Where can we get the 13-digit city abbreviation?

Question

We have labeling constraints that require that our city names are often 15 characters or less. Other cleansing services as well as USPS documentation refer to the "approved 13-character abbreviations" provided by the USPS and we would like to know how we can get those returned to us.

Answer

We have the 13-digit city abbreviation data but we don't return it yet. We will soon. The reason that we haven't is that it's not nearly as human readable as the full city name. Also, since the address that we return to you is standardized and comfirmed to be valid (and you have the barcode) you could certainly omit the city name altogether, or just truncate it at 15 characters, and your letter/parcel would still get delivered every time.

Here's what I just said, but in USPS-talk.

The city name is basically ignored if you are barcoding, so you can leave it blank or truncate any way you like.

We will be adding the abbreviated city name to our output list very shortly. We would be happy to generate just a list of city name abbreviations along with the ZIP Codes for you. Just ask.