Eircodes.

recipio · 30-10-2020 11:44am #1

Just had a parcel delivered by DPD to my neighbour. It was from an Irish shop and had the Eircode. It makes me wonder if the Eircode is incorporated into Sat Nav systems here -- you would think it was foolproof.?:eek:

GBX · 30-10-2020 11:45am

recipio wrote: »

Just had a parcel delivered by DPD to my neighbour. It was from an Irish shop and had the Eircode. It makes me wonder if the Eircode is incorporated into Sat Nav systems here -- you would think it was foolproof.?:eek:

Eircode works fine. Not all couriers use them however. Not all use sat navs either.

recipio · 30-10-2020 11:51am

GBX wrote: »

Eircode works fine. Not all couriers use them however. Not all use sat navs either.

Thanks. Makes you wonder what was the point of spending 15 million on them instead of GPS based codes.:eek:

un5byh7sqpd2x0 · 30-10-2020 11:51am

recipio wrote: »

Just had a parcel delivered by DPD to my neighbour. It was from an Irish shop and had the Eircode. It makes me wonder if the Eircode is incorporated into Sat Nav systems here -- you would think it was foolproof.?:eek:

Eircode is incorporated into Google Maps which is what most couriers use anyway.

whiterebel · 30-10-2020 1:28pm

The big couriers can't incorporate it into their own systems apparently. They advised the Minister of this at the time.

recipio · 30-10-2020 1:40pm

whiterebel wrote: »

The big couriers can't incorporate it into their own systems apparently. They advised the Minister of this at the time.

Can't incorporate the Eircodes ? Why did the government persist in using them. ? In the UK the postcodes have been incorporated into sat nav systems for years.I also got a self congratulatory text from DPD saying the parcel was delivered and signed for - it wasn't. It was just dropped on the doorstep. This country!

Sonics2k · 31-10-2020 12:23pm

Couriers just use Google Maps as most of the proprietary ones are just awful.

From my own experience as a courier though, in some cases an Eircode isn't entirely precise, especially in a row of houses were doors are next to each other.

In most cases we just want to see the house number on the door, it's 100 times easier in terms of actually finding the correct house.

whiterebel · 31-10-2020 12:37pm

recipio wrote: »

Can't incorporate the Eircodes ? Why did the government persist in using them. ? In the UK the postcodes have been incorporated into sat nav systems for years.I also got a self congratulatory text from DPD saying the parcel was delivered and signed for - it wasn't. It was just dropped on the doorstep. This country!

That was the big question at the time. Spending €38M on a system that wasn't any good to anyone, including An Post.

recipio · 31-10-2020 12:41pm

Sonics2k wrote: »

Couriers just use Google Maps as most of the proprietary ones are just awful.

From my own experience as a courier though, in some cases an Eircode isn't entirely precise, especially in a row of houses were doors are next to each other.

In most cases we just want to see the house number on the door, it's 100 times easier in terms of actually finding the correct house.

That's surprising. I thought the whole point of Eircodes was that they were unique to every house in the country.I agree bout the numbers, its amazing how many houses have missing numbers even in housing estates.

Tork · 31-10-2020 12:46pm

recipio wrote: »

Just had a parcel delivered by DPD to my neighbour. It was from an Irish shop and had the Eircode. It makes me wonder if the Eircode is incorporated into Sat Nav systems here -- you would think it was foolproof.?:eek:

At least the courier delivered it to somebody, rather than fecking it over a fence. There are any number of reasons why it went to the wrong house. Even GPS can be a bit inaccurate, depending on all sorts of reasons.

CSU · 31-10-2020 12:53pm

...I could never understand the logic behind the eircode. IIRC, at the time of implementation most of the speil was about how it could help emergency services be more accurate with dispatch. Ive worked on the phones for years in the motor trade and most of the mistakes youll see is from calling out UK car reg numbers...and just about any non-standard part number with D or B or F or S ... I can only imagine the same problems exist in the call centers when someone rings in a panic and calls out the eircode fir example B22UFS , as opposed to 24 Greentrees Avenue.

...bit of a joke.

Tork · 31-10-2020 12:54pm

whiterebel wrote: »

The big couriers can't incorporate it into their own systems apparently. They advised the Minister of this at the time.

