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Speaker 1: The Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to this Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that decodes history one day at a time.

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Speaker 1: I'm Gaye Lousier and today we're celebrating the humble zip code,

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Speaker 1: an innovation that revolutionized the US Postal Service and helped

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Speaker 1: it keep up with an ever growing mail volume brought

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Speaker 1: on by urbanization and the post war boom. The day

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Speaker 1: was July one, nineteen sixty three. The zip code was

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Speaker 1: introduced as part of a nationwide effort to improve the

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Speaker 1: speed of mail delivery in the United States. Despite its

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Speaker 1: rollout in the early nineteen sixties, the zip code system

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Speaker 1: was originally developed as a time saving tool to help

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Speaker 1: understaffed post offices during World War Two. However, the idea

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Speaker 1: was eventually shelved and wouldn't be put to wide scale

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Speaker 1: use until twenty years later. Many people don't realize it,

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Speaker 1: but the ZIP in zip code is actually an acronym

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Speaker 1: that stands for Zoning Improvement Plan, and in this case,

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Speaker 1: the name really does say at all. The code was

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Speaker 1: part of a plan to improve the way that mail

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Speaker 1: was sorted by address. Under the old system, postal workers

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Speaker 1: had to hand sort letters by city address, which not

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Speaker 1: only took a long time, but also required an almost

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Speaker 1: encyclopedic knowledge of geography. The numbers in a zip code, however,

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Speaker 1: specify the exact region or zone of the country to

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Speaker 1: which a piece of mail should be delivered. This helpful

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Speaker 1: string of numbers enabled the use of new technologies, including

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Speaker 1: optical scanners, which were able to electronically scan and sort

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Speaker 1: mail using that coded information. With this new machinery and

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Speaker 1: the advent of zip codes, a single postal worker was

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Speaker 1: able to sort up to thirty thousand letters per hour,

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Speaker 1: nearly ten times the amount that could be hand sorted

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Speaker 1: in the same amount of time. To be clear, though,

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Speaker 1: that kind of improvement didn't happen all at once. Zip

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Speaker 1: codes first had to be introduced and widely adopted in

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Speaker 1: order to justify the investment in costly new scanners and

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Speaker 1: sorting machines. Unfortunately, getting the public on board with the

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Speaker 1: project proved harder than expected. At first, government agencies and

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Speaker 1: large bulk mailers like magazine distributors were the only ones

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Speaker 1: to consistently use the new zip codes. Private citizens were

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Speaker 1: much slower to embrace the new system for their personal correspondence,

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Speaker 1: and that was a major problem, since zip codes could

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Speaker 1: only work as intended if everyone used them. The postal

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Speaker 1: service came up with some creative and pretty bizarre methods

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Speaker 1: for getting the public on board with zip codes. But

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Speaker 1: before we get into that, I want to take a

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Speaker 1: second to explain what the five digits and a zip

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Speaker 1: code actually mean. That's the best way to understand why

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Speaker 1: they were such a game changer for male delivery. So,

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Speaker 1: starting from the left, the first digit represents the region

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Speaker 1: or zone where the street address is located. For the

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Speaker 1: purpose of zip codes, the country is split into ten

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Speaker 1: zones numbered zero to nine. The number increases as you

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Speaker 1: go from the east coast to the west, So, for example,

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Speaker 1: the easternmost states like Maine and New York have zip

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Speaker 1: codes that begin with a zero or a one. Maryland

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Speaker 1: is a two, and so on until you reach western

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Speaker 1: states like California and Washington, which both begin with a nine.

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Speaker 1: The other four digits of a zip code specify the

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Speaker 1: location of an address even further. The second digit corresponds

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Speaker 1: to a state or to two or more or less

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Speaker 1: populous states, and the third digit identifies the central post

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Speaker 1: facility that services that area. Last, the fourth and fifth

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Speaker 1: digits of a ZIP code signify the local post office

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Speaker 1: that delivers mail to the given address. As you probably

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Speaker 1: just noticed, there's a great deal of information contained in

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Speaker 1: those five little numbers, but not a lot of entertainment

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Speaker 1: value in explaining what they all mean. Thankfully, the US

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Speaker 1: Postal Service recognized that drawback and launched a flashy advertising

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Speaker 1: campaign to help explain and raise awareness of the new

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Speaker 1: ZIP code system. This included celebrity endorsements like in this

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Speaker 1: TV spot where Broadway star ethel Merman sings a jingle

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Speaker 1: about zip codes set to the tune of Zippity DooDah,

