Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site mhuxj.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!eagle!mhuxl!mhuxj!presley
From: presley@mhuxj.UUCP (Joe Presley)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: ZIP code -> city name blues (reposting)
Message-ID: <1230@mhuxj.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 8-Mar-84 20:32:26 EST
Article-I.D.: mhuxj.1230
Posted: Thu Mar  8 20:32:26 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 10-Mar-84 07:59:46 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Lines: 25

[reposting since the first got garbled - also slightly amended]

Any of you been bitten by companies which ignore the city/town name that you
live in but use the USPS' ZIP code to city name data base?

For example, I mailed a catalog order to Penney's and gave my mailing address
as Warren, NJ 07060.  Since Warren and Watchung are considered by the USPS to
be "too small" to have their own ZIPs, we share a ZIP code with North
Plainfield.  (Warren's "branch" office is larger than many "main" post
offices I've seen).  Apparently when my address was entered into their
computer system, the town name was thrown away and the mapping f(07060) ->
"North Plainfield" took place.  My package was delayed a day or so while
United Parcel tried to find the street address in North Plainfield.

In New Jersey, it seems every town has a Mountain [Ave, Rd, St, Blvd], and
the same road can change from Mountain to Valley to Spring to Mountain as it
passes through different towns, so you can see where havin the wrong town
name could get confusing. 

Another problem I can see with having the same ZIPs is that if insurance
companies use the ZIP to determine likelihood of theft, etc., insurance rates
can be affected by higher crime and auto accident rates in the larger city.
-- 

   Joe Presley (mhuxj!presley, ihnp4!j.presley)