That's the courier's problem surely? We needed postcodes here and no matter what system was brought in, they would have had to change it. All that has changed on people's addresses is that there is an eircode tacked onto the end. The couriers still have the same old address information they always has to deal with.

I bet most of the drivers are using Google maps on their phones anyway.

31-10-2020 12:56pm

There is absolutely nothing wrong with eircodes apart from the strange yearning people have for us to be exactly like the UK.

Companies just don’t want to pay for the database.

Tork · 31-10-2020 1:00pm

All we need now is for somebody to yearn for the days of "turn left at the telephone box at the cross and drive until Mrs Murphy's rooster looks out over the fence at you" or someone saying they prefer Loc8. Eircode work fine - it's the humans who cock things up.

FishOnABike · 31-10-2020 1:10pm

whiterebel wrote: »

The big couriers can't incorporate it into their own systems apparently. They advised the Minister of this at the time.

Licencing costs most likely rather than technical reasons.

recipio · 31-10-2020 1:28pm

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

There is absolutely nothing wrong with eircodes apart from the strange yearning people have for us to be exactly like the UK.

Companies just don’t want to pay for the database.

So, Eircodes were bought in to facilitate accuracy but were excluded from Sat Navs as nobody wanted to pay a licencing fee, including the Government. We may as well be back in pre Eircode days where parcels could be 'fecked over the fence'. That certainly makes us 'The best little country to do business in' Not. :eek:

Sonics2k · 31-10-2020 1:28pm

recipio wrote: »

That's surprising. I thought the whole point of Eircodes was that they were unique to every house in the country.I agree bout the numbers, its amazing how many houses have missing numbers even in housing estates.

On the Eircode site itself it's grand, it's just how it appears on Google Maps that can throw things off a bit.

whiterebel · 31-10-2020 2:20pm

FishOnABike wrote: »

Licencing costs most likely rather than technical reasons.

Technical reasons. They would much prefer one unit to do scanning, addresses etc rather than drivers having to use scanner and then their mobile to look up addresses. Pat Rabitte wouldn't be told. Unbelievable I know, a government minister pushing things through without understanding.

TheChizler · 31-10-2020 2:27pm

whiterebel wrote: »

Technical reasons. They would much prefer one unit to do scanning, addresses etc rather than drivers having to use scanner and then their mobile to look up addresses. Pat Rabitte wouldn't be told. Unbelievable I know, a government minister pushing things through without understanding.

The same would go for any code, nobody is going to fully integrate them right away. No reason they can't be incorporated as they upgrade systems over the years. They have plenty other uses apart from delivery too.

recipio · 31-10-2020 2:27pm

whiterebel wrote: »

Technical reasons. They would much prefer one unit to do scanning, addresses etc rather than drivers having to use scanner and then their mobile to look up addresses. Pat Rabitte wouldn't be told. Unbelievable I know, a government minister pushing things through without understanding.

Thinking it through, whats the point of a computer generated code if the postman and couriers have no way of using it to pinpoint a house. At least in the UK the postcodes are accurate enough to give you 'you have reached your destination' message. It looks to me that the whole thing was a cock up so the Government could tell American investors that we have ' Zip codes' now !

TheChizler · 31-10-2020 2:36pm

recipio wrote: »

At least in the UK the postcodes are accurate enough to give you 'you have reached your destination' message.

UK postcodes only pinpoint a street or block, so that statement is false.

Eircodes will bring you within a few metres of the door as they're only limited by GNSS accuracy. But nobody walks around holding their phone up like an old explorer holding a compass until the pin on the map and their position overlap, you look at the map and see it's one of those houses on the end of the street, go there, and as Sonics says use some other feature to identify the exact house. Or in a rural area it'll identify the address perfectly cause it's the only building since for 100s of metres.

There are many uses for an address identifier other than delivery.

31-10-2020 2:40pm

recipio wrote: »

Thinking it through, whats the point of a computer generated code if the postman and couriers have no way of using it to pinpoint a house. At least in the UK the postcodes are accurate enough to give you 'you have reached your destination' message. It looks to me that the whole thing was a cock up so the Government could tell American investors that we have ' Zip codes' now !

What are you on about? UK postcodes aren’t even accurate enough that they work without a house number.

