Editing Postal code (section)

=== Codes defined independently from administrative areas ===
The first two digits of the [[postal codes in Germany]] define areas independently of administrative regions. The coding space of the first digit is fully used (0–9); that of the first two combined is utilized to 89%, i.e. there are 89 postal zones defined. Zone 11 is non-geographic.

[[Royal Mail]] designed the [[postal codes in the United Kingdom]] mostly for efficient distribution. Nevertheless, people associated codes with certain areas, leading to some people wanting or not wanting to have a certain code. See also [[postcode lottery]].

In Brazil the [[:pt:Código de Endereçamento Postal|8-digit postcodes]] are an evolution of the five-digit area postal codes. In the 1990s the Brazilian five-digit postal code (illustrated), <code>DDDDD</code>, received a three-digit suffix <code>DDDDD-SSS</code>, but this suffix is not directly related to the administrative district hierarchy. The suffix was created only for logistic reasons.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="220px" style="text-align:center" caption="Brazilian eight-digit postal codes – A city block and its faces">
QuadrasExemplo-CEP.png|[[City block]]s surrounded by streets, some streets with a different eight-digit postal code (suffixes 001 to 899)
QuadraExemplo-CEP.png|Faces of a [[city block]] and their extension into its interior. Each color is an eight-digit postal code, usually assigned to a side (odd or even numbered) of a street.
QuadraFaces-CEP.png|Faces of a city block and their extension between city blocks. The same colors (polygons) indicate the same postal codes.
</gallery>

[[file:QuadraExemplo-CEP-pnt.png|thumb|220px|In the [[Spatialization|code spatialization]] it '''is an error''' to associate the postal code to an individual ''land lot'' area: a lot may have 0, 1, 2 or more delivery points, with different codes.]]

The postal code assignment can be assigned to individual [[land lot]]s in some special cases – in Brazil, they are named "large receivers" and receive suffixes 900–959. It is an error to associate the postal code with the whole land lot area (illustrated). A postal code is often related to a [[land lot]], but postal codes are usually related to access points on streets. Small or middle-sized houses, in general, only have a single main gate, which is the delivery point. Parks, large businesses such as shopping centers and big houses, may have more than one entrance and more than one delivery point.