Is it true that An Post doesn't use Eircodes?

Snickers Man

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118641262#Comment_118641262

Well if her name is Mrs Umptious then that's one thing; If her name was Bridget Ruane or Mary Barrett from Mayo, that would be quite another. 😀

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118641331#Comment_118641331

Well spotted :) it's a far more common name than Umptious.

arctictree

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118637148#Comment_118637148

Just to correct you on that building entrance bit. Our eircode is assigned to our house/building. The entrance is about 800M away down a small laneway. I cannot get eircode to change it and have tried numerous times. Couriers keep getting sent up a forest road which has no access to our house but on a map passes within 200M of our building. At least the postie knows where we live.

Charles Babbage

The problem with the OP was that the address was incorrect. Parcel delivery in towns is essentially a courier type service, so there is a question as to whether they should have tried the Eircode as well.

This would not happen in the country as the postman would deliver the parcel and would have a good idea, nor would it happen for letters.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118641358#Comment_118641358

Fr Andy Reilly?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118641382#Comment_118641382

The building entrance being the front door, not the gate entrance from the road. It's the mapping companies you need to contact rather than Eircode I suspect.

seamus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118641490#Comment_118641490

I think you're both right. The eircode is assigned to a postal address; that is to say the entrance to a building. However, when you query eircode for geo co-ordinates, you are provided with the geo co-ordinates for the building and not the front door of the building. Thus, anyone sticking in the code to Google Maps will get directed to the building, and Google Maps will try to route based on the mapping data.

In this case, the mapping data probably lists your driveway as a private road, and therefore does the correct thing by telling the software not to route vehicles down it. They can probably reclassify it as a "driveway" or "local access only" road, which will allow the software to use it for routing.

arctictree

Yeah, have tried doing that on Google, no reply. They even have a button where you report incorrect directions, no reply either!

The Google directions end with a 200M dotted line from another road to our house. This is through a thick forest that is impassable!

Capt'n Midnight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118640939#Comment_118640939

It was an example of how rural people abroad are able to give simple and accurate directions without needing codes.

Thinking out loud, you could replace the letter L with the letter(s) on the number plate ?

stopthevoting

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118636904#Comment_118636904

It seems that your address is one of the many places which have different postal and geographic addresses. This often happens where the Post Town is in a different county. You will find both your geographic address and your postal address on the Eircode website. If An Post claim that a town should be part of the postal address, then that is so. Individuals don't get to decide their own POSTAL address. Many people don't use their correct postal address, and their post still gets delivered, but as in your case it often gets delayed by getting routed to an incorrect Post Town first. Your official postal address has probably been in use for many decades, even if it was not used by you or your family and neighbours.

Generally, if you want to be sure of getting your post without delays, you have to use the correct postal address, rather than your own preferred address. Usually this affects small towns and villages and rural areas. But the postal address of Shannon in Co. Clare is actually "Shannon, Limerick" as Limerick is the Post Town. However, this does not affect deliveries, even though no one ever uses the official postal address. This is probably because of the size of the town, and also it would probably be a futile exercise to try to get everyone to use the official postal address.

Citrus_8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118641382#Comment_118641382

There are more errors in the Eircode system like these. There also is an inconsistency and typos I notice sometimes. Regarding errors need to contact them, changes are being made in batches and can take a few months to be updated.

https://www.eircode.ie/contact

Nigzcurran

Eircode is useless in a housing estate as it dosnt tell you which exact house it is, no harm having it alongside the full correct address and it’s very helpful down the sticks

stopthevoting

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118634581#Comment_118634581

It is interesting to see from that map that both Killaloe, Co. Clare and Ballina, Co. Tipperary are both in the V94 area (Limerick). However on the Eircode Finder, addresses in Killaloe have a postal address of "Killaloe, Limerick" and addresses in Ballina have a postal address of "Ballina, Co. Tipperary". I wonder is this an error on the Eircode Finder or is it correct that Ballina is its own Post Town even though it seems to be in the V94 area.

Gregor Samsa

I spotted this on An Post's FAQ page:

At An Post we encourage our customers to use an Eircode on all addresses whenever possible. You do not necessarily need to have an Eircode when sending an item, but including one on the address ensures that your post person can pinpoint the exact location. In either case, it is always necessary to include the full physical address on every item.  Search for an Eircode or check that you have the correct postal address.

