Put the zip code first • Hacker News Board

Re: Put the zip code first

#281

Post by orphea » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 11:18 AM UTC

digitalPhonix wrote: post #276

sph wrote: post #115

Falsehoods US programmers believe about addresses: there are no other countries than the US of A, and if there are, they don’t really matter. This person bought a whole domain for something that doesn’t work for 90% of the world, claiming it does, never even testing their assumption. Great job!

> Fine, maybe country first. The purists in the comments are technically correct — postal codes aren't globally unique. You could do country first (pre-filled via IP), then postal code, then let the magic happen. The point was never "skip the country field." The point is: stop making me type things you already know. It’s addressed in the article (at the end, admittedly).

Perhaps the author should make the country dropdown consist of just two items: "US" and "Purists in the comments".

Re: Put the zip code first

#282

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 11:25 AM UTC

aleph_minus_one wrote: post #36

I guess a better proposal would be: - Put the country first - Put the zip code second

[deleted]

Re: Put the zip code first

#283

Post by johneth » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 11:41 AM UTC

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #280

fy20 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being from the England is even worse, 'Country' could be any of the following: United Kingdom Great Britain Britain England

Meanwhile, here in Bristol, a whole bunch of sites insist on using a drop down for the county and list "Avon" which doesn't even exist. It should be Bristol or possibly City of Bristol.

I think the county list is set in stone because Royal Mail refuses to update them (for some idiotic reason they still control the postcode database, which I guess lots of websites use and therefore use the old county names / boundaries). For example, it's still Humberside, even though that hasn't existed for decades.

Re: Put the zip code first

#284

Post by rerdavies » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 12:05 PM UTC

How about you put the address line first, and I press the TAB key to autofill.

Re: Put the zip code first

#285

Post by NicuCalcea » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 12:09 PM UTC

Stromanker wrote: post #187

NicuCalcea wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most British websites work like this website suggests, in that they ask for the postcode first, then give you a dropdown of all the addresses at that postcode. It works great, except my address is for some reason not in whatever databases these websites use. The building number is on the list, but not the individual flats. So I have to put in the postcode, choose something like "My address is not listed", then fill i…

It sounds like your address isn't listed correctly in the UK Postcode Address File (PAF).[0] There's a form you can fill in requesting a correction.[1] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postcode_Address_File [1] https://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/update-you...

Will do, thanks!

Re: Put the zip code first

#286

Post by tsoukase » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 12:26 PM UTC

While using imperial system and MM/DD/YY for dates, I doubt zip codes will follow a digital-frendly and world-aligned format.

Re: Put the zip code first

#287

Post by osherse » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 1:02 PM UTC

You know this is how we do it in the uk. Put in the post code then select the address. Post codes here are also really specific so usually it’s a few dozen addresses to pick from.

Re: Put the zip code first

#288

Post by bluGill » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 1:06 PM UTC

fingerlocks wrote: post #275

bluGill wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your zip plus 4 changes. It isn't worth trying to know as it isn't supposed to be constlnt. If you send a lot of mail there is a discount for using it but you have to update everyone's address often (iirt at least 4x per year)

Source? The numbers correspond to the USPS distribution centers and carrier routes. If the numbers are changing that would imply an increase in zip code subdivisions, making each zip code a better address predictor for a given individual.

https://faq.usps.com/s/article/ZIP-Code-The-Basics

I don't know how to link to the correct question but there is why did my code change.

Re: Put the zip code first

#289

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 1:13 PM UTC

modeless wrote: post #37

> From those 5 characters you can determine the city, the state, and the country False. Many zip codes include more than one city, and some even cross multiple states. And you can't always tell the difference between codes from different countries. Now you're not just instantly filling the rest of the form, you're implementing fancy multi-country filtering logic, editable drop downs, etc. Given the obvious incompeten…

[deleted]

Re: Put the zip code first

#290

Post by tomburgs » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 1:32 PM UTC

did an llm write this? how is it so confidently ignoring rest of the planet?

despite the obvious flaws others have already noted, plenty of countries include letters in their zipcodes, rendering the "Invoke the right keyboard" argument not only incorrect but potentially damaging to users or businesses who choose to follow this. if the website won't allow me to physically enter my zipcode, i'll just take my business elsewhere.