FishOnABike · 31-10-2020 3:31pm

recipio wrote: »

Thinking it through, whats the point of a computer generated code if the postman and couriers have no way of using it to pinpoint a house. At least in the UK the postcodes are accurate enough to give you 'you have reached your destination' message. It looks to me that the whole thing was a cock up so the Government could tell American investors that we have ' Zip codes' now !

UK postcodes only bring you to the level of a group of delivery points, which can be a large enough area in a sparsely populated rural area.

Each eircode is unique to an individual delivery point.

Both systems require access to or licencing of data to cross reference the postcode or eircode / address / geographical data to identify the location of the delivery point.

On its own an eircodes map to a delivery point more accurately than UK postcodes. I have no problem inputting just an eircode into Google maps and it announcing "You are at your destination" when I get there.

Gooey Looey · 31-10-2020 3:37pm

It's early days for Eircode, in time all couriers will look to upgrade their systems to use it. The delivery guys on the road already use it.

ice.cube · 31-10-2020 3:42pm

recipio wrote: »

It looks to me that the whole thing was a cock up so the Government could tell American investors that we have ' Zip codes' now !

Some conspiracy your going with there!

recipio · 31-10-2020 3:54pm

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

What are you on about? UK postcodes aren’t even accurate enough that they work without a house number.

That hasn't been my experience. They seem to bring you right to the house address.

ice.cube wrote: »

Some conspiracy your going with there!

Sorry, a weak attempt at a joke. I do remember it was widely reported that Ireland was the last country in Europe without a postcode system and the Government were embarrassed into bringing one in.

31-10-2020 3:55pm

recipio wrote: »

That hasn't been my experience. They seem to bring you right to the house address.

Sorry, a weak attempt at a joke. I do remember it was widely reported that Ireland was the last country in Europe without a postcode system and the Government were embarrassed into bringing one in.

You’ve just had blind luck then. UK postcodes need a house number for the exact location.

whiterebel · 31-10-2020 4:09pm

Gooey Looey wrote: »

It's early days for Eircode, in time all couriers will look to upgrade their systems to use it. The delivery guys on the road already use it.

Early days? 5 years?

FishOnABike · 31-10-2020 4:14pm

recipio wrote: »

That hasn't been my experience. They seem to bring you right to the house address.

Sorry, a weak attempt at a joke. I do remember it was widely reported that Ireland was the last country in Europe without a postcode system and the Government were embarrassed into bringing one in.

In a town it's accurate to within 5 or 6 houses in a street or so. So you're probably close enough to make little or no difference. In a rural area you might be far enough away to have some difficulty finding the address.

An eircode will put you at the exact address.

dublinstudent. · 31-10-2020 4:14pm

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

You’ve just had blind luck then. UK postcodes need a house number for the exact location.

Correct. I have an address in the UK and I noticed the postman had written the house number next to it.

Gooey Looey · 31-10-2020 4:24pm

whiterebel wrote: »

Early days? 5 years?

Yes, 5 years is nothing, you're waiting for them to make a big investment in a new system to last them many years

Tork · 01-11-2020 6:03pm

If you look at a UK postcode finder (this one is a random address from the Royal Mail's website) you will see that multiple buildings/addresses share the same postcode. The only objection some have to the eircode system is that if your address is something like D01 A12, your next door neighbour isn't going to be D01 A13. They're better at putting numbers on houses and naming minor roads than we are but that is an entirely different matter.

recipio · 02-11-2020 5:10pm

So, to summarise, we have introduced computer generated Eircodes that neither the Post Office or Sat Nav systems use. The only one that has it - Google maps - is not used much by couriers. We already had the Loc8 system in unofficial use but the Government declined to use it.It was based on GPS coordinates so totally accurate. We spent 15 million doing this.
Is this the reason I still get couriers phoning me for directions and occasional deliveries to neighbours. ? !
Darby O' Gill would do a better job if you ask me.:D

Macy0161 · 02-11-2020 5:16pm

An post use it as far as I can see, as do couriers. I upgraded to proper fibre, and shopping around and for installation assessment and actual installation, all they wanted was the eircode.

The only thing that hasn't moved on in 5 years is some peoples perceptions.

