CC celebrates Zip Code Day

By Amie Johansen

amie@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Post Office was the place to be Friday afternoon in celebration of Zip Code Day. Community members sporting their zip code day shirts gathered on the steps of the post office.

Phil Hess was among the celebrants. Hess was working for the post office in Arizona when the zip code was implemented. As the postmaster, Hess was responsible for helping to market the five digits.

According to Hess, the first plan was to stamp the new zip codes to postcards and hand them out to every resident. While hand stamping would work for small towns, it was not a practical solution for large cities.

“I designed a card to run in the cancelling machine,” he said.

Once cancelled, the card would have the zip code scrawled over it. These cards were then sent out in the mail.

In order to ensure the zip code would be used, Hess was asked to help market the its use. Starting with the future letter senders, Hess spoke with juniors and seniors at area high schools about the zip code.

Before the zip code, postal workers were required to memorize the location of every city, Hess explained. The zip code made sorting mail much faster.

Because of his experience with implementing the zip code, Hess was asked to help it install it in various places in the southwest United States.

According to a bio written about Hess, after training in Memphis, Tenn, he assigned the codes in northern Arizona, then implemented the codes in the rest of Arizona, parts of California, all of Nevada, and parts of Utah. He audited the program for southern Colorado. He thinks he might be the only person still alive who worked on both the Zip Code and the Zip+4.

The Zip Code Day celebration ended with a group photo atop the post office stairs.