No matter how much a computer geek would prefer otherwise, we still have to use the US Postal Mail service to get things done for certain things, particularly when it comes to signed documents, physical receipt of delivery and so on. As good as email is, its status as far as "being an official document" is concerned still doesn’t hold the same weight as a real document, so to speak.

If there is any one thing that will get your letter delivered properly, it’s having the correct ZIP code on the address line. Even with minor mistakes contained in the street address, if the ZIP code is correct, the letter still stands a very good chance of being delivered properly.

A site you absolutely need to bookmark is ZIPinfo.com’s ZIP code lookup. Punch in the name of the city/town and state, and all the ZIPs will be shown for the area you selected. Believe me when I say you will be very happy to have this at-the-ready, especially for those of you who make shipments often (such as from eBay sales).

Getting ZIP code border information

Why would anyone need to know the borders of a ZIP code? There are actually several answers.

US cities and towns pay very close attention to where ZIP borders lie because it determines who is responsible for what.

A few examples:

• In many regions the ZIP borders define school districts, particularly in larger towns where districts have to be "broken up" in order to service the population.
• Crossing a ZIP border may subject you to different local laws and ordinances, and this information is particularly useful to property owners. One ZIP region may allow for erecting a building without a permit while the other one adjacent to it requires it.
• ZIPs do define parts of a city that are either incorporated or unincorporated. If you’re currently shopping for a home, you may find that local taxes are less in the unincorporated areas (mainly because there’s no municipal government for that area, which some find very attractive).

Previously, the way I instructed how to get ZIP borders was to use Google Earth. Fortunately now you can get the same information in Google Maps without having to install anything.

To get the borders of a ZIP code on Google Maps

Using Tampa, Florida as an example, that city has a ton of ZIP codes, but we’ll be using 33602.

On a search for the term 33602 in Google Maps and nothing else, you can see a pink border with a gray dashed outline showing the borders of the ZIP:

When zooming in, the pink color disappears, but the dashed gray border remains, which you can follow:

If you zoom out, the pink color returns, and the further you zoom out, the darker it gets:

"I searched my ZIP code but I don’t see any dashed outline or pink background"

Some ZIPs are mailing-office-only locations which have no borders defined outside of the post office that services it, and you will need to pick a ZIP that has literal boundaries assigned to it.

For example, Tampa 33601 does not show any boundaries because it doesn’t have any.

If you run into the situation where you don’t see any borders, use the ZIPinfo.com lookup linked above, search your city/town and see what other ZIP codes are defined for the area. Chances are the one you want is there, and you can search that to see the defined ZIP code borders.

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