Postcodes

[Woodstock]

Does anyone know what date the Post Office brought in the use of Postcodes, please?

[puzzzzlers]

UK postal codes are known as postcodes. They are alphanumeric. These codes were introduced by the Royal Mail over a fifteen year period from 1959 to 1974. They have been widely adopted not just for their original purpose of automating the sorting of mail but for many other purposes � see Postcode lottery below.

However, as the format of the codes does not achieve its objective of primarily identifying the main sorting office and sub-office they have been supplemented by a newer system of five digit codes called Mailsort. Mail users who can deliver mail to the post office sorted by mailsort code receive discounts, whilst delivery by postcode provides no such incentive.

from: http://www.answers.com

[Woodstock]

Thanks for that very quick response. 

[gladmac]

You can get even better discounts using Walksort - i.e. sorting the mail into postman's rounds but you do need to do a large mailing.