Origination of the United States Postal Service's ZIP Code

We see it every day on the mail we receive and send. Most merchants ask for it whenever you pay by credit card to guard against fraud. You are also likely to be quizzed on it during any call to customer service. I am referring to your ZIP code. Despite this frequency of use, few are able to decode this acronym. I have personally tested this on 20 people to see if anyone could tell me what ZIP stood for and none of them even had a guess. So, to differentiate yourself from virtually the entire population, the following is a synopsis of the origination of the ZIP Code.

On July 1, 1963 the Post Office Department (which later became known as the United States Postal Service) introduced the ZIP Code, which stands for Zone Improvement Plan. This 5-digit ZIP Code would be added to each parcel to reduce the sorting time thereby speeding the delivery of the burgeoning mail load. The first digit in the ZIP Code represents a general area of the United States ("0" on the east coast to "9" in the west). The following two numbers denote regional areas, further specifying the general area. The final two numbers indicate specific Post Office locations.

Officials within the Post Office feared that the American public would have difficulty adopting the unfamiliar codes to each address. Therefore, to ease the acceptance of the program, an advertising campaign featuring Mr. ZIP was created. Mr. ZIP was a crude depiction of a mail carrier with a satchel and letter who appeared to be in a hurry (see accompanying photo). This character appeared mostly on posters and on the white area located to the left of the stamp (also referred to as the selvage) urging Americans to include a ZIP code when addressing mail.

Adoption of the ZIP Code was obviously a success, as the USPS reported nearly half of all mailed items contained a ZIP Code within a year of the program's introduction. However, this was probably more of a result of the preferential mailing rates applied to users of the ZIP Code than the stick figured Mr. ZIP. Of course, the vast majority of all mailed pieces today contain a ZIP Code.

If you want to have a little fun when the next person asks you for a ZIP Code, respond by saying, "Are you referring to my Zone Improvement Plan"? The look of bewilderment will be well worth it.