Eircodes, why do some courier companies not use them?

SnazzyPig

If I enter my eircode into the google search bar my exact home location turns up on the map on the right hand side of the search page and I can even click on the map and find directions to my address from anywhere in the country.

However, to-day I missed a delivery because the courier couldn't find my address and had the wrong phone number for me.

Why didn't he use my eircode to find my location?

Foweva Awone

As a country, we kind of made a unanimous decision not to use them.

dobman88

SnazzyPig wrote: »

If I enter my eircode into the google search bar my exact home location turns up on the map on the right hand side of the search page and I can even click on the map and find directions to my address from anywhere in the country.

However, to-day I missed a delivery because the courier couldn't find my address and had the wrong phone number for me.

Why didn't he use my eircode to find my location?

Why didn't you put your eircode on the address? Every company has a space for an eircode these days. As a courier its annoying when people dont use them and their address could be awkward to find.

dobman88

As a side note to my above post, if I go to a place that is hard to find I will always ask for an eircode while I'm there so we can pop it on the address in our system in case they order again, itll pop up.

JohnnyFlash

Loads of courier companies are starting to use them, the emergency services ask for it, and the ESB are going to use them for the smart metering rollout. Slow and steady uptake in usage.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Foweva Awone wrote: »

As a country, we kind of made a unanimous decision not to use them.

I find they are being used more and more. And I give friends and family my eircode to pop in their sat nav if they are visiting my place for the first time. Notices on rip.ie often include them too now.

TheValeyard

Havent had a use for it yet.

The Satanist

eircode is a great system, everyone should be using it

The high horse brigade

Courier delivery drivers use them all the time, it's just their dispatch don't use them because they don't need them, have a working system for years but that will change with time. Just put it in your address anyway.

I use Eircode all the time. Paste it into Google maps and away you go

SnazzyPig

dobman88 wrote: »

Why didn't you put your eircode on the address? Every company has a space for an eircode these days. As a courier its annoying when people dont use them and their address could be awkward to find.

I ALWAYS put the eircode as the last line of the address-

Greyfox

Yes Eircodes are great but knowing your Eircode is still quite new so some people haven't bothered with them yet. 6 months ago the majority of people in Dublin would of had no idea what there Eircode was

dobman88

SnazzyPig wrote: »

I ALWAYS put the eircode as the last line of the address-

Fair play. It didnt sound like you did from your post so apologies.

Sounds like a lazy courier then, I'd log a complaint with the company or at least contact them to find out why you didnt get the delivery. There could be a number of reasons he didnt get to you but not using an eircode when one is provided is inexcusable. They have saved me buckets of time many times.

Jupiter Mulligan

Maybe it's because commercial users have to pay a fee to access the Eircode system - and it's not particularly cheap.

https://www.eircode.ie/docs/default-source/Common/licensing-and-pricing-information-as-of-september-2015---published-v-3.pdf?sfvrsn=2

ILoveYourVibes

Foweva Awone wrote: »

As a country, we kind of made a unanimous decision not to use them.

Yeah its usually only companies outside Ireland that do.

The high horse brigade

Jupiter Mulligan wrote: »

Maybe it's because commercial users have to pay a fee to access the Eircode system - and it's not particularly cheap.

https://www.eircode.ie/docs/default-source/Common/licensing-and-pricing-information-as-of-september-2015---published-v-3.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Yes but the minute one of the dispatch software developer companies add it to their tracking software they'll all want it. Google, Apple, Garmin, Tom Tom have all added it. It's just a matter of time

SnazzyPig

dobman88 wrote: »

Fair play. It didnt sound like you did from your post so apologies.

Sounds like a lazy courier then, I'd log a complaint with the company or at least contact them to find out why you didnt get the delivery. There could be a number of reasons he didnt get to you but not using an eircode when one is provided is inexcusable. They have saved me buckets of time many times.

Maybe when people start thinking of their eircode as part of their address the courier companies will do the same.

kneemos

The muddle of letters and numbers was a bit unnecessary I'd have thought.
A godsend for anyone doing deliveries though, particularly to the myriad of one off houses.

jimmynokia

Auto Address is just as good .

OneEyedORourke

I would always get calls from couriers looking for directions - I haven't gotten a call since I started using my eircode regularly a few months ago. Great job!

Phileas Frog

Murray TheDemonic TalkingSkull wrote: »

Havent had a use for it yet.

Do you live in a cave on an isolated island with no connection to the mainland?

TheValeyard

Phileas Frog wrote: »

Do you live in a cave on an isolated island with no connection to the mainland?

