Eircode has launched as Ireland’s official postcode system..
A LOT has been written about the issues with how it’s been rolled out, including some rather “impressive” faux pas like sending Eircodes to dead people ..
However one of the things that I was curious about was the lookup system.
The Eircode website offers a lookup service, but it has a limit – you can only do 15 lookups per day.
Apparently this is because the public only needs to check addresses from time to time:
The address output is pretty slick and you can easily share the details via email:
(the example above is a former address of mine .. )
Our neighbours in the UK have been using postcodes for a long time so I thought I’d have a look at how they handle things ..
Here’s their look up page – what’s interesting is how much help they provide users:
They also have a much more generous lookup limit – 300% of the Irish one.
Why is that?
> They also have a much more generous lookup limit – 300% of the Irish one.
>
> Why is that?
There are more of us!
Eircodes are great if you need to pinpoint an address online. If someone handed you a few hundred or a few thousand items to deliver in the most efficient manner possible you’d need to convert the Eircodes to lat/long coordinates (or Loc8 codes) in order to plan the deliveries. An Post will not be using them for delivery. That tells you what a completely useless postcode they are. UNUSABLE FOR POST.
What they are is taxable letterbox identifiers. Soon the government will be cross referencing information for taxation purposes using Eircodes.
Paul
Well Eircode are claiming that it’s to be used for delivery.
http://www.eircode.ie/benefits/overview
The only people I’ve seen claiming otherwise seem to be either linked to Loc8 or simply hate everything that the Irish state produces ..
Regards
Michele
It will be a big step up from the geo directory. Hopefully the likes of EMS can swiftly move across to the system without delay. It’s a pretty major project will be surprised if some hiccups dont arise this is Ireland after all.