues, such as mix-ups between multiple cities with the same name (e.g., Portland, ME and Portland, OR).
Enter the five-digit ZIP Code.
The idea for a national postal code system was first proposed in 1944 by Philadelphia Post Inspector Robert Moon, who fought for the establishment of a three-digit code system to determine processing centers. Postmaster General Edward Day accepted Moon’s proposal and combined it with the two-digital local zone numbers to create the five-digit ZIP code we know today.
The ZIP Code, though, is only useful if its acceptance is universal. So, once the code was designed, the USPS launched a massive PR effort. Basically, they created a mascot.
“Mr. ZIP” was a speedy little mail carrier. And the Postal Service went all in on him. He was on posters in every Post Office. He was on decals on mail trucks and carrier bags. He was on buttons worn by postal workers. The Post Office partnered with AT&T to put Mr. ZIP on their service trucks. The band “Swinging Six” even wrote a song about the ZIP Code, featuring Mr. ZIP in its music video. (It’s a rather slow, not-very-swinging ditty.)
These PR efforts paid off. A survey found that, in 1966, three years after the launch of the code, 67% of respondents thought ZIP does were a good idea and 50% of respondents used them. But, only three years later in 1969, 90% thought the ZIP code was a good idea and 83% used it.
The power of the ZIP Code rests in its digitization of surface space. It turns something seemingly abstract into something quantifiable. It organizes the land.
In doing so, the ZIP Code created a level of organization for deliveries, enabling mail to be delivered faster and more accurately with fewer missed and more on-time deliveries. These advancements have come about because the ZIP Code allowed for more efficient sorting by automated equipment and the introduction of bar coding of mail.
Because of these efficiencies, the USPS estimates that the ZIP Code saved government and industry over $4 billion since its introduction. Compare that to the $200 million implementation cost. Quite a return on investment.
Five digits. Four billion dollars.
And, beyond these economic implications, the ZIP code has facilitated a deeper understanding of our nation and its people. For instance, the US Census uses the ZIP to create tabulation areas to display and organize demographics, and academic research has uncovered findings including how ZIP Code predicts success and health.
The ZIP code is simple. It’s a list of numbers. But, it’s a powerful list of numbers. A list of numbers that has changed the way we connect to each other. A list of numbers that has economic repercussions. A list of numbers that has opened new doors to how we understand each other.
Notes.
This piece is largely adapted from the USPS 2013 report on the ZIP Code’s history and economic impact.
More on “Mr. ZIP” from the USPS historian in this report.
It feels apt, in honor of Robert Moon, that I’m publishing this from a coffee shop in Philadelphia (specifically, I’m in ZIP Code 19107).