Postal code guides
Every guide we have published, from every country we cover. How the codes are structured, what the parts mean, and where address forms go wrong. Or skip the reading and detect your postal code now.
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post codesBangladeshBangladesh Post Codes Explained: What the Four Digits NameA Bangladeshi post code is four digits that name a post office rather than a region. That single fact explains why one code can cover a few streets or a large rural area, and why confident digit-by-digit tables found online are worth distrusting.Read more
pin codesIndiaPIN Codes and Delivery: What a Serviceability Check Really AsksIndian e-commerce asks for a PIN code before it asks for anything else, because the code is exactly what tells a courier which delivery operation would handle the parcel. Here is what that check does and does not establish.Read more
post codesBangladeshFour Digits in a Five-Digit Field: Bangladeshi Post Codes in Online FormsA form asks for a five-digit ZIP code and your post code is four digits. Every workaround people reach for — a padded zero, 0000, a number copied from somewhere — produces an address that cannot be delivered against. Here is what to do instead.Read more
postcodesAustraliaWhy 0800 Becomes 800: Leading Zeros in Australian PostcodesNorthern Territory postcodes begin with zero, and that zero disappears the moment a postcode is treated as a number. Here is where it happens, what the damage looks like, and the one rule that prevents all of it.Read more
postcodesAustraliaSuburb, State and Postcode: Why an Australian Address Needs All ThreeAustralian addresses end with three things on one line, in capitals: SYDNEY NSW 2000. None of the three identifies a place on its own, which is why forms that guess one from another get it wrong often enough to matter.Read more
post codesBangladeshPost Code, Thana and District: What a Bangladeshi Code Does Not Tell YouA Bangladeshi address carries an area, a thana and a district, and it is tempting to assume the post code encodes some of that. It does not, in any way you can rely on — and the software that assumes otherwise fails for the people hardest to reach.Read more
pin codesIndiaWhat a PIN Code Says: The Six Digits ExplainedA PIN code is six digits read as a funnel: zone, sub-zone, sorting district, then the post office that actually delivers. Here is what each step narrows down, and why the last three digits are an office rather than a neighbourhood.Read more
pin codesIndiaPIN Code vs ZIP Code: Six Digits in a Five-Digit FieldA form asks for a five-digit ZIP code and your PIN code has six. Trimming it, padding it or borrowing one produces a record that cannot be delivered against. Here is what the two systems actually are, and what to do when they collide.Read more
postcodesAustraliaAustralian Postcodes Explained: What the Four Digits MeanAn Australian postcode is four digits and nothing else, and the first digit is not random: it came from radio call signs in 1967. Here is what each part narrows down, which codes are not places at all, and where the state rule quietly fails.Read more
zip codesUnited StatesZIP Code vs ZIP+4: What the Extra Four Digits Actually DoEvery US address has a five-digit ZIP code and almost every one also has four more digits behind it. Here is what that longer form encodes, when it is worth using, and why you almost never need to type it.Read more
zip codesUnited StatesZIP Code vs Area Code: Why They Do Not Line UpBoth are numbers attached to where you are, both get used as a proxy for location, and they have nothing to do with each other. Two different organisations built them, sixteen years apart, for unrelated reasons.Read more
zip codesUnited StatesWhy ZIP Code Fields Break: Seven Common ErrorsA ZIP code is five characters and still manages to be one of the most reliably broken fields on the web. These are the failures worth knowing about, whether you are filling a form in or building one.Read more