No, I live on a street with a straight forward address in a suburban place. Easy for a competent delivery driver or postman to find.

greencap

kneemos wrote: »

The muddle of letters and numbers was a bit unnecessary I'd have thought.
A godsend for anyone doing deliveries though, particularly to the myriad of one off houses.

Yes. I've done some delivery work before. People with these nonsensical house names, seriously, get a number.

And commercial units that dont have a number, just their business name in a sea of neon flashing business names.

There was one business park where the unit numbers were mixed with a second number. So the package was number for 13 business park.

Get to the business park. Spend half an hour going in circles. Finally look their site on google. Its unit 300 massive, business park. Get to the unit ... it says 300/13. I **** you not.

Take this to number 13. Ok. Wheres number 13, its beside 299 in the 150 - 300 area.

Just. Why?

(edit: sorry, /rant)

murpho999

Foweva Awone wrote: »

As a country, we kind of made a unanimous decision not to use them.

You need to look up what unanimous means.

Loads of people use them and it's a great system.

jk23

In my line of work, using those postcodes make finding rural houses especially alot easier.

JohnnyFlash

www.what3words.com is a really clever idea as well around trying to find locations.

Ms2011

My address is literally the village name & county. Without an eircode you wouldn't have a hope of finding my house.
Our eircode was a God send when calling an ambulance last year for an emergency, no trying to give directions while in a panicked state just gave the eircode & the ambulance drove straight to our door.

SpannerMonkey

Foweva Awone wrote: »

As a country, we kind of made a unanimous decision not to use them.

did we, cause i use them all the time, bloody brilliant they are, try living in a rural area and you will see what a difference they have made.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

They are really handy to have. Was it Eamon Ryan when he was last in government that got it all started? (that's going by memory of him on Vincent Browne anyway).

I do wish that the codes didn't feel so random.

Like if I wanted a delivery to Youghal in Cork the code should be something like CKYL1234. It might have taken the eircode crew a little longer to set up, but there was truly no impediment to doing it that way. Would also be able to remember it much easier for the regular Joe.

kneemos

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

They are really handy to have. Was it Eamon Ryan when he was last in government that got it all started? (that's going by memory of him on Vincent Browne anyway).

I do wish that the codes didn't feel so random.

Like if I wanted a delivery to Youghal in Cork the code should be something like CKYL1234. It might have taken the eircode crew a little longer to set up, but there was truly no impediment to doing it that way. Would also be able to remember it much easier for the regular Joe.

Difficult to type on mobile. All numbers or all letters would have been handier.

Agricola

It's a fantastic system. Have sold a good few cars privately online over the years and before the eircode it was a massive pain the hole to direct people to the house.

SPDUB

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

They are really handy to have. Was it Eamon Ryan when he was last in government that got it all started? (that's going by memory of him on Vincent Browne anyway).

I do wish that the codes didn't feel so random.

Like if I wanted a delivery to Youghal in Cork the code should be something like CKYL1234. It might have taken the eircode crew a little longer to set up, but there was truly no impediment to doing it that way. Would also be able to remember it much easier for the regular Joe.

There was , the Irish Language lobby .

They couldn't use codes that would reference the english language version of placenames or else there would be an outcry.

They got away with it for Dublin because they could claim they were just bolting it on to an existing system.

Wildsurfer

Difficult to type on a mobile, hard to remember? Eircode is just 7 characters! Do some people just find excuses to find a problem with everything in life.

freshpopcorn

Couriers like to make up excuses when they run out of time!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Every courier that has delivered to us now uses Eircode. Gone are the days of talking them in for the last 5 miles or failure to find us.

Roadtoad

I'm still waiting for the postcard I sent myself, properly stamped, with only the eircode listed. So An Post failed that test.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Roadtoad wrote: »

I'm still waiting for the postcard I sent myself, properly stamped, with only the eircode listed. So An Post failed that test.

This has been explained umpteen times. Eircode is not designed to be used by An Post and isn't. Something posted without a name and address won't be delivered unless somebody in the sorting office goes above and beyond their job description and looks up the Eircode to get an address.

The high horse brigade

Roadtoad wrote: »

I'm still waiting for the postcard I sent myself, properly stamped, with only the eircode listed. So An Post failed that test.

An post don't use it, nor will they ever. They have their own automated sorting systems that do not use Eircode

dxhound2005

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

They are really handy to have. Was it Eamon Ryan when he was last in government that got it all started? (that's going by memory of him on Vincent Browne anyway).

I do wish that the codes didn't feel so random.