Gooey Looey · 02-11-2020 5:39pm

recipio wrote: »

So, to summarise, we have introduced computer generated Eircodes that neither the Post Office or Sat Nav systems use. The only one that has it - Google maps - is not used much by couriers. We already had the Loc8 system in unofficial use but the Government declined to use it.It was based on GPS coordinates so totally accurate. We spent 15 million doing this.
Is this the reason I still get couriers phoning me for directions and occasional deliveries to neighbours. ? !
Darby O' Gill would do a better job if you ask me.:D

Not true, some new Garmin and Tom Tom devices support it and with Google maps you have Android Auto and Apple Carplay support.

whiterebel · 02-11-2020 9:14pm

recipio wrote: »

So, to summarise, we have introduced computer generated Eircodes that neither the Post Office or Sat Nav systems use. The only one that has it - Google maps - is not used much by couriers. We already had the Loc8 system in unofficial use but the Government declined to use it.It was based on GPS coordinates so totally accurate. We spent 15 million doing this.
Is this the reason I still get couriers phoning me for directions and occasional deliveries to neighbours. ? !
Darby O' Gill would do a better job if you ask me.:D

€38 million was spent on it.

Nigzcurran · 02-11-2020 9:24pm

I’m a courier around Dublin donkeys years now and if you want your delivery you need to add your exact address, your eircode and most importantly your house number should be clearly displayed on your house, then I have absolutely no excuses for not delivering your parcel to your house. And no I won’t fling it over your fence cause I don’t work for one of those showers!

Gooey Looey · 02-11-2020 9:28pm

Nigzcurran wrote: »

I’m a courier around Dublin donkeys years now and if you want your delivery you need to add your exact address, your eircode and most importantly your house number should be clearly displayed on your house, then I have absolutely no excuses for not delivering your parcel to your house. And no I won’t fling it over your fence cause I don’t work for one of those showers!

And I bet you Google search the Eircode when in doubt

Nigzcurran · 02-11-2020 9:31pm

Gooey Looey wrote: »

And I bet you Google search the Eircode when in doubt

Yep but entering the eircode into google maps can sometimes just bring you to a spot on a road directly outside 2 houses so unless I have the house number I have no way of knowing which house I’m looking for

marklazarcovic · 04-11-2020 6:46pm

Macy0161 wrote: »

An post use it as far as I can see, as do couriers. I upgraded to proper fibre, and shopping around and for installation assessment and actual installation, all they wanted was the eircode.

The only thing that hasn't moved on in 5 years is some peoples perceptions.

incorrect .. an post will look it up in the office and figure out who its for,the postie has no means to do this via his scanner ,unless he uses his own private phone to do so, or has a newer van with built in sat nav, he's not obliged to use his personal phone for any company business. most will.

in a rural area ive had eircodes bring me in between two houses

,a new resident had added the code to her address,but never told an post she had moved into the area (if you move into a rural area with no number or house name,and dont put the eircode on ,or tell the post office ,they wont know where you live )

only for i knew the occupier of the other house the mail would have been returned to sender if no answer at door. as guessing isnt a option with gdpr.

0ph0rce0 · 04-11-2020 7:01pm

I love Eircode. Just whip out the phone and bam!!! Address confirmed.

I deal with this every day. Have to look them up multiple times a day.

To be honest I don't know if people just aren't bothered putting in their full address when buying something or if it's just the retailers with half arse'd systems that don't print the full address.

As an example (Not a real place)

You'll get

Johnny Johnson
15 Park Center
Dublin

Now park center is a big complex, has 5 apartment blocks, all numbered 1 - 150 ( and each apartment block has a different name - title) so you have to go to number 15 in each block until you find him.

Or people just put their name and street name, no number. Emmm why not? Unless you're a postman who's on that route everyday it's impossible to know.

Drives me insane. Sometimes you have to bring it back to the office, ask around see if anyone knows the name, sometimes you're up and back 3 or 4 times before it gets delivered.

Then you get complaints about it being late, when you explain about the address there's no talking to them., I'm wrong and that's it.

Macy0161 · 05-11-2020 10:27am

marklazarcovic wrote: »

incorrect .. an post will look it up in the office and figure out who its for,the postie has no means to do this via his scanner ,unless he uses his own private phone to do so, or has a newer van with built in sat nav, he's not obliged to use his personal phone for any company business. most will.

