While searching for US ZIP Code you can meet with such note as “City name”. This term will likely have one of those statuses: “Primary”, “Acceptable”, “Improper/Not Acceptable” and “Unique”. What does it mean and how important is it? Let’s analyze.
What is “City name” status?
Formally, this is one of the USPS recommendations, which states that city names should be written in the correct format. This is necessary both for sending parcels and letters, and for finding the correct ZIP code.
List of “City name” statuses
Here you can see all statuses which can be displayed.
“Primary” status — what does it mean?
This status means you’ve entered the primary city name which matched with official city name.
“Acceptable status” — what does it mean?
In some cases the city name may also have another acceptable name. That’s why this status is also available. It means that city name is written in appropriate way and considered to be adequate for identifying.
“Improper or Not Acceptable” status — what does it mean?
This status means that city name has been entered incorrectly, so it can’t be considered as adequate. For example abbreviated city names frequently can be listed as unacceptable because it is not an acceptable format.
“Unique” status — what does it mean?
This status means that ZIP code is assigned to some exact object, for example, big commercial company, government agency or other entity. As usual such status belongs to those who have sufficient mail volume (this indicator is based on many factors, including availability of ZIP Code numbers in the postal area, average daily volume of letter size mail received, and the US mail service cost-benefit analysis).
If you see ZIP code type called “Standard”, it means that there is the established and usual ZIP Code which is used in a specified area.