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PSPS

(13,512 posts)
Sun Jun 16, 2013, 10:16 AM Jun 2013

Happy 50th Mr. Zip



Happy 50th Mr. Zip

The addition of zip codes to our addresses is a relatively modern change. But getting America on board took the introduction of an iconic cartoon figure.

By Stefany Anne Golberg

It took a while for Americans to start using ZIP codes — about 15 years. 15 years of persuasion, encouragement. 15 years of re-positioning and rearranging deep-rooted beliefs about the manner in which an envelope ought to be addressed. 15 years is a long time to get used to writing five digits on a letter. And now we hardly give ZIP codes a second thought.

The United States Post Office Department knew Americans were not going to like the new system when they introduced it 50 years ago, in July 1963. Postwar Americans were being asked to memorize more numbers than ever — social security numbers, telephone numbers. The nation’s telephone company, AT&T, had recently completed their own campaign convincing Americans to use area codes. They warned the Postal Service that their task would not be easy. And area codes were only three digits; ZIP codes were five. Not only would every American have to memorize a five-digit code for their own town or city, there would be endless ZIP codes they would have to know every time they wanted to send a letter.

In the 1950s and 60s, Americans were spreading out and away from each other, into suburbs on the outskirts of cities, developing the undeveloped wilderness of the country at an incredible rate. This dispersion made mail delivery much more complicated. Before ZIP codes, letters did not move from one city right to another. Mail traveled like pilgrims, with many stops at city stations along the way. This was fine when the mail was mostly used for personal correspondence. But in the 1950s and 60s, the mail was doing more. What was once a system for sending letters and postcards became an agent for business. Advertisements filled mailboxes, and you could pay your bills by mail too. You didn’t need to get your newspapers and magazines on the street anymore — they could come to you, right in the mail. By the early 1960s local post offices were overwhelmed; postal workers were heroically bearing the heavy burden of mail. The Post Office Department imagined a more streamlined system, one that could get the mail delivered fast. With ZIP codes, machines could sort through the mail and send letters directly to their destination. With ZIP codes, the mail could be more efficient, more effective. But Americans would have to be convinced.

The rest: http://thesmartset.com/article/article06121301.aspx
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Happy 50th Mr. Zip (Original Post) PSPS Jun 2013 OP
Thanks for the post senseandsensibility Jun 2013 #1
K&R! Anyone remember this song? :) Rhiannon12866 Jun 2013 #2

senseandsensibility

(16,713 posts)
1. Thanks for the post
Sun Jun 16, 2013, 10:34 AM
Jun 2013

I bookmarked to read the whole article later. I guess I'm weird; I love reading about this kind of thing. One thing I noticed above is that the postal workers were heroically shouldering the burden of delivering an incredible increase in mail. They continued to deliver mail seamlessly during this transition Just one of the good things about unionized post office workers who don't take a dime of taxpayers money.

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