About 6,700 Spotsylvania businesses and residents will receive a new ZIP code on July 1

Date published: 6/11/2007

BY REBECCA BLATT

Thousands of Spotsylvania County residents and businesses will soon find themselves writing new return addresses on outgoing mail.

The boundaries for the 22553 ZIP-code area have been redrawn and about 6,700 addresses have been reassigned to a new ZIP code--22551--by the U.S. Postal Service. The change is effective July 1.

The reassigned addresses will retain the 4-digit ZIP-code extensions previously assigned to them, and the Postal Service will deliver mail addressed to the old ZIP code for at least a year.

For about a year after that, mail will likely arrive at the correct destination but with some delay, said Allie Page, manager of of the Postal Service's Address Management Systems for the Richmond District, which includes Spotsylvania County.

"We're still going to be able to read it, code it like it should be and get it out to them," Page said. "I try to explain that this is kind of the beginning phase of the conversion."

Page said the decision to add the new ZIP code came primarily because of growth projected by the Spotsylvania County Planning Department.

It will prevent the Postal Service from reaching its limit on the number of available four-digit extensions in 22553, which could happen because of the county's rapid growth.

About 1.5 percent, or about 100, of the addresses belong to businesses, but several of those involved are facilities in the Spotsylvania County School District.

Sara Branner, Spotsylvania County Schools director of public information, said that about six schools fall in the affected area.

She explained that the district's information systems team will revise software to write the new ZIP code on purchase orders and mailings. The district will also track which students have received new ZIP codes with the student information cards it collects each fall.

"I don't think it's going to be a major ordeal," she said.

But others are concerned.

Page has received about 30 phone calls about the issue since the Postal Service notified residents and businesses recently.

Dan Nickelson, a healthcare consultant whose home lies in the new ZIP code, said he accepts the change.

But Nickelson added that he anticipates short-term obstacles.

"It's going to be pretty much of a mess because we have mail ranging from insurance to retirement funds to bills and personal letters, and we have to make sure everyone gets notified of the ZIP code change and picks it up," he said. "As you know, that won't happen."

Edward Gillis, a retired vice president of PH Glatfelter Co., who also lives in the new ZIP-code area, said he is trying to keep the inconvenience in perspective.

"I had kidney cancer a year ago, so having a new ZIP code isn't that bad," he said.

Rebecca Blatt: 540/374-5000
Email: rblatt@freelancestar.com

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Date published: 6/11/2007

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