The Lansing Star Online, Lansing, NY - Editorial: ZIP Code Mania

Feb 22 2008

Editorial: ZIP Code Mania - Where DO I Live?

Dan Veaner

Friday, 22 February 2008

I live in Lansing. However, the United States Postal Service, in its wisdom, has assigned me the Groton ZIP code. This has caused all manner of problems and annoyances over the years that I never imagined when I moved a mere two miles north from my old Ridge Road home. In fact Lansing is split among five different ZIP codes, only one of them specifically assigned to Lansing. The others are the ZIP codes for Ithaca, Groton, Freeville, and Locke.

ZIP codes are assigned for the convenience of the Postal Service to allow them to deliver mail most efficiently. But the side effects of splitting a municipality can range from inconvenient to seriously annoying. I'm not talking about towns and cities with multiple ZIP codes of their own. I am talking about municipalities that have other communities' ZIP codes assigned to them. Here are some of the problems I have had living in Lansing with a Groton ZIP code:

Community Identity
I moved to Lansing because I wanted to live in Lansing. I have nothing against Groton or Ithaca -- it's just that I don't live there. If I did I would expect them to be in my mailing address. Couldn't the Postal Service read the map when they assigned ZIP codes? I understand that ZIP codes are delivery zones, not really municipal locations. But the reality is that people think you live where your address says you live. So your address should be where you actually live.

Location, Location, Location
I live very close to the Lansing Post Office. I live only slightly farther from the Ithaca Post Office, the main area post office that ironically is located in Lansing. I don't live that close to the Groton Post Office. If the carrier is unable to deliver a package for some reason I don't want to go to Groton to get it. I want to stay in Lansing.

Confusion
In the past I have been told by UPS that packages must be addressed according to the USPS address, but Fedex wanted Ithaca, and when Airbourne Express was delivering they wanted Lansing (although they could never seem to find our house. They always delivered our packages to the neighbor with the noisiest dog). Add our PO box to that and you have a mess, because often companies I have ordered from will say they use one carrier, but actually use another. In fact just this morning I emailed a company that claims to use Fedex Ground to ask where my order is. They replied with a UPS tracking number. This is not just an infequent, random problem.

More Confusion
When we got our business phone Verizon insisted on basing our Yellow Pages listing on our street address (Groton), not our mailing address (Lansing PO Box). That was a problem, because all our business is in the Lansing and Ithaca areas, not Groton or Cortland. Groton is in the Cortland book, not the Ithaca book. So I called the phone company. The first several employees I spoke to were unable to help me. As it turned out they didn't even know their own company policy, so they put me on hold and transferred me from department to department (including the same departments I had already spoken to. The last woman knew that in strangely addressed areas like ours we would appear in both Yellow Pages. I wasted almost an hour on the phone finding that out.

Still More Confusion
Our personal credit card is from the same bank as our business card. Both are billed at our PO Boxes. When I order something online or on the phone I use 14882 as the billing ZIP code for my personal card. But even though our business card gets its bills at the Lansing PO Box, I learned that they use our Groton street address when confirming charges. I learned that because a charge was denied when I entered 14882 as the billing ZIP code on an order. It took four phone calls to straighten that out.

Location Again
Our friends know where we live, and they know it is in the Town of Lansing. We have actually gotten Christmas Cards four months late, because they sent cards to our street address but with 'Lansing, NY 14882' instead of 'Groton, NY 13073.' It took that long for the Postal Service to return the card to the sender, and then for our friends to call us asking what the problem was, and then to resend it to our PO Box or using Groton instead of Lansing.

Not that it isn't fun having Christmas in April, but it goes to show that most people think that your address is where you actually live.

What a concept!

The Postal Service does provide recourse for communities that want their ZIP codes reassigned. Their Web site outlines a Boundary Review Process. "While the Postal Service must be guided by concerns for service and efficiency, it does appreciate the identity and addressing concerns of local communities," the site explains. "Therefore, municipal requests to modify authorized last lines of address and/or ZIP Code boundaries in order to provide municipal identity, especially in undeveloped areas, will be considered and every reasonable effort will be made to accommodate them."

Community groups may also petition, though I suspect requests are more effective coming from local governments. There is even an appeal process if the request is denied. I think that as the fastest growing community in Tompkins County the time has come for all Lansing residents to have Lansing mailing addresses. It is time for our Town and Village officials to start the process of petitioning the Post Office and follow through until Lansing gets its own postal identity.

One town, one ZIP code. It just makes sense.

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v4i8

Jun July 2008 Aug