Why do zip codes in the United Kingdom involve letters?

Answer 1

The difference between US ZIP codes and UK postal codes is the the original US ZIP code identifies the post office for that area, whereas the UK postal code identifies from one up to six addresses. If an address receives more than a certain amount of mail it gets its own postal code. An address receiving a normal amount of mail, such as my house, shares the same postal code with several of my neighbours, but other houses in the same short street (<30 houses) will have a different code.

So the first part of the code identifies the town and part of, and the second part identies the address. In order to cater for this, letters as well as numbers are needed.

As a by-product, if you know a UK postal code you can enter it into a mappingsite such as www.multimap.co.uk and see exactly where it is. Useful if you are booking a hotel or looking for a shop. For instance local wine shop has a postal code of AL1 3TJ, and Mulitmap shows its exact location -- see http//www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=51.7509&lon=-0.3314&scale=10000&icon=x

Lastly, the UK postal code was the worlds first, started in 1959, four years before the US ZIP system.

Answer 2

I guess that's just the way it is. Over here in Canada, we have the same thing, letters and numbers, such as A1B 2C3. There are 7 other countries that use that same alphanumerical system: Argentina, Bermuda, Brunei, Jamaica, Malta, The Netherlands and Venezuela. Most places have just introduced the postal code system in the past 50 years.

Answer 3

The letters indicate the general area of the address, ie SW1 indicates zone 1 in the southwest of London...TQ9 indicates zone 9 in Torquey's postal area.

Answer 4

Canadian postal codes have letters as well. You get more possible combinations if you use letters and numbers.

Answer 5

It's base upon rural country names