Seems they're sending mixed messages about their use, and the usefulness, of Eircodes for postal delivery.

silver2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118643125#Comment_118643125

Incorrect.

Eircode gives you a precise location of a house down to the metre.

However for new housing estates they may not be fully mapped initially. That updates after a couple of months.

As for anpost. They absolutely do use eircodes in addition to their own system.

If you are printing a label online, just enter the eircode and the address appears.

Delivery personnel use them to locate addressees if not known already, but the anpost system that they have used successfully for many years is still used.

As for the Loc8 system. It was useless for any multiple unit properties.

Block of apartments? They'd all have the same code.

It would also be easy to abuse it for junk mail - companies could target groups of houses. With eircode the second part is totally random. The first part is a routing code.

But loc8 was not suitable whatsoever as an individual identifier.

silver2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118643162#Comment_118643162

An post don't use county lines.

Blessington Co. Wicklow, Dunlavin Co. Wicklow, Hollywood co. Wicklow are all serviced by Naas, Co. Kildare.

sammyjo90

I've had a couple of instances where an post definitely havent used the eircode

1) I didnt have my friends address but had her eircode so i google mapped it and wrote the area that it said it was in along with the eircode. (Country house so no house number or anything) It took 2 weeks to get to her from cork and the post office wrote "please ensure sender has your correct address"

2) i have received multiple letters for people in my area. None of which had my address on them and had thier correct eircode too

Nigzcurran

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118643225#Comment_118643225

Nope your 100% utterly wrong. Pop an eircode into google maps for a terraced house in an estate and it will bring you to a spot out side a house, not necessarily the house your looking for though as it could easily be the next door neighbours, I’m a courier for the last 20 years so trust me I’m speaking from experience

stopthevoting

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118643245#Comment_118643245

That seems to be case also in Killaloe and Ballina, that their Post Town is Limerick. And that's why I was wondering why Ballina's postal address on the Eircode Finder is the same as its geographic address, "Ballina, Co. Tipperary", instead of "Ballina, Limerick", unlike Killaloe which has a different postal and geographic address.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118643125#Comment_118643125

completely wrong. An Eircode identifies the exact house. The UK postcode doesn't.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118643027#Comment_118643027

Population of the town I live in is about 4,000. The town they added to the address is 5km away in the same county. The first part of the eircode covers this off.

I know someone in a rural area who's official an post address is a townland about 10km away. Ive been told that half of Donegal is supposed to include Lifford in their addresses, even though Lifford could be more than an hour away.

Most post sent to me without this other town added to it arrives on time with no hassle. It seems like every so often, someone decides to be a jobsworth and get a little thrill from delaying post by following arbitrary rules.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118643304#Comment_118643304

What Google maps does with an eircode has nothing to do with the address it points to.

Nigzcurran

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118643358#Comment_118643358

Nope it dosnt, the likes of google maps is not precise enough

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118643304#Comment_118643304

I've just checked 6 addresses in terraces I know and all showed exactly the house in question. This was on the Eircode finder and Google maps.

stopthevoting

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118643419#Comment_118643419

Yes, same for me. Both the Eircode Finder and Google Maps are precisely accurate for Eircodes in my estate and several other places I checked.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058233089/is-it-true-that-an-post-doesnt-use-eircodes

This was well discussed when Eircode was under development. There is one solid reason for the development of this postal code system but it has little to do with delivering letters or packages or ambulances for that matter.

Useful for targeting marketing campaigns (i.e. junk mail) but primarily this Eircode was/is about identifying all inhabitable property in the state with a unique identifier. This is very useful/ critical even information for identifying property assets i.e. tax as well as various other planning purposes. Prior to the development of this system, the state simply didn't have a systematic record of all property..

So when you look at it that way, it is/ was good value for money.

Capt'n Midnight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118643225#Comment_118643225

Loc8 is one of any number of systems that encrypts a universally available GPS and charges for the decryption.

Here is a similar system that covers the British Isles to 3 meters. It's free but uses rude words eg: prat.pee.drug.diarrhea Full source code is available. Uses the MIT License.

Wildly Boaring

Eircodes are a great job

Especially since Google maps sorted to use them.

Postcodes in UK are useless in countryside without house numbers. Just get you to a locality.

In our last house we used to have to direct people from the town, out the correct road, left at correct turn off and then the 5th or 6th house on left depending if you counter the derilct one!!

Postcodes would still have had them counting houses.

