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twodaveyesterday at 2:46 AM1 replyview on HN

The census bureau (very) periodically publishes zip code data (which is where some places get their geolocation info). If you work with enough addresses you’ll find some zip+4s that are wildly far away from where they used to be. There are paid services that have better accuracy, but I’m not sure how they acquire their data.


Replies

bombcaryesterday at 2:53 AM

Some people don't realize just how much you can "customize" deliverability with the post office, especially if you're big (like a school or large business) - you can have something that looks like your physical address, but is actually really a maildrop/PO Box at the nearby post office.

You can do relatively complex forwarding that would only appear to the end users if they can decode the barcode.