[1521] in RISKS Forum
Re: "Unstable" postal addresses
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Barry Jaspan)
Mon Feb 28 21:00:12 2000
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Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 21:00:37 -0500
To: RISKS List Owner <risko@csl.sri.com>
From: Barry Jaspan <bjaspan@MIT.EDU>
Cc: risks@MIT.EDU
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Joseph A. Dellinger writes about the problems associated with having an
address with a letter in it: "123D Memorial Street."
My housemates and I know the problem well. We used to be "11B Valentine
St." So some of our mail went to 118, some to just 11, etc.
To make matters even more exciting, this house is part of a two-unit condo
complex. The other unit has the addresses 11 #1, 11 #2, and 13. So a lot
of mail to "11B" was delivered to "11 #2." Note that this wasn't always
computer error: the human postal carriers (usually subs when our usual
carrier was on vacation) often made this mistake, despite numerous posted
signs containing everyone's name at each box. I must admit that the
problem here lies in "design" of the addresses (11 #2 != 11B?!?) not really
in the carriers or computer software.
Our landlord contacted the city and, with remarkably little effort, our
house was changed to 9 Valentine St (which did not previous exist).
Problem solved.
Barry
