Fun Fact: The U.S. ZIp Code digit 9 actually extends *outside* of the United States, to Palau, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands. The U.S. took control of these islands from Japan after World War II and even though they're now independent countries they are still served by the U.S. Postal Service and treated as domestic addresses for American shipping.
Alright well I guess I'm gonna start writing my +4 on everything now just because it's peak efficient. Thank you Grey, very cool, the post office folks will be very pleased they no longer have to figure out my package routes when the code can do it for them
@ I asked politely and wearily where the real videos were BEFORE I saw the notification about this premier. I got my answer (and I’m very pleased with it!). So chill, please!
@@TitenMakesMusic You were complaining about Grey's output being purely commercial. (You sure as hell weren't "asking politely and wearily" and I was not joking to you -- I was reinforcing your stated fact). I responded that was true. Then you, here, under this video, backpedalled faster than a Trump appointee. I didn't. I agreed that, yes, he was only doing notebook sales videos under that notebook vide. You then commented here -- I mean, it's right FUCKING THERE, dude -- "We are SO back." Again, zero integrity: He's only doing notebook sales videos | WOOO! Videos are back! One video does not offset an entire year's worth of Grey not posting videos, but the second he made this one, your ass flipped instantly. That's the zero integrity element, champ. It's not tough.
I drummed my feet against the floor at a new CGP Grey video and this did not disappoint. I was entranced, I laughed, I cried. It was an epic compressed to 7 minutes. Perfection.
2:48 Unfortunately (according to a quick google search) this is called a "Sectional center facility" (SCF), not a "Sectional facility center". This, of course, doesn't matter at all.
Please, for the love of all that is good: in most (at least many) cases the ZIP+4 uniquely identifies your address. If you’re going to block out your address, also block out at least the plus 4. As an example, someone shared an envelope, and blacked out their entire address except the ZIP+4, and after looking up that, I knew they lived in apartment number 14, because apartment 13 and 15 both had different ZIP+4s.
And this fact should be fairly clear by the length of the code if you think about it. 5+4=9 digits, which means 10^9 = 1 billion possible ZIP+4 codes. That's enough for 3 per person, and most people a) don't have 3 addresses and b) live with at least one other person. So even after factoring in all the corporate buildings and such which aren't tied to a particular person, it should still be enough for everyone to have a unique ZIP+4.
Fun Fact: In Germany, from 1990 onwards, there was a four-digit postcode system. There was a problem: the postcodes often overlapped, for example 2300 was used for Stralsund and Kiel. There was a way to get around this: W (west) and O (east) were written in front of the number. That means O-2300 for Stralsund and W-2300 for Kiel. From October 24, 1991, the board of the German Federal Postal Service (today: Deutsche Post AG, or DHL Group for short) decided on a completely new five-digit system.
My big complaint is that I keep trying to do my ZIP+4 only to have web forms refuse to accept the extra four digits because whoever DESIGNED THE ORDER FORM is quite certain a zip code is only 5 digits
In Germany the purpose of zip codes is in the name. We call them postal guiding codes (Postleitzahl) as it guides the post on how to get to the final post office.
Oh poor Grey... I can only imagine the rabbit hole that you went down to make this video and I love you all the more for it. Thank you again for tackling a complex topic and breaking it down with enough nuance to hint at the reasons for an imperfect system and how it came to be while also explaining it.
As someone who has lived 90% of my life in New Jersey and Massachusetts, I always thought other states were weird for having zip codes that don't start with 0. Now I know the truth
Imagine if every zip code started with a 0. You'd have to wonder what that 0 was for. What is the government hiding? What happens if you remove the 0 or put a different digit there? Does it get delivered to subterranean lizard people?
When mailing internationally... you probably should include the country. ON THE LAST LINE, below the postal code. Because the US sorters may not know a Canada post code from one in England. If the address ends 'Ontario, CA M5G 1X6', country before the postal code, your package *will* go on a trip to Ontario California. Same applies to mailing things to the US, the country one line down from the zip - otherwise the sorters may wig out and ship our international mail back to Japan or wherever it came from. Cheers.
For multi-story apartment buildings, Ireland's postal code just gets you to the building, right? You still have to write apartment/unit information on the letter?
There's actually a dotted notation you can append that specifies altitude (in standard potatoes), 4th dimensional offset, and time dilation increment. It's meant to work through a stargate, should any be found.
