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Message 00100: Re: usps.gov



i ordered your stuff ... will let you know what happens.

On Jul 2, 2008, at 1:28 PM, Aaron Swartz wrote:

on page 103 of the pdf file below, I am somewhat unclear as to which zip+4
and five-digit-zip I should be ordering?

It appears you want ZP215R and FD215R which is all the data as of this
month on CD-ROM.

The order form includes a copyright agreement ... I will leave that field blank, give them my credit card number, and see if they ship. If they
charge me, you can do the paypal then.

Sounds good. I've also poked Robert to see what his status is.



On Jul 2, 2008, at 12:14 PM, Aaron Swartz wrote:

So one of the things we want to do on Watchdog is let people enter
their zip code and find out information about their neighborhood. But,
outrageously, the USPS's database about which zip codes are where
isn't available publicly. It's another one of these absurd government
mail-away-for-the-DVD things. (Did they all get some memo on this or
something?) Anyway, it looks like a couple thousand dollars for the
important databases. You interested? I can PayPal the money if
necessary.

http://www.usps.com/ncsc/
http://www.usps.com/ncsc/addressinfo/addressinfomenu.htm
Manual on ordering: http://ribbs.usps.gov/files/Addressing/PUBS/AIS.pdf

The important things seem to be:

- Five-Digit ZIP ($500; lists the streets for each zip code)
- ZIP+4 ($900; lists the addresses for each ZIP+4 code)
- City State (free with the above; maps to city and state names)
- TIGER/ZIP+4 ($700; lets you map the zip codes with Census data)

Delivery Statistics ($350; lists the number of deliveries to each zip
code) also looks kind of interesting.