the.com/zipcode
America sorted into five-digit tribes, zoning aspiration and real estate before you even unpack.
means A five-digit number assigned to a geographic area by the postal service to speed and automate mail sorting.
from Coined in the US as an acronym: ZIP stood for 'Zone Improvement Plan,' introduced by the Postal Service in the early 1960s to let new sorting machines route mail by numbered zone instead of relying on human memory of local geography. The word 'zip' was chosen because it also evoked speed — mail moving briskly to its destination — and the Postal Service even created a cartoon mascot, Mr. ZIP, to sell the new codes to the public.
- origin
- zip means zone improvement plan, not speed
- first digit
- corresponds to region, east to west
- 00501
- belongs solely to IBM in New York
- alaska hawaii
- start with same digit as western states