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Speaker 1: Welcome to zip call, learn a two day send your

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Speaker 1: mail out the five digit way. The Postal Department also

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Speaker 1: created a new cartoon mascot named Mr Zip to highlight

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Speaker 1: all the speed and efficiency that zip codes would bring

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Speaker 1: to mail delivery. If you've never seen Mr Zip or

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Speaker 1: Zippy as he's no to his friends, he's basically a

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Speaker 1: smiling orange skin stick figure mail carrier dressed in a

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Speaker 1: blue uniform with a mail bag over his shoulder and

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Speaker 1: old letter in hand. Mr Zip appeared in print and

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Speaker 1: TV ads throughout the nineteen sixties and seventies. He was

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Speaker 1: sometimes featured with other zip code promoters like ethel Merman,

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Speaker 1: comic strip Detective Dick Tracy, and American folk band The

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Speaker 1: Swinging Six. Who are the Swinging Six? I'll pretend you asked?

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Speaker 1: They were a little known pop folk group from the

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Speaker 1: nineteen sixties who were best remembered today for the epic

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Speaker 1: fifteen minute musical p s A they made for the

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Speaker 1: Postal Service broadcast on local TV channels beginning in nineteen

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Speaker 1: sixty seven. Zip Code with The Swinging Six used upbeat,

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Speaker 1: original songs, camp be comedic skits, and animated graphics to

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Speaker 1: encourage the reluctant public to finally embrace zip codes. There's

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Speaker 1: really no way to do the add justice just by

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Speaker 1: talking about it. You really need to see it for yourself,

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Speaker 1: which you can on YouTube. But for now, here's a

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Speaker 1: clip from the opening song to whet your appetite well fast.

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Speaker 1: The thirteen comment cry was freedom and hard to defend.

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Speaker 1: This maid in a letter wasn't much trouble. There are

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Speaker 1: too many places to send it. But now it's a

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Speaker 1: different story. They've got more mail than ever before. It's

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Speaker 1: stopped and daggs stacked on shell. It's hardly room for

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Speaker 1: anything more, there's better mail explosion. They've got, you've got

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Speaker 1: a Clearly, the postal service pulled out all the stops

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Speaker 1: to sell the country on the importance of zip codes,

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Speaker 1: and by all accounts, Mr Zip and the Swinging six

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Speaker 1: really seemed to do the trick. Zippy in particular, became

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Speaker 1: something of a culture icon, appearing on magazines, mail trucks,

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Speaker 1: and even consumer goods like lunch boxes, tin banks, and

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Speaker 1: bobble heads. But the surest sign of mr Zip's success

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Speaker 1: was that by seventy just seven years after the start

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Speaker 1: of the campaign, zip code usage had reached eighties six

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Speaker 1: percent nationwide, and by the end of the decade it

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Speaker 1: had climbed to ninety seven percent. It took a lot

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Speaker 1: more time and effort than anyone had expected, but in

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Speaker 1: the end, the zip code finally lived up to its

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Speaker 1: full potential, and postal workers across the country and got

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Speaker 1: some much needed breathing room. It was a solid wind

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Speaker 1: for the country, no doubt, but all that success does

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Speaker 1: kind of make you feel for Mr Zip. He played

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Speaker 1: a crucial role in getting the country on board with

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Speaker 1: the system, but he's basically been left by the wayside

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Speaker 1: ever since. Sure, he's appeared on a few commemorative stamps

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Speaker 1: here and there, but that's a far cry from hob

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Speaker 1: nobbing with Dick Tracy. The worst part is mr Zip

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Speaker 1: wasn't even replaced with better mascot, or any mascot. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: there's a vaguely defined eagle head on the current Postal

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Speaker 1: Service logo, but that hardly counts. And that's why I'm

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Speaker 1: urging all like minded listeners to write to the Postmaster

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Speaker 1: General and call for the immediate reinstatement of mr Zip.

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Speaker 1: A simple email will suffice, but I recommend sending an

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Speaker 1: old school paper letter with a stamp and everything you

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Speaker 1: know to really get on their good side. I'm Gabe

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Speaker 1: Lousier and hopefully you now know a little more about

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Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. If you have a

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Speaker 1: second and you're so inclined, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at t D I HC show. You can

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Speaker 1: also pass along any comments, questions, or concerns you might

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Speaker 1: have by dropping us a line at this day at

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Speaker 1: I heart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for

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Speaker 1: producing the show, and thanks to you for listening. I'll

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Speaker 1: see you back here again soon for another day in

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Speaker 1: history class the H