Like if I wanted a delivery to Youghal in Cork the code should be something like CKYL1234. It might have taken the eircode crew a little longer to set up, but there was truly no impediment to doing it that way. Would also be able to remember it much easier for the regular Joe.

That is aping the UK system which is an outlier internationally.

It is not difficult to learn Eircodes. The first part is common to an area, e.g. north Louth is A91, south Louth A92.

astrofool

Roadtoad wrote: »

I'm still waiting for the postcard I sent myself, properly stamped, with only the eircode listed. So An Post failed that test.

I think you'll find that An Post are now €1 richer, and that you failed the test.

Shefwedfan

I use Eir code, it is brilliant

A package got delivered to wrong address yesterday, two counties have same house number and street....so I always list Eir code

When I rang An Post to complain they told me they don’t use Eir codes......what the hell is that about?

Cookie_Monster

Shefwedfan wrote: »

When I rang An Post to complain they told me they don’t use Eir codes......what the hell is that about?

they have their own internal system they think is better and don't want anyone else to know about or use. Just typical Irish Govt / semi state practice, trying to protect what they have for their own benefit, rather than changing for the customers benefit.

Stovepipe

Eircode is not useful for a location that is not a house. If you have an accident on a roadside or if you get hurt hillwalking, Eircode wont help you, whereas Loc8 code will and it was recognised by the GPS companies long before Eircode.. Also, Govt departments were ordered to make Eircode work so they will not accept forms, in paper or online without an Eircode. Loc8 code was offered to the State for free and they refused.

Atlantic Dawn

Any courier company not using them won't be around much longer.

gctest50

Stovepipe wrote: »

Eircode is not useful for a location that is not a house. If you have an accident on a roadside or if you get hurt hillwalking, Eircode wont help you, whereas Loc8 code will and it was recognised by the GPS companies long before Eircode..

https://what3words.com/

works worldwide

Stovepipe wrote: »

............whereas Loc8 code will and it was recognised by the GPS companies long before Eircode..

Should we all dig out the sextants then ? door knob on a string perhaps ?




you need to buy credits for loc8, and it's sh!te

Stovepipe wrote: »

........
Loc8 code was offered to the State for free and they refused.

Born as a proof of concept that geolocation-postcodes can be trivial maths, and without the need for proprietary licenses and centralised management, it remains Ireland's most accurate postcode at 8 characters; while even at 7 characters at <3m average radial offset from a point - over 4 times more precise than Loc8code.

janfebmar

dxhound2005 wrote: »

It is not difficult to learn Eircodes.

Oh yes it is. Few people know their own eircodes by heart.

dxhound2005 wrote: »

The first part is common to an area, e.g. north Louth is A91, south Louth A92.

Then why not have the first part LHN and Louth south LHS , or something like that. In a weeks time I'll remember LHN, I will not remember A91.

The high horse brigade

janfebmar wrote: »

Oh yes it is. Few people know their own eircodes by heart.

It's 6 number and letters, hardly much to learn, and you only need to learn your own. Everyone in our house use it all the time. Maybe a certain subset of people are just too stubborn to make the effort to memorise it.

dxhound2005

janfebmar wrote: »

Then why not have the first part LHN and Louth south LHS , or something like that. In a weeks time I'll remember LHN, I will not remember A91.

Like I said that is the UK system, but it is not in use anywhere else that I know of? Most of the rest of the world seems to be using only digits.

Someone living in NI probably knows that their Postcode starts with BT, if they are in Newry they might know that it starts with BT34. I don't see how that is any better than knowing an Eircode in Dundalk starts with A91.

Varik

I ****ed up an address recently for an order.

Put down the wrong county and right village/eircode. There's actual a village by that name in said wrong county but I was fine as they went by eircode as that had all the information in it to confirm.

LionelNashe

Roadtoad wrote: »

I'm still waiting for the postcard I sent myself, properly stamped, with only the eircode listed. So An Post failed that test.

What message did you write on the postcard, out of curiosity? And did you post it from near where you live? I'm wondering if the sorter knew you were testing the system so he made a paper aeroplane out of it.

janfebmar

Varik wrote: »

I ****ed up an address recently for an order.

Put down the wrong county and right village/eircode.

LOl. Most people would know their county but may get a letter or digit wrong on their eircode and get the parcel they expected sent to the wrong end of the country.

Tourists are baffled by our eircode system too, the digits seem totally random.

Varik

janfebmar wrote: »

LOl. Most people would know their county but may get a letter or digit wrong on their eircode and get the parcel they expected sent to the wrong end of the country.

Tourists are baffled by our eircode system too, the digits seem totally random.

pop down menu for selection, nothing was typed.