page_title: Postal code
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Postal code / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Stamp of the Soviet Union, 1977, CPA 4775. Letter and a postal code sample on an envelope. Русский: Письмо и образец написания почтового индекса на конверте. Марка СССР, 1977, 4 коп. Худ. Г. Комлев, гравюра Л. Майоровой. ЦФА #4775.
context_page_description: A postal code is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail.
  In February 2005, 117 of the 190 member countries of the Universal Postal Union had postal code systems.
  Although postal codes are usually assigned to geographical areas, special codes are sometimes assigned to individual addresses or to institutions that receive large volumes of mail, such as government agencies and large commercial companies. One example is the French CEDEX system.
context_section_description: The development of postal codes reflects the increasing complexity of postal delivery as populations grew and the built environment became more complex. This happened first in large cities. Postal codes began with postal district numbers (or postal zone numbers) within large cities. London was first subdivided into 10 districts in 1857 (EC (East Central), WC (West Central), N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, and NW) and Liverpool in 1864. By World War I, such postal district or zone numbers existed in various large European cities. They existed in the United States at least as early as the 1920s, possibly implemented at the local post office level only (for example, instances of "Boston 9, Mass" in 1920 are attested,) although they were evidently not used throughout all major US cities (implemented USPOD-wide) until World War II.
  By 1930 or earlier the idea of extending postal district or zone numbering plans beyond large cities to cover even small towns and rural locales was in the air. These developed into postal codes as they are defined today. The name of US postal codes, "ZIP codes", reflects this evolutionary growth from a zone plan to a zone improvement plan, "ZIP". Modern postal codes were first introduced in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in December 1932, but the system was abandoned in 1939. The next country to introduce postal codes was Germany in 1941, followed by Singapore in 1950, Argentina in 1958, the United States in 1963 and Switzerland in 1964. The United Kingdom began introducing its current system in Norwich in 1959, but they were not used nationwide until 1974.
caption: 1977 Soviet stamp promoting the use of postal codes
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