Format of Postal Codes (PLZ)
The Swiss postal codes are assigned geographically, from west to east. They don't follow political divisions (cantons, districts), but they follow a routing allocation, following railways and post car routes. The postal code of big cities finish with 00, and it is not allocated if in the region there isn't a big center.
Switzerland is divided into nine postal districts, numbered from west to east. Each district is subdivided into postal areas. Each area contains a maximum of one hundred units. The postal codes are made up as follows:
- 3436 Zollbrück
- 3 = district (Berne)
- 34 = area (Burgdorf)
- 343 = route (Burgdorf - Langnau)
- 3436 = post office number (Zollbrück)
Today, the third digit has no real meaning anymore. In the past, mail was assigned to fixed railway or truck routes, but modern logistics do not need this practice anymore.
Postal codes of Liechtenstein are included in the same structure, using the range from 9480 to 9499.
As special cases:
- the Italian territory of Campione has the postal code 6911 for mail passing through Swiss post.
- also located in Italy, the Swiss post office in Domodossola has the code 3907.
- the German territory of Büsingen has the postal code 8238 for mail passing through Swiss post.
Read more about this topic: Postal Codes In Switzerland And Liechtenstein
Famous quotes containing the words postal and/or codes:
“This is the Night Mail crossing the Border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,
Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the corner, the girl next door.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)
“We must trust infinitely to the beneficent necessity which shines through all laws. Human nature expresses itself in them as characteristically as in statues, or songs, or railroads, and an abstract of the codes of nations would be an abstract of the common conscience.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)