Postal codes are as useful as junk mail

AS a Canadian resident for most of the year, I have always replied to those who asked for a postal code in the Irish Republic: “Oh, the Irish mail men know where the addresses are”.

Now your Communications Minister, Noel Dempsey, after listening to the postal code providers, has decided to introduce them at a cost of millions or, since it is Ireland, tens of millions.

This is barely six months after the Canadian post office authorities admitted that with new machines that can read handwriting, postal codes are no longer needed for the delivery of addressed mail. Their only use is to make it somewhat easier to deliver unaddressed junk mail to target higher income areas.