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A postal code is a series of letters and/or digits appended to a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail. The vast majority of the world's postal services and/or countries use postal codes. However, contrary to common misconception, not all do: The Republic of Ireland for example does not use postal codes 1 .
Postal services using postal codes mostly use their own respective different formats and placement for them. (Their service area is usually defined by national borders.)
In most English-speaking countries, the postal code goes after the name of the city or town, whereas in most continental European countries it goes before it and is often prefixed with a country code. This country code is similar to the one used on car license plates.
Although postal codes are usually assigned to geographical areas, sometimes this is not the case: special codes may be assigned to institutions with large volumes of post, such as government agencies and large commercial companies. One example is the French Cedex system.
1 Alphanumeric postal codes
Most postal codes are numeric. The few using alphanumeric postal code systems (with letters and digits) are:
- Argentina
- Bermuda
- Brunei
- Canada
- Germany (New postal code systemPostal codes in Germany known as Postleitzahl (pl. Postleitzahlen, acronym PLZ), consist of five digits, which indicate the wider area (first 2 digits), and the postal district (last 3 digits). The present system was introduced in 1993. Before reunificati since 19931993 is a common year starting on Friday and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003 Events January January 1 Czechoslovakia divides. Establishment of independent Slovakia and Czech Republic.)
- MaltaThis article is about the european nation. For other meanings, see this page. The Republic of Malta is an island nation in southern Europe. It consists of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea directly south of Italy. These strategically located islands
- NetherlandsDutch redirects here. For other uses, see Dutch (disambiguation). The Netherlands ( Dutch: Nederland is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a constitutional monarchy. It is located in northwestern Europe and borders the North Sea, Belgium
- United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a state in Western Europe, usually known simply as the United Kingdom the UK Britain or less accurately as Great Britain . The UK was formed by a series of Acts of Union which united the formerly
- VenezuelaThe Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela "Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela") is a country in northern South America. 1 It borders the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Guyana to the east, Brazil to
2 Postal zone numbers
Before postal codes as described here were used, large cities were often divided into postal zones (or postal districts), usually numbered from 1 up within each city. The newer postal code systems often incorporate the old zone numbers, as with London postal districtThe system of London postal districts predated the introduction of postcodes throughout the United Kingdom in the 1960s. The first system, of ten sectors identified by letters, was introduced in 1858; the numbered subdivisions date from 1917. The 1917 sub numbers, for example. DublinThis article is about the city in Ireland. For other uses of the name, see Dublin (disambiguation). Dublin ( Irish: Baile Atha Cliath is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Ireland, located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mou, Ireland still uses postal district numbers, as postal codes are not used in the country at all. ( An Post relies on OCR analysis of the entire address instead.)
