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Date: 5/16/2023
WHATELY — Officials posted a survey on the town website asking residents if Whately should have one ZIP code. Former Town Clerk Lynn Sibley anticipates strong support because having three ZIP codes has been a headache for 40 years.
“We have good buy-in from the residents because they’ve been dealing with these problems for so long,” Sibley said. “[If] it all works as the Postal Service says it’s going to, it’ll solve a multitude of issues.”
Sibley explained that residents have one of three ZIP codes, depending on which post office delivers their mail. Most of the town is served by postal code 01093 through the Whately post office. The rural delivery routes in western Whately receive mail from the Haydenville post office, with a code of 01039, while others receive mail from the South Deerfield post office, with a code of 01373.
The multiple postal codes have bred a number of problems for residents. UPS, Amazon, FedEx and other carriers sometimes have trouble finding the correct house and delivering packages to Whately, looking to deliver in South Deerfield instead. That’s especially a problem on River Road, according to Town Administrator Brian Domina.
“There’s a River Road in Whately and in Deerfield, right?” Domina said. “There are house numbers in both towns that are the same, and the ZIP codes are the same. That’s definitely a challenge.”
Multiple codes also cause problems for town government. Residents have issues when paying excise taxes on vehicles. Other problems arise when they register to vote in elections.
“They’ll register and use their mailing address, rather than their Whately address, so they’ll end up…attempting to register in South Deerfield and they reject them,” Sibley said. “We have to send them a letter to state, you tried to register and it ended up going to South Deerfield.”
Excise tax bills get residents in difficulties because they don’t always put the correct physical mailing and vehicle storage locations. Sibley said that some bills from Whately and Deerfield go to the other town, which makes it, “Kind of a mess.”
That local mess became more complicated because of the so-called real IDs recently issued by the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Those driver licenses serve as federal identification. Personal correspondence is often used as evidence of residency — but for those seeing 01373 on their mail, it doesn’t show they live in Whately. It shows they live in South Deerfield.
“One of the ways to prove you were who you were is with utility bills,” Domina said. “But if you had a South Deerfield ZIP code your utility bills didn’t say South Whately, so the registry wouldn’t accept those as proof of residence.”
The decision to drop some codes may not be one that Whately residents make. Stephen Doherty, communication specialist for the Unites States Postal Service, said the agency would have to determine if a change in codes would enhance mail delivery.
“We’ve had towns in the past that have tried to realign ZIP codes because of insurance rates or school districting, or things of that nature, and that’s not what ZIP codes do,” Doherty said. “They’re designed to facilitate an efficient flow of the mail. So, if the change that they’re proposing would improve the mail flow somehow, then it is something the Postal Service would consider.”
Town officials contacted U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern’s office to push to make the code changes. They were told the process wouldn’t be difficult. Doherty explained, however, that databases would have to be changed across the United States to reflect a local change in codes, as well as switching out placards in the sorting facilities. The change may not be simple.
“We were surprised because it was a different answer than we’ve gotten in the past,” Domina said. “This was their solution, so I don’t know what it entails, behind the scenes…but they said they can and they will.”
Sibley and Doherty both commented that changing the codes will create work for residents, that it won’t be effortless. Address information will have to be changed with every sender posting bills or important letters.
“It is kind of a big deal, if you think about it,” Doherty said. “People are going to have to change their address, change their stationary, notify everyone who sends them anything, that they have a new ZIP, that sort of thing. So it’s a pain in the neck for the people involved.”
The survey posted on the town website asks one question, yes or no to the change, but also solicits comments from residents.