Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, is 25 minutes from the U.S. border and 20 minutes from downtown Vancouver, Canada. Covering 50 square miles, Richmond had a 2008 population of 188,000. In the United States, ZIP codes guide mail to exact destinations. In Canada, such codes are not referred to as ZIP codes but postal codes. Because of its large size, Richmond has hundreds of postal codes.
Postal codes in Canada follow the alphanumeric system, a combination of alphabetic letters and numbers. There are six figures to every postal code, using numbers 0-9 and letters A-Z. The first three figures in a postal code are "letter-digit-letter" followed by a space, with the second three figures in a postal code being "digit-letter-digit." For example, V7C 1N5.
Richmond has nine sort area codes. Sort area codes are the first three alphanumeric figures in the postal code. The Richmond sort area codes are:
Richmond NE V6V
Richmond SE V6W
Richmond N V6X
Richmond Central V6Y
Richmond W V7C
Richmond SW V7E
Sea Island V7B
Burnaby V5E
Richmond South V7A
The second set of figures in a Canadian postal code is called the "local delivery unit." This set of figures uses the combination "number-letter-number." For example, 1N5. The local delivery unit figure narrows the specific postal delivery area. The concept is much like the four digits following a U.S. ZIP code and hyphen (e.g., 75002-2349). Retrieve specific Canada postal codes online at canadapost.ca.
