What is the minimal possible UK address? • Hacker News Board

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#171

Post by joezydeco » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 5:00 PM UTC

xhkkffbf wrote: post #128

jrochkind1 wrote: post #80

In the US, someone I know who had a Post Office box liked writing simply `box-number zip-code` as their address. It worked. Eg, if you wrote on an envelope: 1034 21240 It would get there! You might want to add a "Box" before the "1034" to be safe -- and to disambiguate between a house number, as in OP? (I'm not sure just a house number would ever work in the USA?) But it looks cooler with just two numbers. Especially…

In many cases, the PO box number becomes the suffix of ZIP+4 so you could probably write 21240-1084. I have friends use this nine digit number as their return address. Note: the real barcodes use 11 digits. There are two extra digits beyond the Zip+4 that encode the stop along the route. The Zip+4 gets you to the block but then you need two more digits to specify the house/apartment etc. If you can decide the barcode…

My ZIP+4 describes exactly three houses - we're all on one side of one given block. I'm trying to figure out the minimum amount of info the delivery person would need to find my house among the other two.

Is it cheating if I put a photo of the house on the envelope?

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#172

Post by avalore » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 5:01 PM UTC

A friend of mine dropped out of university and went to live the "ski-bum" lifestyle in France. His mum wasn't happy with this and eventually took to writing letters to him addressed "Joe and his stupid friends, Chamonix". They all arrived without issues.

This was in the early 90's. I wonder how effective this would be now with more automated systems in use.

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#173

Post by Sharlin » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 5:02 PM UTC

jmfldn wrote: post #159

A postcode and house number is all that's needed in theory in the UK, so something like `2 A12 1XY`. In reality that would be weird and people would add the street and town. One issue also is that, even though the postcode pinpoints a small group of houses, it might happen to span two streets. It also gets complicated with flats and any number of other corner cases. Addresses are complicated as anyone who has had to…

You might want to read the (short) article ;)

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#174

Post by gpvos » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 5:02 PM UTC

skrebbel wrote: post #168

This works in the Netherlands too, and people commonly use the format for writing the sender address on the back of the envelope. Eg if you live on Braamstraat 11, 5614LK Eindhoven, you can write “5614LK 11” as the return-to-sender address and it’ll work. Post codes here are always \d{4}[A-Z]{2} so it’s obvious to anyone (incl the address scan computers) where the postcode ends and the house number starts. If you mai…

It is in fact guaranteed that house numbers are unique within a Dutch postcode. I'm not sure if that is the case in the UK.

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#175

Post by domh » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 5:03 PM UTC

I was actually thinking about this recently and came to the same conclusion. Postcodes are normally for 1 street only, so the house number + postcode are the only things required. Normally when giving my address I give the road name too, just so online mapping services function properly. Typing "20 SE1 6AD" into google maps doesn't work.

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#176

Post by madjam002 » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 5:03 PM UTC

_-____-_ wrote: post #118

madjam002 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are and they cost upwards of £20,000 a year for a license. There’s a reason why smaller delivery companies get the address wrong and that is probably part of the issue.

The official one provided by Royal Mail is called the Postcode Address File (PAF) [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postcode_Address_File

That doesn’t provide any geolocation information (unless it’s changed recently?), for that you need OS AddressBase

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#177

Post by Aromasin » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 5:04 PM UTC

theginger wrote: post #152

If you write to the DVLA (driver and vehicle licensing agency) they have various individual postcodes for different departments Eg SA99 1AR is vehicle customer services The whole of SA99 I'd dedicated to the DVLA, so simply SA99 on an envelope would probably get there, although written just DVLA would probably do that same.

Tangentially related, but I'm ordering a vehicle logbook from the DVLA at the moment. I'm a millennial/Gen-Z straddler, so it's been a real blast from the past-I-never-had.

I need to pay for my tax online. In order to do that, I need a number which is found in my logbook (V5C), which I've lost.

Can I do that online? Nope. To order a new log book, I need to fill out a V62 form and post it to the DVLA, along with a cheque for payment. That process takes 4-6 weeks. They don't accept cash. I don't own a cheque book. Guess I'll order one.

Can I do that online? No. I can't even get a cheque book from my normal bank, Monzo, as they deem them obsolete. I need to book an appointment with my old bank to pick one up.

Can I do that online? Of course not. I need to call them and find a spot. They don't have an appointment slot for the next couple of weeks.

The UK Government's website is normally wonderful. The fact I can't just pay for and order a new logbook online, or better yet, have a digital logbook so I never have to go through this pain in the first place, baffles me a little. I guess I'm not driving anywhere for the next few months. Suppose I'll be getting the train. Guess who's striking at the moment?

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#178

Post by billpg » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 5:04 PM UTC

ClapperHeid wrote: post #37

BasedInfra wrote: post #6

You can put just ‘HMRC’ (UK tax department) on a letter (with paid postage) and it will get to them.

...and, if you write to a member of parliament at the Houses of Parliament, you don't have to use a stamp. So presumably... HP ...with no stamp on the envelope could theoretically work. Now, which MP has the shortest name?

Ed Davey, Tom Hunt, Rupa Huq, Ben Lake, Ian Levy, Alan Mak, Lia Nici, Naz Shah.

I daresay "A Mak" or "R Huq" would work too.

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#179

Post by gumby » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 5:08 PM UTC

In the UK there are several single-line addresses that would probably work (10 Downing St, His Majesty the King, Blenheim Palace, Chatsworth) but they all use more characters than the example presented.

Could the number of characters be reduced?

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#180

Post by poulsbohemian » Thu, Mar 02, 2023, 5:08 PM UTC

Aren't there enough named houses in the UK that you could just write something like "Buckingham Palace" or "Downton Abbey" and it would get there without further need of address?