Loc8 or whatever still needs flst number with code. And could lead to plenty target spam

Tork

Eircodes are inside the building, not at the entrance to them. If you have a building that has more than one address in it (i.e. a duplex or an apartment building) it will have multiple address points with separate eircodes.

GPS on your average phone isn't always bang-on accurate and it's not down to Google Maps being wrong. Tall buildings, trees and atmospheric conditions are just some of the things that can reduce the accuracy.

seamus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118643304#Comment_118643304

I'm in a terraced house and google maps pinpoints my house precisely when given the eircode.

The problem you describe is one of road mapping, where the physical location of the roads and where google maps thinks the road is, may differ by a couple of metres. The actual configuration of the roads can differ too in terms of turns.

For example, there's a house at the end of the row whose driveway falls onto a T-head in the road for turning. This is not on Google maps. The Eircode pinpoints the house exactly, but the driving directions can only send you to the closest position on the road that Google is aware of. Which in this case is 3 houses down. This is not an inaccurate eircode, this is down to Google maps having incomplete road data.

Here's an example near me.

You can see that if you put in the eircodes for any of the houses numbered 85-89, google maps will just route you to a random spot on the corner. A courier or whoever will still need to check house numbers. Remember that the purpose of driving directions in Google maps is mostly to find the most efficient driving route to a location, not to get you to the front door. If you switch to walking directions, it will try to get you right onto the property.

In fact, I just checked this and it's exactly what happens. If you only use driving directions, it drops you on the road. If you use walking directions with an eircode, it brings you to the exact property (or tries to - it doesn't really know where paths and gates are).

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118643125#Comment_118643125

i have a different eircode to both of my neighbours. an eircode is for a single building (or entrance as somebody else said but in a housing estate that is the same thing).

Nigzcurran

In the real world an eircode on its own can not be relied on to find the exact house on a block of houses, they are helpful along with the full address and that’s all

stopthevoting

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118646379#Comment_118646379

Eircode does show the exact house. Maybe there are inaccuracies if using Google Maps, as explained by other posters. But if you use the Eircode Map the location is precise. In fact Google Maps is correct for a house given in the example by Seamus above. You can see the pin on the correct house. If you know nothing except the Eircode, both of these maps will get you to the exact house. I haven't been able to find any inaccurate Eircode pins on Google Maps. I'm not saying there aren't any, just that I haven't seen them. Can you give any examples?

FishOnABike

In the real world an eircode identifies the exact house in a block of houses. Even within a multi unit development each unit has its own, unique eircode.

Put the eircode into any satnav / Google / Apple maps and it will direct you to the location.

One could equally say a full address is no use if you don't have a map to find it or if people don't put up streetname signs or house numbers in their house / gate.

Outside of urban areas eircodes are indispensable, in urban areas they are a very convenient shorthand.

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118643245#Comment_118643245

Looks like I’ll have this to contend with soon. Got the Eircode for my new build house, it’s physically in Meath, as shown by the geographic address. But the postal address is shown as Louth. So I assume I’ll need to put Louth on my post even though I’ll be in Meath?

stopthevoting

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118648315#Comment_118648315

Yes, you will have to use the postal address if you want to avoid delays. "Co. Louth" in your postal address does not mean that your house is in County Louth; it just means that your Post Town (Drogheda, I presume) is in County Louth. If you give your address as "Co. Meath" instead of "Drogheda, Co. Louth", then your post will go to the wrong Post Town first (probably Navan) and then will have to be sent on from there to Drogheda, so it will take an extra day to reach you.

🤣🤣🤣

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118646379#Comment_118646379

No, you can find the exact address just from the Eircode. I've done it many times.

PommieBast

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118649453#Comment_118649453

Trying to work out the back-story here, but I am guessing it is something to do with the quality of journalism (Wapping dispute).

spurious

Eircode fails badly if you want to give someone directions to somewhere that is not a building, unless you know the eircode of a neighbouring house/property.

Loc8 however could pinpoint halfway up a mountain in the middle of nowhere if you wanted it to.

An Post's automatic sorting system uses Eircodes and can sort the item down to the delivery route. The postie doing the actual delivery works off the top line of the address usually as they're very familiar with their route.

