Good morning to you, Nancy.

Not sunny here today. It's cold (14 F or -10C) with lots of wind gusting in the 30s, plus lake effect snow. We have a fire going in the fireplace in spite of the fact that the wind is no doubt sucking heat up the chimney faster than the fire is adding it to the room. It's still a comfort as long as I don't think too much about the dollars going up the chimney.

We went to the farmers' market only to find out that they had cancelled it. Wusses!

OK, ZIP code. I'm pretty sure the Z stands for zone, and I have a guess for the letter I, but have nada for the P. Let the clues fly any time. :-)

TM

lol - hmmm. Well it's good that you immediately knew that it was an acronym. You seem to be doing well working it out, depending on you idea for I.
A fire sounds nice - I do miss a fireplace!!

Nancy.

I'm with TM on the Z standing for zone and a thought for I but P is still a mystery. I will check back later for clues.

Cold here but haven't seen any snow so far, if it ever dries up a bit I can get out and do a bit of pre-spring cleanup, stuff that should have been done in the fall. So looking forward to spring.

Annette

Agree with Z for zone, don't have I, perhaps P stands for Post.

Our kids are coming this afternoon for our Christmas celebration. Will check in as time allows.

Hmmm, well, it looks like we are all in agreement with zone (or zonal or zoning) and not sure of the rest. I do sort of know what the numbers refer to in the code.

For the other innovation, do you mean about mail in general or the zip code specifically?

I wonder if my mailman knows...hmmm...doubtful, but I won't cheat and ask him. :)

Cynthia

The second was another innovation to speed the mail up and standardize addresses - too much more and I'll give that away!!

Housemate Joyce gave me this question - it was on Pawnography and nobody got it!! As to the other 2 letters - well....it was a way to make things better!!

Nancy.

Hmmm. Did the second innovation have to do with the two-letter abbreviation for states? Or maybe the barcode printed on the envelopes? Or maybe an optical reader for the ZIP codes?

My guess for the letter I is Information, only because it seems to fit.

TM

Hmmm. Did the second innovation have to do with the two-letter abbreviation for states? Or maybe the barcode printed on the envelopes? Or maybe an optical reader for the ZIP codes?

My guess for the letter I is Information, only because it seems to fit.

TM

I think you gave us a clue for the I. Originally, I was thinking information, but now, I am thinking of something that goes with making things better! Seems like the need for these never ends around this house.

I like TM's idea of standardized two- letter state abbreviations. I remember writng Penna for Pennsylvania back in the day before PA.

Cynthia

Ah yes, making things better!! And Cynthia, you know, TM is a smart guy!!

Nancy - who used to write to her Aunt in Florida - FLA in the the US of A - made her crazy!! Guess it probably didn't impress the mail guys either!! lol.

OOO, sorry and information is incorrect - we are making things better, not educating!!

Nancy.

OK, making stuff up now -- Zone Improvement Proposal.
Or maybe Zone Improvement Plan

Or ...

TM

PS Sorry about the double post.

This post was edited by thinman on Sat, Jan 10, 15 at 19:09

I'm going with Zone Improvement, still stuck on the P although Plan might fit.
I'll go along with TM on the two letter abbreviation for the states.

Annette

Okay, liking the Zone Improvement Plan and also the two letter abbreviation for states. Thank you, TM! If I am right, it is mostly due to you - although I did pick up on you clue for improvement, Nancy. Still that is only a small part! :)

Cynthia

Well, it was an idea to make things better!!

Nancy.

ZIP, I'll go along with Zone Improvement Plan and the strandardized 2 letter state abreviation. I miss the old abreviations.

The other late improvement that hardly anybody uses is the added 4 digits to the standard Zip code. I use it whenever I'm sending packages as hear packages get sent quicker if they have the last four digits. No idea if that is true or not.

Had a great family Christmas. Kids(in their 30s with no children) had lots of info to share about recent trips and plans. Lots of laughter and talk, talk, talk.

What a great family gathering Bobbie, and no pressure from the other side of the family. That always makes conversation more comfortable, and kudos to you for allowing that!! Too many times I hear of the next generation (whichever generation that is) complaining about multiple requests for family dinners.

An improvement it was that they cooked up. And the mentioned extensions - oy!! Online credit card payments are often dependent on the correct address to match the account. you might be interested to know that not all banks did it the same way, in the beginning. That made for some unhappy customers, I can tell you.

Nancy - who is looking at the waning full moon out her window. Winter moons are so lovely!!

OK, well you all got it I believe?

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service (USPS) since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly (zipping along), when senders use the code in the postal address. The basic format consists of five decimal numerical digits. An extended ZIP+4 code, introduced in 1983, includes the five digits of the ZIP code, a hyphen, and four more digits that determine a more specific location within a given ZIP code. The USPS provides a free online lookup tool for ZIP codes at usps.com/zip4.

The term ZIP code was originally registered as a servicemark (a type of trademark) by the U.S. Postal Service, but its registration has since expired. USPS style for ZIP is all caps, although style sheets for some publications use sentence case or lowercase.

Simultaneously, along with the introduction of the ZIP code, two-letter state abbreviations were introduced, which are generally written with both letters capitalized. The reason for the two-letter abbreviations is that it was thought that a long city name coupled with a multi-letter state abbreviation (e.g.: Mass. for Massachusetts; Ca., Cal., or Calif. for California; Pa., Penn., or Penna. for Pennsylvania) would be too long for address labels used on magazines when the ZIP code was added. Robert Moon, an employee of the post office, is considered the father of the ZIP code; he submitted his proposal in 1944 while working as a postal inspector. No word on whether he got a bonus for the suggestion!

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Thanks for playing. See you all next week, and now over to Cynthia's question.

Nancy.

Very cool, Nancy! Thanks for the stars!

Cynthia

Thanks for the stars, Nancy, and the question which experience we all lived through and promptly took for granted forgetting the pertinent details.

Hey, we got it! Hooray for us.

Thanks, Nancy. Good question and, as Bobbie pointed out, one that we all knew at one time, but slipped away, as so many things do.

TM