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You are right that the United States Postal Service writes ?ZIP Code? with a capital C?and ZIP in all caps. You're also right about us. Though CMOS doesn't specifically rule on how to capitalize the term, it has rendered it as ?zip code? (all lowercase) since it first appeared in the Manual in 1982 (in the 13th ed.).

Of course, there are larger post offices that are able to handle more than one ZIP code. However, each post office has at least one ZIP code assigned to it. So, USPS created 9-digit ZIP Codes to ensure fast and accurate mailings.

Some still refer to ZIP codes as US postal codes. The term ZIP stands for Zone Improvement Plan. The basic 5-digit format was first introduced in 1963 and later extended to add an additional 4 digits after a dash to form a ZIP+4 code. The additional 4 digits help USPS more precisely group mail for delivery.

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.

A United States postal code, for example, might be either five digits or five digits followed a hyphen (dash) and another four digits (12345-1234). If you are validating US postal codes, allow for both conditions. The following rule validates a field that can be five digits, five digits + dash + 4 digits, or blank.

ZIP Codes are numbered with the first digit representing a certain group of U.S. states, the second and third digits together representing a region in that group (or perhaps a large city) and the fourth and fifth digits representing a group of delivery addresses within that region.

A ZIP code is a postal code used by the United States Postal Service (USPS) in a system it introduced in 1963. An extended ZIP+4 code was introduced in 1983 which includes the five digits of the ZIP code, followed by a hyphen and four additional digits that reference a more specific location.