ZIP code system celebrates its 60th anniversary this summer

This summer marks the 60th anniversary of the ZIP code. It’s something you can celebrate the next time you address an envelope and can’t remember the ZIP.

The ZIP code has become an integral part of U.S. post office procedure and has eased the delivery of billions of pieces of mail since.

ZIP codes have an Illinois tie. J. Edward Day, who was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, on Oct. 11, 1914, oversaw the introduction of the ZIP code while serving as U.S. postmaster general under the Kennedy administration in 1963.

Day graduated from the University of Chicago in 1935 and from Harvard Law School three years later. There, he edited the Harvard Law Review and became acquainted with Kennedy, a fellow law student. After a stint in the Navy during World War II, he landed a position with the high-powered Chicago law firm of Sidley, Austin, Burgess and Harper, where he formed a friendship with Adlai Stevenson.

In 1948, Stevenson was elected governor of Illinois and recruited Day as a legal and legislative assistant. Later, Day moved up to state insurance commissioner. Stevenson unsuccessfully ran for president in both 1952 and 1956.

Day left Illinois to accept an executive position with Prudential in 1953 and originally supported Pat Brown in the 1960 Democratic presidential race. After Brown’s demise, Day became a delegate for Kennedy at the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.

The new president then selected Day for postmaster general, a surprise to many based on Day’s relative obscurity. Day later recalled that he was overlooked at many Washington functions, sometimes mistaken for a security guard. He also had never been a party chairman, a departure from many of his predecessors.

However, Day soon established his presence with a quick wit. He later described his appointment to the Kennedy team by saying, “I went to Harvard, I served in the Navy, and my wife went to Vassar.”

Other quips from Day included his description of his enormous desk in his large Washington office, which he called “a lobby looking for a hotel.” He also told of a meat association’s request for a stamp to commemorate the hamburger, and his reply that, “We had chewed their suggestion over and decided to put it on the back burner.”

Day was charged with slicing the postal system’s $1 billion deficit while streamlining service and boosting company morale. Many of those objectives were met with the ZIP code, an idea that had been discussed by the postal system for years.

The ZIP code, which stands for Zone Improvement Plan, also was instrumental in mechanizing the mail sorting process, which greatly improved service. In addition, the addition of a ZIP code on letters eliminated the need for multiple processing centers, as mail could be directly sent to the location identified in a ZIP code.

Each ZIP code is a five-digit number that is unique to each individual post office, and the first three digits normally indicate the nearest processing center. The first digit is numbered in ascending order from east to west, starting with 0 in New England and 9 on the West Coast.

The ZIP code plan was launched July 1, 1963. To promote the introduction, a sweeping publicity campaign was built around Mr. Zip, an enhanced stick figure that adorned print and television advertisements, posters and buttons.

Day also mailed notifications to every American household, using the Mr. Zip character in what was the largest mass mailing in national history to date. The theme of the campaign was speed, the primary objective of the ZIP code system.

Mr. Zip was used to combat backlash from postal customers who deplored the need to remember another number for an address. Still, the idea caught on, and by the late 1970s, ZIP codes were a part of everyday life.

Day resigned his post less than a month after the introduction of the ZIP code, telling some he found it tough to survive on his $25,000 salary. He returned to his lucrative law practice and lived in the Washington suburbs, spending much time on his farm where he first raised yaks, then llamas and cows.

In 1965, Day wrote “My Appointed Round: 929 Days as Postmaster General,” a humorous look at his time in office. He died Oct. 29, 1996.

• Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Illinois. He can be reached at ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.