South Africa's current postcode system, introduced in 1973 before the advent of the automated systems that form an integral part of the economy today, is out of date.
This is according to Pierre Rossouw, national automation engineer for the South African Post Office (SAPO), who notes that the system predates significant changes in the country's social, demographic, political and administrative structures following the dismantling of apartheid.
"In fact, the postcode is older than a large percentage of the population, and is certainly older than the majority of companies, commercial and state interests in SA today."
SAPO initiated a project more than a decade ago to provide the modern capability needed to satisfy its own needs, as well as those of its stakeholders. Part of the process involved reviewing the current system and conducting extensive research into successful postal systems around the world.
According to Rossouw, given that a postcode is a coded form of an address, it is clear that if the underlying address is not correct, the postcode cannot be correct. This means a good postcode system is critically dependent on having a good addressing system in place first, he adds.
He also pointed to research that revealed that the available tools for address accuracy and quality database cleaning in SA were poor. In addition, there were many requests from mailers and mailees for advanced address and delivery point verification capability, he notes.
As a result of its findings, Rossouw explains, SAPO was invited to join the SA National Addressing Workgroup, a team under the South Africa Bureau of Standards (SABS), which brought together experts to develop a South African National Addressing Standard.
"What has evolved over time is one of the most extensively researched and advanced postcode systems in the world - the Electronic Location and Addressing Notational Database System (eLAND System) - which is locally designed, but widely acknowledged for its internationally compatible structures and world best practice standards."
He explains that the new structured address and postcode system tackles the shortfalls of the current system with the aim of improving the national postal service's operational efficiencies, expediting delivery times, improving mail security and enhancing customer service levels.
"The eLAND System is based on two coded data concepts - a unique geographic location identity (where a place is), and a routing identity (how to get there). Other data, such as the sender (return address) is also included in the code, as well as some custom-specific mailer data. The data is coded and designed for modern computerised electronic usage, but can also be understood and used manually (without the use of a decoding device)."
Rossouw also points out that the location and addressing concepts of the eLAND System include standardisation concepts that are recognised and certified by the Universal Postal Union's (UPU) S42 international addressing standards.
"In fact, South Africa was one of the initial 16 countries to be certified, which it achieved in October 2010. With this, and through the work of SABS SANS 1883 national addressing standard, these principles and concepts are expected to be significant in the addressing standard of the International Standards Organisation (ISO) currently being developed."
According to Rossouw, several countries in Africa have adopted eLAND or used it to develop similar, compatible and interoperable systems for their own national requirements.
Rossouw says SAPO will implement the new system with commercial bulk mailers in 2012 and 2013.
During implementation, he explains, the old and new systems will run concurrently, which will enable bulk mailers to upgrade and convert in a controlled manner to avoid disruption to business.
Once stable, rollout of the system to the general public will take place in 2013 and 2014, he concludes.
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