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

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.