[AccessD] OT: US Zip codes

Not sure of the details in the US, but in Canada you can buy into a Postal
Code service with Canada Post (Post office). They supply the latest
authoritative list of new, deleted, reprofiled Postal Codes. However, it is
quite costly. Many people use copies of files from some date (not sure of
the legality of that) and of course such applications do not get the
updates/deletions etc.

Seems from the posts here that perhaps some Tax authority may have  a
Taxation / Zip code service that could be used. Again these things may only
be state based and costly.

jack


On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 11:11 AM, Doug Murphy <dw-murphy at cox.net> wrote:

> Jim,
>
> It might be worth looking at the Google maps api. I did some experimenting
> a
> few years ago and was able to resolve addresses to lat/long and zip. There
> are some restrictions as I recollect like having a Google account, limited
> number of queries per day, etc. Depending on your requirements it might
> work. I would think Google would keep current on zip changes, but that is
> an
> assumption.
>
> Doug
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jim Dettman
> Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2012 6:34 AM
> To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: US Zip codes
>
> Michael,
>
>  Thanks for that.
>
>  Raises a lot of issues moving forward too...many companies base sales tax
> on zip or zip+4. Zip+4 is a lot more accurate, but it's a royal pain to
> verify street addresses, especially on web orders, so many (including my
> client) only base sales tax on zip.
>
>  The problem with that however is there can be a mis-match between taxing
> jurisdictions and postal zones.  In the past, it wasn't enough to worry
> about and every state I'm aware of accepted sales tax based on zip.  With
> post offices closing down however, that mis-match will only get larger.
>
> Jim.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Michael Mattys
> Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2012 11:49 PM
> To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: US Zip codes
>
> Believe it or not, they simply discontinued that Zip Code.
> It appears that the post office was shut down there so the new identifier
> is
> a placename: Cadiz, OH 43907.
>
> Michael R Mattys
> Mattys Consulting, LLC
> www.mattysconsulting.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jim Dettman
> Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2012 2:04 PM
> To: AccessD List
> Subject: [AccessD] OT: US Zip codes
>
> All,
>
>  A while back, a link was posted on the list for a geo database containing
> all US Zip codes, which was part of a web site.
>
>  Recently with a client, I had reason to compare this list with one
> provided
> by CCH for CA and OH for sales tax purposes.  When I compared the two, I
> found 231 zips that existed in the Geo database that were not in the CCH
> database.  Checking the web, I found a few web sites saying these were
> valid, but after contacting CCH, they pointed out that they are not
> according to the US Post Office.
>
>  One such is:
>
> '43989','Short Creek','OH','40.296490','-81.102502',-5,1,'us'
>
>  We discovered this when my client had a customer place an order using this
> zip and it didn't calculate sales tax.   According to the US Post office
> and
> UPS, it's not a valid zip.  Yet the city name the customer entered matches
> the geo database entry and a couple of sites out on the web (i.e.
> www.uszips.com <http://www.uszips.com/> )
>
>  Anyone worked with US zip codes and might have an idea of where the
> disconnect is or why?  I'm left scratching my head between a customer that
> believes they are using a valid zip and USPS and UPS saying it's not.
>
> Jim.
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