Baytown, Richmond, Sugar Land to activate additional ZIP Codes effective July 1, 2008

Houston, TX — The U. S. Postal Service will soon begin the process of informing nearly 40,000 residential and business customers in Baytown, Richmond, and Sugar Land of the activation of new ZIP Codes in these communities, which will become effective July 1, 2008.

The ZIP Code changes and estimated number of customer addresses impacted are as follows:

City	Old Mail Deliver ZIP Code	New Mail delivery ZIP Code	Residential Customer Addresses Impacted	Business Customer Addresses Impacted	Total Addresses Impacted
Baytown	77520	77523	6375	248	6623
Richmond	77469	77406	10122	296	10418
Richmond	77469	77407	7143	73	7216
Sugar Land	77478	77498	15156	415	15571
Total					39828

These ZIP Code changes are necessary due to high levels of mail delivery growth in each of these communities,” said Teresa Brady, Post Office Operations Manager. “These additional ZIP Codes will ensure efficient mail delivery for all residents.”

Customers impacted by these ZIP Code changes will be notified by mail of their new ZIP Code between May 15 and June 1, 2008. Specific details regarding impacted addresses are not currently available. The change will not cause delays; however, mail for some impacted customers may be delivered by a different mail carrier or arrive at a different time of day. The delivery post office will not change.

To minimize the impact on residential and business customers who may have stationery and other office supplies bearing their previous ZIP Codes, the Postal Service has authorized a 12-month transition period, during which both the old and new ZIP Codes will be retained in Postal Service mail processing databases. This will allow automated mail processing equipment to recognize both the old and new ZIP Codes and continue to sort mail to the correct carrier route.

A transition period of up to twelve months beginning July 1, 2008 will be provided to impacted customers to totally integrate the changes. Customers are encouraged to begin using their new ZIP Code on all correspondence beginning June 1, 2008. Customers impacted by the ZIP Code changes should begin notifying their routine correspondents of the new address as soon as possible after June 1.

Residential customers and business owners who may have questions are invited to contact their local post office, or call 1-800-ASK-USPS.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation — 146 million homes and businesses. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.