THE Postal Corporation of Jamaica is putting final touches on a new postal system that will iron the wrinkles in the movement of mail in and out of Jamaica.

O'MEALLY-NELSON. the market seems ready to adopt new system

The alpha-numeric system establishes codified markings that pinpoint Jamaica broadly, and its parishes more precisely.
The concept is similar to the American system that uses letters to identify states and numerals, a zip code, to pinpoint particular zones.

Postmaster General Dr Blossom O'Meally Nelson, who is pioneering the system here, has described it as "logical and easy" to use.
There is some confusion, she admits, but also insists that "the market seems to be ready" to adopt it.

The system was piloted in the Kingston 8 area of St Andrew.
A full roll out to the rest of the corporate area is expected in another week, by the end of July.
Under the postal code system, Jamaica has been split into four mailing zones.

Persons sending mail to and around the island will identify Jamaica with the letters JM - the new country code.
The use of the letters JM, O'Meally-Nelson said, would eliminate the current confusion of the 'Ja' with Japan or the Jamaica in Long Island, making it easier for international mail services to sort letters bound for here.

The country code is followed by another letter depicting the zone to which the mail is to be routed, followed by the parish code, and then the code for the relevant post office.

The four zones are split:
. Zone A - Kingston, St Andrew and St Catherine;
. Zone B - St Thomas, St Mary and Portland;
. Zone C - St James, St Ann, Hanover and Trelawny; and
. Zone D - Manchester, St Elizabeth, Clarendon and Westmoreland.

Each parish code consists of two letters, and is represented by the first and last letter of the parish name. For example, the code for Kingston is KN; for St Catherine CE; Portland is PD and St Mary is MY.

The 'saint' - which appears in seven of 14 parish names - is omitted in the determination.

The post offices are coded numerically, starting at 01. The numbers were applied against an alphabetical listing of the post offices.

The new postal code for, say, Allman Town, therefore would be JMAKNO1 - with JM representing Jamaica, A for the zone, KN for Kingston, and 01 representing the specific post office, Allman Town.

"The codes were developed by our industrial engineer in collaboration with our management and done under the supervision of specialists from the United Postal Union," said the Postmaster General.

The switch is necessary, she added, to bring Jamaica in line with international best practices and to aid in the speedy sorting of mail, both internationally and locally.

Persons shopping or transacting business through the Internet, are now able to supply the relevant field when asked to state their zip codes, said O'Meally-Nelson.
"It's all about international compliance."

Persons may, during the period of transition, address mail in the old way, example, as Kingston 8, until the new system is fully in place.

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