5:24 I think this is the first time, in a long time, that someone other than Grey spoke more than two sentences with their mouth OPEN Dear lord Grey is evolving
During this dark week where we're hurtling faster than ever towards destruction from an uncaring (and now possibly Chinese) machine god, I did not know that I needed a CGP Grey video on postcodes. But it's exactly what I needed!
Postcode went a bit complicated in Germany after reunification, Imagine a country almost doubling in size. To keep most of the old numbering system they basically just added another number in front.
The downside to Ireland's method is that if their electronic infrastructure breaks down, the databases become unusable or the automatic sorting machines won't work, then humans are going to have a hell of a time sorting all the mail by hand... I'm a software engineer and I think it's incredibly dumb to make societal functions so heavily reliant on software that you cannot do the work by hand. Software should serve an assisting function, not be relied upon.
@@rich9684 Not necessarily. It could be the only thing that fails, but the mail still needs to be delivered. The mail should be delivered even if there's a war or blackout. As long as it's not dangerous for the staff to go outside, the mail should be sorted and delivered. A small delay is fine, but you cannot have important societal functions come to a halt because of problems with computers or electricity. My point is that important functions must have redundancies that allow the work to be done manually. If you build your system in a way that REQUIRES computers to function, then you're building them for total collapse when something goes wrong. For an analogy: Imagine if car wheels locked up if the engine died. You couldn't roll to the side of the road or even push the car out of the way. You'd come to a complete standstill in the middle of a highway and couldn't do anything about it.
Hopefully now we can get an explainer on what caused the delays and can expect more vids in the future! Hope whatever the issue was was transitory and wishing you well, Grey.
1:07 I'm sure this was just for rhyming purposes, but the suggestion that Maryland and West Virginia are in any way part of the south hurts me a little as a native Marylander
The other one was an ad. I bet they made it a double whammy so that long-time subscribers wouldn't be upset about waiting for months only for an ad to be the only thing they get.
Probably not. The first three places allow for 42,875 sorting centres, and the remaining four allow for 1,500,625 addresses near each one. That creates a grand total of 64 billion unique addresses, which the US probably needs what, a few percent of? That's vs Ireland's basically none of. The system scales!
During ireland explanation, you passed by, an hair away, justifying the use of W3W as destination address. It may not suffice for large buildings with more than 4 families under the same roof, but it would work for most other cases.
New Sidekick Notebook designs available today! ua-cam.com/video/lk4lBV5wgGM/v-deo.html
I absolutely love that the chaos of Ireland's post codes makes it super easy to add or remove addresses with absolutely no fuss, that's amazing
uniqueId for the win
Ireland sometimes doesn't need the Eircode either. The An Post guy is such a boss that I've had mail arrive with just my name on it.
Fun Fact: The U.S. ZIp Code digit 9 actually extends *outside* of the United States, to Palau, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands. The U.S. took control of these islands from Japan after World War II and even though they're now independent countries they are still served by the U.S. Postal Service and treated as domestic addresses for American shipping.
@DecafPotato compact of free association. The us also handles their security.
welp guess its time to mail something to palau
wait nvm i dont live in the us
Alright well I guess I'm gonna start writing my +4 on everything now just because it's peak efficient. Thank you Grey, very cool, the post office folks will be very pleased they no longer have to figure out my package routes when the code can do it for them
But, like... different websites give me different +4s for my address! I'm never sure which one is right! :P
We are SO back.
You were JUST bitching about CGP Grey not posting videos that weren't selling a product, you human integrity void.
@ I asked politely and wearily where the real videos were BEFORE I saw the notification about this premier. I got my answer (and I’m very pleased with it!). So chill, please!
Hey, wait, you were the one who joked to ME that he’s “only making notebooks now.” Why are you coming at me for that? Whatever
@@TitenMakesMusic You were complaining about Grey's output being purely commercial. (You sure as hell weren't "asking politely and wearily" and I was not joking to you -- I was reinforcing your stated fact). I responded that was true. Then you, here, under this video, backpedalled faster than a Trump appointee. I didn't. I agreed that, yes, he was only doing notebook sales videos under that notebook vide. You then commented here -- I mean, it's right FUCKING THERE, dude -- "We are SO back." Again, zero integrity: He's only doing notebook sales videos | WOOO! Videos are back!