There's a lot of garbage spoken, including by people working for An Post in various capacities, claiming that they're not used. I'd say most of those people have never set foot in a sorting office. Many of the people behind the counter in the post offices seem to know about as much about how the sorting system works as your average punter on the street. It's a bit like asking an Eir sales rep in a shop how a mobile network switch works.. They aren't going to know.

Several of the couriers are definitely using them, as I've had calls asking me for my Eircode when things were sent with vague addresses. I've also found a lot of tradespeople seem to use them all the time. At this stage, I'd say 10+ trades people have asked me to text them my Eircode rather than my address and complicated directions.

rock22

My Eircode will pinpoint the exact house on the Eircode map ( Google maps shows two marks) . But the address returned bears no relationship to the correct road , which is marked by a Co.Council road sign. I am not too sure what would happen if the address returned by Eircode was used on a letter or package

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118650555#Comment_118650555

The only thing with giving a loc8 to someone is that 95% of people have never heard of it and have no way of using the information you give them. I gave up on Loc8 years ago.

spurious

I still use loc8 in my Garmin satnav, as I found Google Maps on the phone sometimes took me on quite unusual if not frightening routes to some places (on occasion not anywhere near where I actually wanted to go).

Badly Drunk Boy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118634581#Comment_118634581

Compare W91 (Kildare - light brown) with the areas to the west of it.

If you're referring to the size difference of the areas, W91 consists of Naas as the main town with Blessington being the secondary town. The rest is bogland (in Kildare) and mountains with a few lakes (in west Wicklow), with villages and stand-alone houses dotted around. Long before Eircode was around, a lot of these places had Naas after their name which I never really understood. But then again, I'm a W12er... 😉

Capt'n Midnight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118650555#Comment_118650555

Like what3words LOC8 is taking free available GPS data and encrypting it for profit. Here's other versions

W 7978 6098 ( OS map.)

51.8011, -8.2939 ( GPS )

prat.pee.drug.diarrhea ( opensource MIT licence, 3 meter grid, uses rude words to aid memorisation )

overwhelms.brightest.evidence (closed source, €'s)

W8L-82-4YK (closed source, €'s)

Systems not based on grid location

L2500 0.1 - Road sign at the end of the road + distance. Free and easy to use once roads are signed.

P43 C966 (closed source, €'s)

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118634457#Comment_118634457

No way a post man in the UK is familiar with all the post codes on his route. Once you are past the initial "SE1" or "BT4" bit which are huge areas the codes are just as random. For instance SE5 XXX tells you no more than V95 XXX. Any post man will know that SE5 is Camberwell/Peckham and V95 is Ennis.The only bit a UK post code cuts out is the city and borough.

So 10 House, St. Camberwell, Southwark, London SE5 XXX

becomes 10 House St. Camberwell SE5 XXX

plodder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118652288#Comment_118652288

It never made sense to use a proprietary geocode imo. We could have developed our own one for free, or more recently used something free like google's plus codes. Though really the motivation for having geocodes for arbitrary locations has diminished a lot. I remember several years ago, if you broke down on a motorway, the AA wanted to know what exit you had passed last, and they weren't able to take an exact lat/long location. Nowadays, they just use their own mobile app, and they have no need for a "code" as such at all.

My opinion of Eircode hasn't really changed since the "discussions" here with people involved in the project a number of years ago. It works well for the basic functions of delivery or navigating to an address. Though the experience of the letter writer in the Times would make you question how well An Post are using it. They are competing heavily in the parcel delivery market now and generally speaking you don't get to choose which courier delivers packages to your home. It also works well enough for government and large commercial organisations who need to identify addresses systematically and do whatever data processing they want to do with them. I imagine a lot of that work is being done by the companies that were involved in designing the system. I still believe it was a missed opportunity to develop an open location/post code that could have been used for all kinds of purposes like statistics which would have been useful for the general public and other interested parties.

Apart from licensing and paying for it, there are some things you can do with it for free, by using Google's free tier to their maps products along with open data provided by other state agencies. But, that's no thanks to Eircode, and it's only free up to a point, when you do have to pay for it.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118647283#Comment_118647283

"Outside of urban areas eircodes are indispensable"

Rubbish if you don't mind me saying. Lived in a rural area for many years prior to Eircodes and never had a problem giving directions to anyone.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118652651#Comment_118652651

"It also works well enough for government and large commercial organisations who need to identify addresses systematically and do whatever data processing they want to do with them."

This is/ was the real driver behind Eircode - the state now has a systematic method to identify rateable property.