posted
Just because there are five times ans many Americans, that doesn't mean you have to make the system five times as complicated!
-------------------- I have plenty of experience in biology. I bought a Tamagotchi in 1998... And... it's still alive.
Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Charles Capps: Unlike UK postal codes, US zip codes cover a large geographical area. My zip code, 98087, covers half of the city I live in. The zip+4 system can narrow it down quite a bit, but the USPS charges an arm and a leg for that database.
Washington also uses the quadrant system, but I haven't yet determined the exact magic they use for the directions (I suspect it's quadrants of the county, but I'm not sure of this). All minor roads and most major roads here are numbered.
I'm on 143rd St SW, but it runs for maybe a quarter mile total, then picks up a few blocks east and a few blocks west (west is a highway, east is a freeway). This is where the fun begins. The area is a heavily developed suburb, so there are plenty of short streets. Directly north of us is 142nd St, then north of that is, get this, 142nd Pl. Why? Because they fall in the horizontal section that gets streets named 142nd, even if they have to fit two of them in.
I used to live on 164th St SW, which runs almost half the length of the city, and is a major road (as are most roads divisible by 32 and some divisible by 16). However, when crossing a certain street, 164th St SW becomes 164th St SE, and the address numbers start over. I had a visitor get lost terribly at one point in another city because he thought the address was SE instead of SW.
This is one of many reasons I am now glad to have a GPS available.
Ok, a quick calculation shows that the UK post code system allows for 45,697,600 permutations, which granted is just fine for an island this size (and I dare say central London accounts for a good 97% of those codes) but if you just add on another two letters (not counting a state specific abbreviation) then you're up to 30,891,577,600. Surely that's enough to cover even the largest or most densely populated state.
quote:if you just add on another two letters (not counting a state specific abbreviation) then you're up to 30,891,577,600. Surely that's enough to cover even the largest or most densely populated state.
You're right, that sounds exactly like the thinking of a machine to me.
Registered: Aug 1999
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Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
posted
So how come when I write to my grandparents I have to write a house number, street, some other noun ('Primrose'), the city and postal code, and then what I assume to be the county, if UK addresses are so short?
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Well because they're grandparents, obviously.
In reality the house number, street and post code should get it there, it'd just take longer. The more complete the address, the quicker it get sorted. I've had post arrive with just my name, village, city (the wrong city, as it happens) and 'UK' written on it. Took about a month from the stamp by the look of it, but it got here.
posted
Post without the post code in the UK can get to the addressee just as fast - I've had a post card addressed similarly to Reverend get here in 2 days from Jersey, which is pretty much overseas as far as the post office is concerned.
I imagine Daniels granny and grandad live outside of a post town (i.e. one with a main sorting office), complicating matters.
UK post codes are fairly simple. They have an outwards bit, telling which postal area the letter needs to get to, and an inwards bit telling the sorting office which route it can be found on.
An example: SW1 1AA
The SW1 (the outwards part) tells you it's going to South West London. The letters are usualy abreviated from the post town, like EH for Edinburgh, CT for Canterbury, SL for Slough etc. The 1 indicates the district within that post town (if you like, which sorting office in SW London deals with that address).
The 1AA (inwards part) tells you its in sector 1, and the AA bit reduces this to a smaller number of properties, so around 20 houses might have the same postcode, but they will all be on the same street. A big business might have a postcode all to itself.
Although most people don't care how it works, just as long as their letter gets there.
-------------------- I have plenty of experience in biology. I bought a Tamagotchi in 1998... And... it's still alive.
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
Oh, and Daniel, do your Grandparents live in Primrose, Surrey? That's not too far from my college.
-------------------- I have plenty of experience in biology. I bought a Tamagotchi in 1998... And... it's still alive.
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
The map is actually pointing to a real Strathmore Road (not Boulevard) in Boston. Ironically, given the conversation here in this thread, the addresses on Strathmore Road only go up to about 200!
Registered: Mar 1999
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