One video does not offset an entire year's worth of Grey not posting videos, but the second he made this one, your ass flipped instantly. That's the zero integrity element, champ. It's not tough.
@ You guys are now internet friends.
Given Japan's street address system. They should probably adopt Ireland's post code.
I drummed my feet against the floor at a new CGP Grey video and this did not disappoint. I was entranced, I laughed, I cried. It was an epic compressed to 7 minutes. Perfection.
2:48 Unfortunately (according to a quick google search) this is called a "Sectional center facility" (SCF), not a "Sectional facility center".
This, of course, doesn't matter at all.
Don't let him see that, or there wont be a new video for a few years
4:32 hey, that looks like a Dutch postal code... Wait a minute, it IS a dutch postal code!
It is the postal code of the Nederwaard in Kinderdijk. Which has a lot of windmills.
Please, for the love of all that is good: in most (at least many) cases the ZIP+4 uniquely identifies your address. If you’re going to block out your address, also block out at least the plus 4.
As an example, someone shared an envelope, and blacked out their entire address except the ZIP+4, and after looking up that, I knew they lived in apartment number 14, because apartment 13 and 15 both had different ZIP+4s.
And this fact should be fairly clear by the length of the code if you think about it. 5+4=9 digits, which means 10^9 = 1 billion possible ZIP+4 codes. That's enough for 3 per person, and most people a) don't have 3 addresses and b) live with at least one other person. So even after factoring in all the corporate buildings and such which aren't tied to a particular person, it should still be enough for everyone to have a unique ZIP+4.
7:45 did not foresee this fall 🤣
Fun Fact: In Germany, from 1990 onwards, there was a four-digit postcode system. There was a problem: the postcodes often overlapped, for example 2300 was used for Stralsund and Kiel. There was a way to get around this: W (west) and O (east) were written in front of the number. That means O-2300 for Stralsund and W-2300 for Kiel. From October 24, 1991, the board of the German Federal Postal Service (today: Deutsche Post AG, or DHL Group for short) decided on a completely new five-digit system.
My big complaint is that I keep trying to do my ZIP+4 only to have web forms refuse to accept the extra four digits because whoever DESIGNED THE ORDER FORM is quite certain a zip code is only 5 digits
In Germany the purpose of zip codes is in the name. We call them postal guiding codes (Postleitzahl) as it guides the post on how to get to the final post office.
Oh poor Grey... I can only imagine the rabbit hole that you went down to make this video and I love you all the more for it. Thank you again for tackling a complex topic and breaking it down with enough nuance to hint at the reasons for an imperfect system and how it came to be while also explaining it.
As someone who has lived 90% of my life in New Jersey and Massachusetts, I always thought other states were weird for having zip codes that don't start with 0. Now I know the truth
Imagine if every zip code started with a 0.
You'd have to wonder what that 0 was for. What is the government hiding? What happens if you remove the 0 or put a different digit there? Does it get delivered to subterranean lizard people?
was kinda hoping you would go into more countries postal code systems
Oh this is awesome.
Ireland is btw killing it
Gotta love the wild world of codes everybody has to live with but nobody understands
Good to see you again !
When mailing internationally... you probably should include the country. ON THE LAST LINE, below the postal code. Because the US sorters may not know a Canada post code from one in England. If the address ends 'Ontario, CA M5G 1X6', country before the postal code, your package *will* go on a trip to Ontario California.
Same applies to mailing things to the US, the country one line down from the zip - otherwise the sorters may wig out and ship our international mail back to Japan or wherever it came from.
Cheers.
CGP GREY IS ALIVE!?
Great video from famous notebook salesman CGP Grey!
Not gonna lie, I was grinning ear to ear when i saw the notification of a new video. :D
Same 😊
It has been so long since last CGP Grey upload
0:22 France is "numeric"! We use 5 digit post codes!! How is this data not known?
Yesssssss! TY!
I bet you loved using the new Minnesota flag on the stick figure’s skirt!
CGP Grey in 2025?!
So Ireland's postcodes are a bit like traditional postcodes and Plus codes / OpenLocationCodes combined. Smart!
Thanks!
Do I smell some Bonnie Bee postal codes in other countries videos popping up soon?
It was interesting living in Grenada - despite my best efforts I couldn't find a ZIP for that country
this is so fascinating omg
For multi-story apartment buildings, Ireland's postal code just gets you to the building, right? You still have to write apartment/unit information on the letter?
