Trinidad and Tobago launches six-digit postcode system

The Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago is set to gain a new post code system later this year, its postal service said yesterday. The Trinidad and Tobago Postal Corporation began efforts to spread awareness among the country’s 1.2m population about the system yesterday, with a launch event in Port of Spain.

The new TT Postal Code System will use six-digit numeric codes to make it easier to deliver mail to specific addresses.

Read from left to right, the first two digits of a post code will point to one of 72 postal districts in Trinidad and Tobago. The island of Trinidad is being divided into 64 postal districts, while Tobago will have eight.

The second two digits of the code will identify the specific delivery route within a postal district, while the last two digits will specify a single building or zone on the delivery route.

Yesterday the Postal Corporation said a postcode was an “essential element” of a postal address, and would assist in the transmission, sorting and delivery of mail items.

It said with the population growth in Trinidad and Tobago and accompanying surge in housing developments, a casual locational system was “no longer functional”.

Benefits

Mail and express companies are set to benefit from the new address system – private sector firms like DHL and FedEx as well as the Postal Corporation – with better delivery efficiency of services, lower operational costs and a reduction in undelivered mail.

The Postal Corporation said postcodes would improve its potential to use automation systems for its sorting and processing, although postal union members in Trinidad and Tobago are wary of the potential for job losses in manual sorting operations.

The new postcodes could also offer new avenues for revenue generation, such as from new postal products like post code and address database services

Ordinary businesses in Trinidad and Tobago would also benefit from improved supply chain and product delivery systems thanks to the new postcodes, the Postal Corporation said.

This would include improvements in the e-commerce business, which could lead to further growth in online retail.

Public sector organisations would also enjoy improved billing and customer service operations, as well as better management of healthcare systems and emergency services, the Postal Corporation said.

Plans are to offer unique large-user postal codes for those organisations receiving more than 500 mailpieces per day.

Milestone

Government minister Emmanuel George described the new postcode system as a “milestone” in the country’s development yesterday.

He said the new system was being driven by the need to move away from an “outmoded” mail service, and would bring “immediate and tangible benefits” for citizens, acting as a “platform for innovation” within business and even helping in the prevention of crime.

The Postal Corporation said it will be sending out postcards informing people of their new postcodes by the end of the year, and the company is also planning to provide a Postal Code Finder on its website to help people find out their postal codes. Information will also be available from post offices.