It has been nearly three months since the Foster City Council passed a resolution asking for zip code recognition and postal autonomy from the Postal Service. I sent our resolution along with correspondence asking for support to Senators Feinstein and Boxer, the Postmaster General along with an endless list of others whom I felt might be able to render assistance.
I am certain many of you wrote or called our government and postal officials as well because I received speedy replies from both Senators, the Postmaster General, Congressman Lantos’ office as well as the White House, which really impressed me since I did not even stop to consider writing to the President on this first go-around. Everyone was interested in helping us find resolution with this issue.
However, in keeping with their usual schedule, eventually I was notified by the Postal District Manager’s office who scheduled a meeting with us. So, Mayor Frisella and I along with our City Manager Jim Hardy met with the representatives of the Postal Service.
The meeting was quite informative and went quite well. We learned what we suspected all along which is that 94404 is a geographic designation of San Mateo. In order to obtain our own zip code it would require a referendum, which would take time and cost money. The result would be mixed because many of us still identify with 94404.
So how do we achieve postal recognition that identifies 94404 as Foster City and still allow our neighbors in San Mateo to keep their autonomy? After a lengthy discussion, one of the Postal Service managers, whose area of expertise is Address Management Systems, said she could easily add “Foster City” as the preferred last line on all addresses identified within Foster City limits.
Well, that resolved our identity crisis in a way that makes a great deal of sense. The only task remaining to complete this undertaking was for Foster City to verify all of the addresses within our City limits which, thanks to our efficient City staff, was accomplished quickly.
On February 26, 2008, I received a letter from Claude Wang who is the Manager of the Address Management Systems for the San Francisco Postal District. In the letter, he advised the City the Postal Service had made the necessary updates in their delivery database. Outstanding!
What this means to us is that the Postal Service now recognizes every street in Foster City as being in 94404 and does not affect those people who live in San Mateo, as their streets in 94404 will remain unchanged. Should you wish to check this out for yourself, check the USPS – Zip+4 Lookup. Upon entering your address and zip, the result will return Foster City as the city line. What joy!
In the overall scheme of things, this is a win-win situation for all parties. Nobody will have to suffer changing their stationery or losing their postal identity. Now here is the downside, the businesses that use USPS products and services are not required to apply all the features that come with the products to their systems.
Retailers and delivery services update the postal address lists they get from the Postal Service often, some do not. What this means is your address recognition as Foster City will not be automatic until businesses update their zip code lists. Nevertheless, it is out there and we are a first choice, not second.
I would also like to point out this entire endeavor was undertaken and performed at virtually no expense to the taxpayers.
As you well know, your Council Members work on a stipend and receive no remuneration for their efforts performed outside of scheduled Council meetings. The time spent by City staff was negligible and as such, this achievement was accomplished at nearly zero cost. As always I thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve.
You may contact me via e-mail jkiramis@fostercity.org.
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