postcode
(ˈpəʊstkəʊd)
Also with capital initial.
[f. post n.2 + code n.1]
A series of letters or numbers, or both, allocated to postal areas to facilitate the automatic sorting and speedy delivery of mail. Also attrib. Hence ˈpostcoding vbl. n.
| 1967 Telegraph (Brisbane) 18 May 3/1 The Post Office will allocate every city, town, suburb and small centre in Australia a four-figure postal location number called Postcode. Announcing this today, the Postmaster-General..said the Postcode system would enable the Post Office to handle the growing volume of mail more quickly, by taking full advantage of electronic mail coding equipment. 1968 Times 24 July 9/7 On the back of it is stamped the instruction ‘Remember to use the postcode’. 1969 Daily Tel. 5 June 21/6 Postcoding is to be extended to cover all of Britain's 20,000,000 addresses instead of only 75 main centres. 1969 Guardian 9 Aug. 8/3 The first two letters of the Postcode route the letter to the distant mail-handling centre. 1971 Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 20 June 17 A postman at the letter-coding desk has each envelope put in front of him and types out its postcode on a keyboard at his fingertips. 1973 Guardian 7 Feb. 1/1 Postcodes are to be put on road signs. The experiment will start in the new town of Milton Keynes, Bucks. |
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▸ Brit. attrib. Influenced or determined by a person's locality or postal address (chiefly with reference to the unequal provision of health care). Freq. in fig. phrase postcode lottery.
| 1995 Independent 6 Dec. 8/2 The problems of poverty are exacerbated by stereotyping. Estates suffer from ‘postcode’ discrimination; taxi drivers and delivery vans will not go there. 1997 Mirror (Electronic ed.) 7 Nov. Breast cancer victim Helen..would have got the drug free if she lived just 20 miles away in Somerset. Her plight highlighted the ‘postcode lottery’ faced by cancer patients. 1998 Scotsman (Electronic ed.) 8 July Patchy, unenforceable guidelines have meant it is up to individual health boards to decide whether they make drugs available, leading to so-called postcode prescribing. 1999 Sentinel (Electronic ed.) 15 Jan. The introduction of free travel for Welsh pensioners will focus attention on the need for Government funded UK-wide travel for pensioners and an end to the present postcode lottery. 2000 Evening Tel. (Coventry) (Electronic ed.) 20 Dec. I believe we have a fair wind from the government on this legislation and the historic opportunity to end the postcode lottery of adoption services across the country. |