I've had letters from people/ companies that have left it off, and the an post comment (presumably to explain the delay) is "no eircode". It's definitely not a postman level, as I know the postie (as in pals with him) and know the replacement too. Once it gets to them, they don't need the eircode to know where I live!

marklazarcovic · 05-11-2020 10:56am

Macy0161 wrote: »

I've had letters from people/ companies that have left it off, and the an post comment (presumably to explain the delay) is "no eircode". It's definitely not a postman level, as I know the postie (as in pals with him) and know the replacement too. Once it gets to them, they don't need the eircode to know where I live!

I know they don't,once they know you it's fine,I'm a postie,no eircode is not something I've ever seen written on anything we deal with,or have I ever written it either.

Macy0161 · 05-11-2020 12:27pm

Can only say I've had it on a number of letters. Whether it's just a randomer in the sorting office, I don't know.

But regardless, it doesn't change that overall eircodes have been a positive addition in my experience.

marklazarcovic · 05-11-2020 7:08pm

Macy0161 wrote: »

Can only say I've had it on a number of letters. Whether it's just a randomer in the sorting office, I don't know.

But regardless, it doesn't change that overall eircodes have been a positive addition in my experience.

i would agree yup,positive,the implementation was silly though.

schmoo2k · 25-11-2020 2:36pm

marklazarcovic wrote: »

incorrect .. an post will look it up in the office and figure out who its for,the postie has no means to do this via his scanner ,unless he uses his own private phone to do so, or has a newer van with built in sat nav, he's not obliged to use his personal phone for any company business. most will.

Incorrect - I recently had a badly labelled parcel with just my name, eircode and Cork on it, here was my conversation with support when I saw it was getting returned to sender on the tracking system:

Ciara 10:44 - Hi, [MY NAME] how can we help ?
Me 10:44 - Looking at the tracking info it says "We could not deliver your post. We will try to return it to the sender."
But I have been home all morning and I don't believe they tried to deliver it?
Ciara 10:46 - there could be an issue with the address, one moment and I will track this
Ciara 10:47 - this item is on the way back to the sender due to an incomplete address. we deliver by address and not eircode
Me 10:47 - Can we correct it in the system?
Me 10:47 - Or am SOL?
Ciara 10:47 - we cannot, it is on the way back I am afraid 😞
Me 10:48 - Oh the irony "we deliver by address and not eircode" - ok I will chase up the sender.

TheChizler · 25-11-2020 3:04pm

schmoo2k wrote: »

Incorrect - I recently had a badly labelled parcel with just my name, eircode and Cork on it, here was my conversation with support when I saw it was getting returned to sender on the tracking system:

That correlates with what the other poster said, it's not used at the delivery stage. It's used at the sorting stage.

schmoo2k · 25-11-2020 3:27pm

TheChizler wrote: »

That correlates with what the other poster said, it's not used at the delivery stage. It's used at the sorting stage.

It never made it to the delivery stage as far as I can tell:

16 November 2020 21:26 - Your delivery was received by An Post in DUBLIN PARCEL HUB, DUBLIN 12

16 November 2020 21:27 - We have your post in DUBLIN PARCEL HUB, DUBLIN 12

16 November 2020 22:23 - Your delivery has been sorted in DUBLIN PARCEL HUB, DUBLIN 12

20 November 2020 09:25 - We could not deliver your post. We will try to return it to the sender. LITTLE ISLAND D.S.U., CO CORK

20 November 2020 10:28 - Your delivery has been sorted in LITTLE ISLAND D.S.U., CO CORK

23 November 2020 16:19 - Your delivery has been sorted in PORTLAOISE MAIL CENTRE, CO LAOIS

TheChizler · 25-11-2020 3:50pm

schmoo2k wrote: »

It never made it to the delivery stage as far as I can tell:

Exactly. It got sorted using Eircode in Dublin and sent to Little Island. From there they needed an address so it was returned.

schmoo2k · 25-11-2020 3:57pm

TheChizler wrote: »

Exactly. It got sorted using Eircode in Dublin and sent to Little Island. From there they needed an address so it was returned.

Would be nice if they used this page: https://correctaddress.anpost.ie/pages/Search.aspx rather than sending the package back to Germany (would have been cheaper for them I suspect...)

schmoo2k · 25-11-2020 3:58pm

(I used their online support form to suggest they use Eircodes for delivery in the future as IMO its a good idea!)

Eircodes.

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