There's actually a dotted notation you can append that specifies altitude (in standard potatoes), 4th dimensional offset, and time dilation increment. It's meant to work through a stargate, should any be found.
Rewatching already! Very nais
Rejoice! The wanderer has returned! 🍀
Just add a geohash for that mathematical perfection.
5:24 I think this is the first time, in a long time, that someone other than Grey spoke more than two sentences with their mouth OPEN
Dear lord Grey is evolving
During this dark week where we're hurtling faster than ever towards destruction from an uncaring (and now possibly Chinese) machine god, I did not know that I needed a CGP Grey video on postcodes. But it's exactly what I needed!
1:50 I dont mean to be THAT person, but you forgot 94 lol (only noticed cause I live there)
New grey is not the highlight of my day I was expecting. But it’s sooooo welcome.
Postcode went a bit complicated in Germany after reunification, Imagine a country almost doubling in size. To keep most of the old numbering system they basically just added another number in front.
Éirinn go Brách!
If you were to send 1000 letters to Irish postcodes, given you restrict it to one postal area in, say, central Cork, how many would be delivered?
You mean the zip code isn't a good way to bundle population statistics based on land proximity? Data shock!
UPS still requires the zip code but doesn't use the same sorting centers, yes?
Is my resolution too low, or is the map accidentally orange above the Netherlands?
I'm becoming a post code perfectionist!!!
The downside to Ireland's method is that if their electronic infrastructure breaks down, the databases become unusable or the automatic sorting machines won't work, then humans are going to have a hell of a time sorting all the mail by hand...
I'm a software engineer and I think it's incredibly dumb to make societal functions so heavily reliant on software that you cannot do the work by hand. Software should serve an assisting function, not be relied upon.
I get what you’re saying but I think there will be bigger issues than sorting mail in that situation.
Yeah, but think what a boon it will be to the print industry to make those address books!
@@rich9684 Not necessarily. It could be the only thing that fails, but the mail still needs to be delivered. The mail should be delivered even if there's a war or blackout. As long as it's not dangerous for the staff to go outside, the mail should be sorted and delivered. A small delay is fine, but you cannot have important societal functions come to a halt because of problems with computers or electricity.
My point is that important functions must have redundancies that allow the work to be done manually. If you build your system in a way that REQUIRES computers to function, then you're building them for total collapse when something goes wrong.
For an analogy: Imagine if car wheels locked up if the engine died. You couldn't roll to the side of the road or even push the car out of the way. You'd come to a complete standstill in the middle of a highway and couldn't do anything about it.
That's why we don't suggest only the Eircode. You should do both :)
Christopher Billopp, a British loyalist who lived on satterlee st on staten island during the US Revolutionary war 🤓
That's so crazy
Hopefully now we can get an explainer on what caused the delays and can expect more vids in the future! Hope whatever the issue was was transitory and wishing you well, Grey.
I'm one of those weirdos that includes his +4 thank you very much.
Let’s go
1:07 I'm sure this was just for rhyming purposes, but the suggestion that Maryland and West Virginia are in any way part of the south hurts me a little as a native Marylander
Neat
So today we learn that Ireland is based
+
BABE WAKE UP, NEW CGP GREY VIDEO!!!
😊
I didn't get my email notification!
Update: I got the email after I finished the video 🙂
Did you use +4?
Belgian's use zip the word "code's" to 😅
2 videos in 1 day? Grey, are you OK?
The other one was an ad.
I bet they made it a double whammy so that long-time subscribers wouldn't be upset about waiting for months only for an ad to be the only thing they get.
Zip codes! (I use postal codes 😔)
YOUR BACK
Thank you!
Can we have American $5 coins now?
Put Lincoln on them and then let go of the penny.
Probably helps that Ireland is small. I'm guessing if you tried that in the US, you would get 50 digit postal codes!
Probably not. The first three places allow for 42,875 sorting centres, and the remaining four allow for 1,500,625 addresses near each one. That creates a grand total of 64 billion unique addresses, which the US probably needs what, a few percent of? That's vs Ireland's basically none of. The system scales!
During ireland explanation, you passed by, an hair away, justifying the use of W3W as destination address. It may not suffice for large buildings with more than 4 families under the same roof, but it would work for most other cases.
yet still no Indian reservations
Haters crying about no posts.
We need a new penny video! If anyone can kill the penny (and other useless coins) it’s Trump!