ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Why don’t mailing addresses always reflect the town? In some areas of Greece, Irondequoit, Brighton, and other suburbs, you’ll find homes and businesses use a Rochester mailing address.

Titus Avenue is a good example. Businesses and homes along this road are firmly within Irondequoit town lines and yet all of them use a Rochester mailing address.

A representative from the U.S. Postal Service says it’s about efficiency. Zip codes reflect how mail is routed, not necessarily where it’s ultimately going.

USPS says zip codes are not meant to identify town boundaries. They represent the last post office a person’s mail routes through before it reaches its final destination.

So, if you live in Irondequoit but use a Rochester mailing address, it means the last stop your mail made before arriving at your house was a post office in Rochester.

You may find that, in densely populated areas, the zip code boundary tends to line up with the town or village boundary. However, in more rural areas, you’ll find the opposite according to USPS, with zip codes spanning several town or village boundaries.

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