Re: [PATCH] localedata: i18napis: update LC_ADDRESS.country_post

[Mike Frysinger <vapier at gentoo dot org>]

On 11 Jun 2016 08:45, Florian Weimer wrote:
> On 06/11/2016 01:07 AM, Mike Frysinger wrote:
> >   de_DE: changing D to DE
> 
> I don't think this is correct, actual historic use within Europe at 
> least was âDâ (and similar car codes for other countries).

at least w/car codes, "D" is standardized via the UN.  i have another
CL cooking for country_car cleanup.

> Apparently, 
> this was in alignment with a CEPT recommendation.
> 
> The German incumbent (Deutsche Post) says that in 1999, country codes in 
> mail addresses were abolished:
> 
> ÂWas ist aus den LÃndercodes geworden?
> 
> Die Angabe der LÃnderkÃrzel vor der Postleitzahl bei der Adressangabe 
> auf Briefen und Paketen wurde offiziell am 1. September 1999 abgeschafft.
> 
> Aufgrund der automatisierten Anschriftenerkennung fÃhrte die Vielzahl 
> der weltweit unterschiedlich verwendeten LÃndercodes hÃufig zu Problemen 
> bei der Sortierung und damit zu VerzÃgerung und VerÃrgerung bei den 
> Kunden. Die Angabe des Bestimmungslandes unter der Ortsangabe ist 
> ausreichend.Â
> 
> âWhat happened to country codes?
> 
> Specifying country codes in front of the zip code in address on mail and 
> packages was officially abolished on September 1st, 1999.
> 
> Due to automated address recognition, the variety of different country 
> codes in world-wide use often led to sorting problems and thus to delays 
> and customer complaints.  It is sufficient to write the destination 
> country below the city name.â
> 
> <https://www.deutschepost.de/de/b/briefe-ins-ausland/laenderkuerzel-laendercode.html>
> 
> The United States Postal Service requires:
> 
> âThe last line of the address must show only the country name, written 
> in full (no abbreviations) and in capital letters.â
> 
> <http://pe.usps.com/text/imm/immc1_008.htm>
> 
> 
> I haven't found a more authoritative source for the change in practice. 
> The Universal Postal Union web site has some documents and says that 
> sometimes an ISO country code is used in front of the zip code, *but* 
> the only example I could find on the UPU site was Finland, and the 
> Finnish post does not corroborate this.
> 
> In any case, I think it is safe to say that LC_ADDRESS.country_post is 
> now obsolete.

if we want the full country name in caps, libaddressinput provides that
too.  however, if we want to go the route of rethinking country_post,
then we might also consider rethinking postal_fmt too.  the requirements
of the current postal systems might be too much for the current spec.
https://github.com/googlei18n/libaddressinput/wiki/AddressValidationMetadata
-mike

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