On: Ziptastic: Isn't a zipcode enough?

[tedyoung]

I just love it when people create projects to solve problems that have already been solved before. 5 minutes of web searching would have told you:

* The USPS already has this information

* ZIP codes are not precise enough to provide a single city/town result (in fact, many web sites already get this wrong).

* ZIP+4 codes will give you block-level detail, but I doubt more than a few percent of people know what their +4 digits are.

[draebek → tedyoung]

The USPS already has this information

The USPS does have this information, but when I checked a year or two ago, you either have to (1) agree to use the information only for purposes of mailing packages, per their TOS; or (2) pay them, e.g. something like $500 for a list of all five digit ZIP codes plus associated cities and states (the "City State File").

Corrections very welcome!

Edit to add: As philfreo asked, I'm also very interested in knowing where the data in zipcodes.db comes from.

[gm → tedyoung]

* Who cares if the USPS already has it? The app developer is the one seeking it.

* And USPS does not give the DB away for free.

* Your attitude sucks. And your 5 minutes of searching were not enough.

[rmc → tedyoung]

Less space than a Nomad. No wireless. Lame.

[drivebyacct2 → tedyoung]

What a poor attitude.