Can your ZIP code decide how long you will live? | Don't Drink the Milk – Podcast

Подробнее о видео

Psst, your ZIP code is telling all your secrets. In fact, so much is hidden in that short string of digits at the end of your address – we're talking pride, discrimination and marketing gold.

In this podcast episode, Rachel and Charli track down one of the world's newest postal code systems and trace the story backwards to find out how this everyday thing came with a whole bundle of unintended consequences. Starting with a bulging wartime mail sack and ending with a cup of tea down an Irish country road – this is the winding journey of the postal code.

Find more episodes of Don't Drink the Milk here:

Or you can listen on all podcast platforms:

Interviewees featured in this episode:

Jim Gleeson, Postal worker

Mahesh Somashekhar, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Illinois

Ayesha Jaco, Director, West Side United Chicago

Pam Dixon, Founder, World Privacy Forum

Pat Donnelly, Founder, Autoaddress


This episode of Don't Drink the Milk was hosted and produced by Rachel Stewart. It was edited by Sam Baker, fact checked by Rayna Breuer, and scrutinized by Charli Shield.


#dontdrinkthemilk #zipcode #unitedstates #ireland #eircode #history #podcasts


Chapter index:

0:00 Intro

0:30 Delivering post (and getting lost) in rural Ireland

6:22 A brief history of the postal code

8:00 The US reluctantly gets the ZIP code

09:48 Identity and inequality

17:02 ZIP codes and life expectancy

20:45 Exposing your data

26:12 Chatting to the neighbors

27:10 Secret info and starting from scratch

31:45 An offer we can't refuse


For more visit:
⮞ Follow DW Culture on Twitter: twitter.com/DW_Culture
Please follow DW's netiquette: