| The United States Postal Service distributes over 100 billion pieces
of mail each year. To help speed the delivery of the mail, a special
location system was introduced July 1, 1963. This system is called the
ZIP Code. ZIP Code means Zone Improvement Plan.
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| Look at the Zip Code map, which accompanies this lesson. The United
States is divided into ten national areas. Each national area is given a
number from 0 to 9. This is the first of the five numbers in a ZIP Code.
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| Important post offices in each national area are designated as
sectional centers. These sectional centers are assigned the next two
digits. Many major cities have their own large central post office.
These large cities would not be served by the sectional centers. In
those cases, the second and third digits identify the city.
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| Each sectional center serves several associate post offices. The
associate post offices use the last two digits in the ZIP Code.
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| Let's follow a letter that is mailed in Seattle, Washington to
someone in Alamogordo, New Mexico 88310. The postal worker has never
heard of Alamogordo, New Mexico. The worker does know that New Mexico is
part of national area 8. She also knows that 883 refers to the
Carrizozo, New Mexico sectional center. She puts the letter in the 883
slot and it is sent directly to the Carrizozo, New Mexico sectional
center.
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| Once the letter reaches the sectional center, it is then sent to
Alamogordo, the local post office whose last two digits are 10.
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| Below is an illustration showing how the ZIP Code for Alamogordo,
New Mexico is established
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| Write your ZIP Code in the boxes shown below.
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| Find the first digit of the ZIP Code for each state listed. Write
your answers in the spaces provided.
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- New York
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___________________ |
- Alaska
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___________________ |
- Montana
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___________________ |
- Maine
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___________________ |
- Indiana
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___________________ |
- Tennessee
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___________________ |
- Wisconsin
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___________________ |
- Wyoming
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___________________ |
- Florida
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___________________ |
- California
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___________________ |
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| The Postal Service has introduced the ZIP + 4 system. This is the
original ZIP Code plus a hyphen and 4 new numbers. This ZIP + 4 system
enables the Postal Service to sort your outgoing mail on high speed
automated equipment to specific streets, specific buildings or even
specific floors within a building. The boxes shown below illustrate how
the last four digits of the ZIP Code + 4 work.
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| The letter mailed from Seattle, Washington to Alamogordo, New Mexico
was mailed to this specific address: |
Alamogordo Public Schools
122 Indiana Avenue
Alamogordo, New Mexico 88310-6722
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| We have already traced the letter from Seattle to the associate post
office in Alamogordo. Once the letter arrives at this post office, the
postal worker looks at the + 4 part of the ZIP Code (88310-6722).
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| In this example, the number 67 indicate the 1200 block. The number
22 means the building is on the side of the street whose address ends in
even numbers.
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