Showerthought: I spent 4 hours trying to find a simple answer online yesterday

I needed to know if you could mail a letter with just a zip code and no city or state. It seemed like a quick Google search, but every result was either a dense government PDF or a forum argument from 2008. I finally called my local post office in Springfield, and the clerk said, 'Yeah, the machines sort it all by zip code anyway.' The whole thing took me from lunchtime until almost dinner. Has anyone else hit a wall trying to find a basic fact that should be easy?

2 comments

2 Comments

jakewhite7h ago

Actually, the machines read the address line first, not the zip code. The zip just helps if the handwriting is bad. Found that out the hard way too.

matthew_wilson225h ago

Wait, that's not what I heard. My buddy at the post office said the zip code is the main thing the sorting machines look at first.