How many people are wondering what a postal code is and why? This digital code is most often used by most people automatically when sending parcels and letters, when making numerous purchases over the Internet. Its importance is often realized only when a long-awaited premise disappears due to an incorrectly written index or an important letter does not arrive for too long.
What is it and what is it for?
A postal code is a special combination of numbers established by the law of the Russian Federation that is indicated on a letter, postcard, parcel or on the order form. With its help, the work of mail is optimized: the amount of manual labor is minimized, sorting efficiency is increased, delivery is accelerated, the risk of errors when moving packages and letters is reduced, the likelihood that the mail item will receive the correct recipient is increased.
Indexes are written with special angular numbers; this format is easier to read by computers. For the convenience of the sender, letters and forms are marked with patterns for writing numbers, as well as a form of thin dashed lines. Therefore, to fill out this column does not need special skills, enough accuracy and care. It must be remembered that an error or lack of an index can lead to a loss of a shipment or a severe delay. Numbers can be written in ink of any color, excluding green, red and yellow.
History
At all times, people exchanged messages. Life sometimes depended on the speed and accuracy of information transfer. Signal lights, swift messengers, dogs, birds, passing caravans and ships were used. The Persians built thousands of people’s strings, placing them within earshot. Using roll call, messages were transmitted over long distances. The pigeons with the phenomenal ability to find their home were especially accurate.
The evolutionary leap forward was the introduction of the telegraph in the first half of the 19th century. But he still could not cope with the information flow of the booming humanity. The postal services also could not cope with it, they needed obvious improvements. With the growing volume of letters and parcels, the invention of the zip code helped to cope. This elegant solution streamlined the work of mails, and over time played a role in its automation.
Indexing in Russia
Postal indexation first appeared in the USSR in 1932. The experimental use of the index began in Soviet Ukraine and successfully continued until 1939, when the World War broke out. Indexes were canceled, apparently, for the purposes of national security.
The second time they began to be used throughout the Soviet Union. In 1971, the global indexation of the whole country was carried out. Numbers have been assigned to each post office. Since then, the sender was required to indicate a digital index on each parcel, greeting card or letter. This was done largely due to the fact that the postal services began to use advanced machines at that time to process items.
How is it decrypted?
In the form in which the index is used now, it was approved in 1998. The postal division in our country corresponds to the administrative one. Today, the Russian postal code is a natural sequence of six digits, in AAAAA format. AAA - a numerical code that is assigned to cities of republican, regional or regional significance. Large federal entities and megacities have several codes. BBB is a numeric code that is assigned to each post office in a particular city.
To illustrate. The following information is encrypted in the index 414042: 414 - the code of the city of Astrakhan, 042 - post office No. 42, which is located on Bumazhnikov Avenue and serves houses in the district. Other examples: 685007, 685 - Magadan code, 007 - post office No. 7, serving the houses along Ammonalnaya Street; 241027, 241 - the code of Bryansk, 027 - the post office serving the buildings on the square of K. Marx.
How to find out the zip code?
In our age of the developed Internet, this is easy to do. There are three common ways to determine a zip code.
- First. Call or go to the post office. This method is suitable if you need to find out the index of a specific branch, which is nearby. However, at the post office employees will give information about any address, because they have the corresponding directories.
- Second. Use the help program. A convenient and detailed program is 2GIS. With its help, you can quickly determine the address of almost any building in Russia. To find out which zip code is in the right house, you just need to find it on the map and click on it.
- Third. The easiest and fastest way is to find through any Internet search engine a directory listing all Russian postal codes. The main thing is to find a fresh directory. The fact is that there are a lot of indexes, their database is constantly undergoing changes that are not significant, but it is still advisable to use the most relevant information to eliminate errors.
And remember that the index always needs to be specified. This affects the speed of delivery of the item.