Editing Postal code (section)

== History ==
[[File:Stamp Soviet Union 1977 CPA 4775.jpg|thumb|1977 Soviet stamp promoting the use of postal codes]]
The development of postal codes happened first in large cities. Postal codes began with postal district numbers (or postal zone numbers) within large cities. [[London]] was first subdivided into 10 districts in 1857 (EC (East Central), WC (West Central), N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, and NW), four were created to cover [[Liverpool]] in 1864; and [[Manchester]]/[[Salford]] was split into eight numbered districts in 1867/68. By [[World War I]], such postal district or zone numbers also existed in various large European cities. They existed in the United States at least as early as the 1920s, possibly implemented at the local post office level only (for example, instances of "Boston 9, Mass" in 1920 are attested<ref name="1920_advert_Hill_Clarke_Co">{{Cite journal |author=Hill, Clarke & Co., Inc. |title=Advertisement for a drill press, 1920 |journal=American Machinist |page=389 |url=https://books.google.com/books/content?id=ezRMAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA389&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U3XbVXux4rCkbDjlhYwrl2il54vAA&w=1025 |date=1 July 1920}}</ref><ref name="1920_advert_Lynd_Farquhar_Co">{{Cite journal |author=Lynd-Farquhar Company |title=Advertisement for machine tools |journal=American Machinist |page=284 |url=https://books.google.com/books/content?id=ezRMAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA3-PA284&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U1mR5dU8XyNygDm5JSX6KkyZidqxQ&w=1025|date=30 September 1920}}</ref>) although they were evidently not used throughout all major US cities (implemented [[USPOD]]-wide) until [[World War II]].

By 1930 or earlier, the idea of extending the postal district or zone numbering plans beyond large cities to cover even small towns and rural locales had started. These developed into postal codes as they are defined today. The name of US postal codes, "ZIP Codes", reflects this evolutionary growth from a zone plan to a zone improvement plan, "ZIP". Modern postal codes were first introduced in the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]] in December 1932,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.upns.org/article/85-first-postal-zip-code |title=The First Postal (ZIP) Code in the World |publisher=Ukrainian Philatelic and Numismatic Society |date=20 April 2009 |access-date=4 March 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100423155849/http://www.upns.org/article/85-first-postal-zip-code |archive-date=23 April 2010 }}</ref> but the system was abandoned in 1939. The next country to introduce postal codes was Germany in 1941,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deutschepost.de/dpag?tab=1&skin=hi&check=no&lang=de_EN&xmlFile=link1017517_1004711 |work=Deutsche Post|title=The history of the postcode |access-date=10 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716191434/http://www.deutschepost.de/dpag?tab=1&skin=hi&check=no&lang=de_EN&xmlFile=link1017517_1004711 |archive-date=16 July 2011 }}</ref> followed by Singapore in 1950,<ref name="Singapore NLB">{{cite web |url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_1006_2010-05-27.html |title=Six-digit postal code system |last=Chia |first=Joshua |date=13 July 2016 |website=Singapore Infopedia |publisher=National Library Board |access-date=3 October 2018 }}</ref> Argentina in 1958, the United States in 1963<ref>{{cite web |url=http://glossary.ippaper.com/default.asp?req=glossary/term/2592&catitemid= |title=ZIP (Zone Improvement Plan) Code |publisher=International Paper Company |access-date=10 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091119144342/http://glossary.ippaper.com/default.asp?req=glossary%2Fterm%2F2592&catitemid= |archive-date=19 November 2009 }}</ref> and Switzerland in 1964.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/SCHWEIZERISCHE-POST-TELEFON-UND-TELEGRAFENBETRIEBE-Company-History.html |title=Company History: Schweizerische Post-Telefon-und-Telegrafen-Betriebe |publisher=Funding Universe |access-date=10 October 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110909092830/http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/SCHWEIZERISCHE-POST-TELEFON-UND-TELEGRAFENBETRIEBE-Company-History.html |archive-date=9 September 2011 }}</ref> The United Kingdom began introducing its current system in [[Norwich]] in 1959, but it was not used nationwide until 1974.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/money/mortgages/a-short-history-of-the-postcode-751884.html |title=A short history of the postcode |newspaper=The Independent |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110225013444/http://www.independent.co.uk/money/mortgages/a-short-history-of-the-postcode-751884.html |archive-date=25 February 2011 |url-status= dead |access-date=25 June 2014 }}</ref>