In uk.transport.london message YEm5o.25446$RO5.25424@hurricane, Sun, 1
Aug 2010 23:35:36, Richard J. posted:


Because our postcode system has a far finer resolution than most other
countries, and therefore enables greater automation and efficiency in
Royal Mail (in theory), as well as enabling many other applications
such as satnav and location finding on online maps. Why would you want
to degrade our excellent postcode system?

The postcode system ideally suits the postal authorities, and no-one
else very much.

The second part is more-or-less arbitrary, being designed for final
sorting and delivery - few people could say where most second-halves
referred to, even within their local first-half, except for those that
they actually post to or from.

Sorting machines in 2010 can have enormously more memory and computing
power than those dating from the beginning of coded sorting; it would be
perfectly easy to give each named neighbourhood a coded form
recognisable as built from country, county, city/town/village,
neighbourhood (and recognisable different from postcode first-halves).
Then those could be allowed on letters, and translated by look-up in RAM
into as much of the existing code as appropriate.

The coding would be more easily recognisable, and could be used for
other purposes.

--
(c) John Stockton, nr London, UK. Turnpike v6.05.
Web URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/ - w. FAQish topics, links, acronyms
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