Compile Zip Code Notice For Free

ZIP code. You may be asked for it when you pay with a credit card at a store's cash register. Beware the purpose may be to figure out your address so you can be put on a mailing list and bombarded with junk mail or nuisance calls.

The first three digits of a ZIP Code together usually indicate the central mail processing facility, also referred to as a sec center or sectional center facility to which that ZIP Code belongs. This facility is the mail sorting and distribution center for a zone or area.

The most complete ZIP Code is a nine-digit number consisting of five digits, a hyphen, and four digits, which the USPS describes by its trademark ZIP+4. The correct format for a numeric ZIP+4 code is five digits, a hyphen, and four digits.

Disclosing ZIP codes allows "people to track their purchases. It creates a profile and that information can be shared with other companies and that's dangerous to have that information in one area," says lawyer Gene J. Stonebarger, whose lawsuit triggered the ruling.

Bentley Hahn: The Man Who Invented the 5-Digit ZIP Code.

As of 1963, zip codes' numbers are determined by a few factors: the area, the regional postal facility and the local zone. The first number of the five-digit code signifies the region which the address is located in, a number that grows from the east coast to the west.

With a name and address, a thief can change your address via U.S. Postal Service and redirect mail to their address of choice, Velasquez says. With access to your financial mail, the thief may intercept bank statements and credit card offers or bills, then order new checks and credit cards.

Stores want your ZIP code because, combined with your name from your credit card, they can use it to find out other information about you from commercial databases, like your full mailing address. They may even sell the information to data brokers, who sell it to other marketers.

A ZIP+4 code uses the basic five-digit code plus four additional digits to identify a geographic segment within the five-digit delivery area, such as a city block, a group of apartments, an individual high-volume receiver of mail, a post office box, or a specific delivery route meaning the actual path the mail truck

The most complete ZIP Code is a nine-digit number consisting of five digits, a hyphen, and four digits, which the USPS describes by its trademark ZIP+4. The correct format for a numeric ZIP+4 code is five digits, a hyphen, and four digits.