The post office can figure it out.

[Deevil]

Had a woman placing an order today that has a lot more faith in the capabilities of the post office (or who ever ends up delivering the order) than I do

Me: Will we be shipping to the billing address?

Woman: No it needs to go to 123 any street in yourtown

Me: And what is the zip code?

Woman: I don't know

Me: I need to put the zip code in as part of the address

Woman: Then you need to go online and look it up because I don't have it

Me: Unfortunately, I do not have internet access to look up zip codes online, You will need to give me the zip code for the address we are shipping to or I cannot place your order for you.

Woman: I'm just going to make up a zip code then. It's not the correct one but as long as the street address is right, the post office can figure it out

So, I inputed the information as she gave me, it came up as a totally different city than what she had said...but she is certain it won't cause any issues.

I did leave a detailed note on her account stating she deliberately gave a wrong zip code because she didn't know the correct one

[Captain Trips]

Yeah, they can. But it can take months. The automated system scans the zip code (even if sloppily written) and sends it to that zip's distribution center. Then it gets scanned again, sent to that zip's station, where a human finally sees it - and goes "what an idiot. This letter is going to Houston, and we are in Juneau!"

[Aethian]

No we can't... Do you know how many towns/cities have a Main St or *state* St? That sucker would get sent back quickly.

[starsinthesky]

It can take months or it will just be returned to sender or someone is going to get a present in the mail.

[XCashier]

Me: I need to put the zip code in as part of the address

Woman: Then you need to go online and look it up because I don't have it

Why the heck didn't the person who gave her the shipping address give her the zip code?! It's not a new thing, we've been using zip codes for fifty years now! And if she didn't know it herself, she should've looked it up on usps.com before bringing in the package. There's no excuse for not having the complete address, and bringing the package in that way is just asking for problems.

[mikoyan29]

No we can't... Do you know how many towns/cities have a Main St or *state* St? That sucker would get sent back quickly.

Ann Arbor has both. Or try sending something to Michigan Avenue.

[morgana]

Why the heck didn't the person who gave her the shipping address give her the zip code?!

Who says they didn't?

[XCashier]

Who says they didn't?

Well, I've gotten eBay customers who have badly written addresses (you're really pathetic if you screw up typing that badly!). I've had to check usps.com, mapquest, even the internet white pages to double-check the addresses of the worst ones. Some people really are stone stupid.

Of course, it's just as probable that the package sender in the OP was the stone-stupid one, and just too lazy to write the entire address on the package.

[Deevil]

Well, I've gotten eBay customers who have badly written addresses (you're really pathetic if you screw up typing that badly!). I've had to check usps.com, mapquest, even the internet white pages to double-check the addresses of the worst ones. Some people really are stone stupid.

The woman placing the order was buying some Valentines Day themed craft items from us to send to her granddaughter, so there was really no good excuse for her not to be able to at least find out what the zip code was if she didn't have it in an address book already

[Kittykat]

Wow, just, wow....

[AyreBiskits]

and yet she will bring holy hell to customer service when she finds out the package didn't arrive in time and you ruined somebody's birthday/holiday/life. you know it's coming.

[sms001]

ruined somebody's birthday/holiday/life. you know it's coming.

ooh!

I don't think we have a "You ruined Valentine's Day" tally yet. Maybe Deevil can be the first.

[wolfie]

Yeah, they can. But it can take months. The automated system scans the zip code (even if sloppily written) and sends it to that zip's distribution center. Then it gets scanned again, sent to that zip's station, where a human finally sees it - and goes "what an idiot. This letter is going to Houston, and we are in Juneau!"

If you're in Juneau, why not let the Travelocity gnome deal with it? Could be worse - might be a Boston/Austin mixup, or a shipment for Duluth GA winds up in (the more widely known) Duluth MN. As for the squeaky wheel getting the grease, that only happens if the grease hasn't been shipped to Phoenix AZ by mistake (many years ago, I read about an airport luggage handling system with voice recognition being used to send bags to different "laterals", each handling multiple cities - for obvious reasons, Boston MA and Austin TX shared a lateral, and for a while a bad bearing misrouted a lot of bags to Phoenix AZ).

[siskaren]

The woman placing the order was buying some Valentines Day themed craft items from us to send to her granddaughter, so there was really no good excuse for her not to be able to at least find out what the zip code was if she didn't have it in an address book already

She doesn't know her granddaughter's zip code? Has she never sent her a birthday card? (Well, OK, I can see not knowing it by heart - when I send a birthday card to my niece or nephew, I have to look up the address in my address book. But as XCashier pointed out, zip codes are not a new thing, so I can't believe she didn't know she'd need it to send a package and would therefore have it on her when she placed the order.)

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Let me guess, it's going to a "Main St" in "Springfield" or some other commonly-named city, amirite?