MIG wrote:

Deleting anything from databases always seems risky practice to me,
but I suppose it would be archived somehow.

True but in this case they have multiple counties in the database to handle
the various changes over the years (and even list some unitary authorities
as "counties") and it's probable that the regular shake-ups of local
government are creaing so many variants that it's getting too much for the
system. Having to field endless complaints about people being in the "wrong"
county can't help either.

In message , at 15:20:46 on Mon, 2 Aug
2010, Tim Roll-Pickering remarked:

Having to field endless complaints about people being in the "wrong"
county can't help either.

That's a self-inflicted injury because of the way they encourage other
(non-Post Office) people to use the database as a way of defining the
hinterland of where people live. As a result, it has a huge number of
false positives and negatives, and simply deleting some of the database
it not necessarily going to help very much.
--
Roland Perry

On 2010\08\02 11:30, Theo Markettos wrote:
Neil wrote:
When did I say I wanted to do that? I basically agreed that the
principle of a county in an address was pointless and that we should
use:-

"20 Anystreet
Anytown AB1 2CD"

as our address format. Of course, you only *need* "20 AB1 2CD", but
the inclusion of the street and post town provide a useful "checksum"
to ensure the postcode is correct, and the street address probably
assists the postman on his walk as well.

Depends on how much you need the checksum. If you have an address like:

J. Jones
1 Station Road
Newport
smudge

Should that go to Newport (Isle of Wight), Newport (Gwent), Newport
(Telford& Wrekin), Newport (Hants) or Newport (Essex)? How many
places do you have to send the letter around to find if a Mr Jones lives
there?

Since you're the post office, and you delivered the mail yesterday and
the day before, you should know which Station Road has a Mr Jones in it,
i.e. the person's name is a checksum.

Basil Jet wrote:
On 2010\08\02 11:30, Theo Markettos wrote:
Should that go to Newport (Isle of Wight), Newport (Gwent), Newport
(Telford& Wrekin), Newport (Hants) or Newport (Essex)? How many
places do you have to send the letter around to find if a Mr Jones lives
there?

Since you're the post office, and you delivered the mail yesterday and
the day before, you should know which Station Road has a Mr Jones in it,
i.e. the person's name is a checksum.

Indeed. But do you ring up the delivery offices in each of those places and
try to get through to the postie who happens to do that round? Or do you
play (literal!) pass-the-parcel around all the various possible sorting
offices until you find one who recognise the name? Which could take weeks
(for example, if a postie was on holiday).

Theo

Theo Markettos wrote on 02 August
2010 11:30:27 ...
Neil wrote:
When did I say I wanted to do that? I basically agreed that the
principle of a county in an address was pointless and that we should
use:-

"20 Anystreet
Anytown AB1 2CD"

as our address format. Of course, you only *need* "20 AB1 2CD", but
the inclusion of the street and post town provide a useful "checksum"
to ensure the postcode is correct, and the street address probably
assists the postman on his walk as well.

Depends on how much you need the checksum. If you have an address like:

J. Jones
1 Station Road
Newport
smudge

Should that go to Newport (Isle of Wight), Newport (Gwent), Newport
(Telford& Wrekin), Newport (Hants) or Newport (Essex)? How many
places do you have to send the letter around to find if a Mr Jones lives
there?

Juat Telford & Wrekin.
Newport (Gwent) doesn't have a Station Road in Newport itself. There
are several Station Roads in the area, but the secondary locations are
needed in the address, e.g. Crumlin, NEWPORT.
Similarly for Newport (Isle of Wight).
Newport (Hants) appears to be another way of referring to Newport (IoW).
Newport (Essex) is Newport, SAFFRON WALDEN.

So it has to be TF10 7EW.
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 08:54:50 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

It avoids people having to publish two addresses - one for postal
purposes and a second so that you can find where they are.

Don't know about you, but these days I find out where someone is by
typing their postcode into Google Maps or my sat-nav.

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To reply put my first name before the at.

In message , at 20:35:44 on
Mon, 2 Aug 2010, Neil Williams
remarked:
It avoids people having to publish two addresses - one for postal
purposes and a second so that you can find where they are.

Don't know about you, but these days I find out where someone is by
typing their postcode into Google Maps or my sat-nav.

Ad you think that would still work if we had a two-tier (continental
style) address model in the UK?
--
Roland Perry

On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 21:08:39 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

Ad you think that would still work if we had a two-tier (continental
style) address model in the UK?

I don't know when I suggested that. All I suggested was that the
counties are irrelevant.

Google Maps etc don't locate a postcode by what county it is in. They
have a database mapping postcodes to longitude/latitude.

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To reply put my first name before the at.

In message , at 21:17:03 on
Mon, 2 Aug 2010, Neil Williams
remarked:
Ad you think that would still work if we had a two-tier (continental
style) address model in the UK?

I don't know when I suggested that.

You suggested a continental model last night.
--
Roland Perry

On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 21:26:17 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at 21:17:03 on
Mon, 2 Aug 2010, Neil Williams
remarked:
Ad you think that would still work if we had a two-tier (continental
style) address model in the UK?

I don't know when I suggested that.

You suggested a continental model last night.

I didn't. I suggested that the only data required to form an address
would be as per the Continental system, i.e.:-

10 Anystreet
Anytown AB1 2CD

....in which the street and town act as effectively checksums and to
help the postman (actually only "10 AB1 2CD" is theoretically enough,
but then there is no "checksum"). There is no need for district of
the town nor for county, as the postcode will provide that
information, and duplicate street names in a given town aren't that
common. I tend to use that sort of format anyway, and haven't found
it a problem.

I did not at any point suggest that our postcode system should be
reduced in scope to one of lower resolution such as that found in
other countries.

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To reply put my first name before the at.