Post Codes

[lostcarpark]

In Ireland we've been waiting for a post code system for many years. There really is no excuse for it any more. The lack of one has long caused problems for anyone trying to fill out forms on the web. It also makes it much more difficult to use things like GPS systems here. This problem is compounded by the fact that 40% of addresses in Ireland are not unique.

Another problem affects anyone trying to ship goods in Ireland, as my sister and I found developing the Brenda's Pets web site. We want to offer free shopping to customers within 10 miles of her shop. With a post system, it would be a fairly easy matter to set up a range of postal codes that qualify.

An Post, the incumbent postal service provider, long claimed they don't need one. This is, of course, because they have developed a computerised address finding system that doesn't use post codes, and introducing a system would wipe out their advantage.

After a lot of badgering, An Post came up with a post code system, based on longitude and latitude. The problem with this approach was that it produced rather long codes, and the whole thing was quietly dropped.

So now a private company have produced their own postal code system for Ireland, although I'm not sure about the name they've given them - "PONC Codes".

Comments

[dubnordie.livejournal.com]

Being a Brit in Dublin, working for a Scottish owned, English Registered Bank whilst upgrading their Mortgage system, I spent many an hour trying to teach the Irish-raised programmers and testers about the formatting of English postcodes (it's a bit difficult to get past page 1 of a Mortgage Entry form if you think "9" is a valid English Postcode). They were fascinated with the concept that you could determine a place down to 5 houses (depending on the length of the street etc) on one side of the road by the postcode, and that in theory, you could simply write #6 B7 5US on a letter and it be able to get to the right house. Wot Larks!