
#ZIP CODES USPS LOOK UP CODE#
The mail is sorted according to the final two digits of the ZIP Code and sent to the corresponding post offices in the early morning.

The SCF sorts mail to all post offices with those first three digits in their ZIP Codes. The fourth and fifth digits, which give a more precise locale within the SCF, were proposed by Henry Bentley Hahn, Sr. An SCF is a central mail processing facility with those three digits. The post office credits Moon with only the first three digits of the ZIP Code, which describe the sectional center facility (SCF) or "sec center". Jamison Cain, a Postal Service executive. The phrase "zone improvement plan" is credited to D. Robert Moon is considered the father of the ZIP Code he submitted his proposal in 1944 while working as a postal inspector. The abbreviations have remained unchanged, with the exception of Nebraska, which was changed from NB to NE in 1969 at the request of the Canadian Post Office Department, to avoid confusion with New Brunswick. According to Publication 59, the two-letter standard was "based on a maximum 23-position line, because this has been found to be the most universally acceptable line capacity basis for major addressing systems", which would be exceeded by a long city name combined with a multi-letter state abbreviation, such as "Sacramento, Calif." along with the ZIP Code. An earlier list, publicized in June 1963, had proposed capitalized abbreviations ranging from two to five letters. The USPOD issued its Publication 59: Abbreviations for Use with ZIP Code on October 1, 1963, with the list of two-letter state abbreviations which are generally written with both letters capitalized. īy the early 1960s, a more organized system was needed, and non-mandatory five-digit ZIP Codes were introduced nationwide on July 1, 1963. The "16" is the number of the postal zone in the specific city.
