Forum:Federal States/Postal services

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Hello, fellow FSA mappers. I'd like to kick off the discussion about postal services and start the discourse here about them. There has been degrees of interest at various times over the last couple of years. I think these are issues we can start tackling. The intention here is to have it be on the omnibus ballot at the beginning of August or to vote here on the forum by the end of August. — Alessa _(talk) 04:38, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

Item 1: Post office name

There are a lot of different options that are out there right now. Proposals are welcome. Discuss this item in the designated area below.

• Main organization: Federal Postal Service; branch offices: Federal Post Office
• Main organization: Federal States Couriers; branch offices: Courier Office

Item 2: Postal codes

A note about how postal codes work in the United States

Most people may not realize that ZIP codes in the US have very specific meanings in the nine (yes, nine) digits. Our US-based users will recognize the five digits of the main postal code, established between World War II and 1963. The first digit is a region of the country. The second and third digit define sectional facilities for sorting mail. The fourth and fifth numbers are effectively municipal-level but were outlined based on where post offices were, how delivery could be done from those locations, and even landuse to a degree. There are a surprising number of benefits to having "zones" that are different from municipal boundaries. Some might argue that having it down to a specific block or building is better for sorting, but this ignores the other benefits of having zones. To help with sorting in the early 1980s, the USPS introduced four more digits (called a +4) that are optional for most commonplace deliveries but were designed to help with sorting and route marking. Digits six and seven narrow things down to a group of blocks or a specific office building if big enough. The last two digits identify specific buildings or even individual occupied spaces in buildings. By the early 1990s, however, the +4 never really caught on and were no longer needed with new sorting technologies that made life easier for postal workers.

Proposals

There has already been some preliminary discussion about this before, and a lot of users have expressed desire to begin any postal code with a state-defining designation. If you have additional proposals, please add them in the discussion below instead of directly to this list.

In the proposed codes, A = assigned letters; NN = state ogf:id number; PP = two-letter state code; Z = numbers

• Proposal 1: NNAAZZ (two letters and last two numbers defined by state owners)
• Proposal 2: NNZZZZ or NN-ZZZZ (last four defined by state owners)
• Proposal 3: CCZZZZ or CC-ZZZZ (last four defined by state owners)

Discussion 2

Personally, I strongly prefer proposal three for the postal codes. Numbers keep things simple, easy to read, and create a clearly defined "space" for numbers that isn't confused by an average citizen (e.g. 135 North Grissom Street, Egmont ME-2975). Proposal two looks too wonky to me (e.g. 135 North Grissom Street, Egmont 43-2975). It creates a redundant system of state postal code letters and postal code numbers. If we go with this, I strongly support phasing out the two-letter postal codes and allow states to use whatever abbreviations they want for other things. A state like Cosperica could use Cos. (or whatever) instead of being forced into CO. A state would just be defined for postal codes by the first two numbers. Anything else on the address could be full state name or any other unregulated abbreviation. Just my thoughts on this one. — Alessa _(talk) 04:38, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

My only concern with the CC-#### structure is that each state is restricted to 10,000 individual postal codes, and while that would be more than sufficient for most states, we could run the risk of running short on codes for large states like Cosperica or Alormen, or for densely-populated states like New Carnaby. I’d support a CC-##XX structure where “CC” is the state abbreviation, “##” is a routing number (up to each state), and “XX” can be numbers or letters, which provides a much larger universe of total postal codes for each state (or city) without requiring a totally new scheme. —TheMayor (talk) 14:11, 4 July 2022 (UTC)