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Back in the day, before there were zip codes, there were one- or two-digit “zones” stuck between the city or town and the state. Pittsburgh 17, Pennsylvania

Then, on July 1, 1963, the US Post Office Department officially replaced zones with five-digit “zip” codes, which stood for Zone Improvement Plan. Twenty years later, the nine-digit code was introduced.

At that point, I needed to write a poem. And here it is:

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published

They used to call it "zone"
(It was easier to phone)
And the digits numbered one, maybe two
They renamed it "zip code"
(Did they think it was "la mode"?)
And the digits numbered five, none too few
Now the zip code's lost its zip
("Postal Service Loses Grip!")
As we're headed for a nine digit fright
Though the research that we see
(That pertains to you and me)
Shows that seven is the most we can recite
Why this change from bad to worse?
Why be lengthy? Why not terse?
Is this alteration just another dictum?
Oh, well, everything is higher
Buy a stamp, a steak, a dryer
Seems inflation has decreed another victim

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