Oahu ZIP code
change canceled

The Postal Service reconsiders
its plans for outlying locales

Just eight days after notifying government officials that 18 Oahu communities would be getting new ZIP codes in July, U.S. Postal Service officials have decided against the change.

An April 5 letter from Edward Broglio, Honolulu District manager for the Postal Service, said that beginning July 1, all Oahu ZIP codes would begin with 968, freeing up ZIP codes that begin with 967 for use exclusively on the neighbor islands.

The proposal was intended to streamline dispatching and labeling of mail to add more ZIP codes on growing neighbor islands. It would have changed ZIP codes in Aiea, Ewa Beach, Kapolei, Haleiwa, Hauula, Kaaawa, Kahuku, Kailua, Kaneohe, Kunia, Laie, Pearl City, Wahiawa, Mililani, Waialua, Waianae, Waimanalo and Waipahu.

Urban Honolulu ZIP codes currently begin with 968, and rural Oahu and neighbor island ZIP codes begin with 967.

The letters were sent to the governor, Oahu mayor and Hawaii congressional delegation, but the proposal had not been released to the public.

However, the Postal Service decided yesterday that it would not go through with the proposed change, said spokesman Duke Gonzales.

The decision was an internal one and was not based on any negative feedback from government officials, he said.

"We did a thorough review of the technical and financial issues of such a large-scale conversion and decided it was not a good time," Gonzales said yesterday.

The soonest the Postal Service would reconsider the new ZIP codes would be in about a year, he said. Major changes to mail labeling are usually started in summer months, he said.

Broglio was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann forwarded the April 5 announcement from Broglio to city department heads with an April 11 cover memo that noted that one year would be allowed to implement the change.

City spokesman Bill Brennan said the city had learned yesterday that the postal service would not be making the changes this year.

U.S. Rep. Ed Case's office had not yet heard yesterday afternoon that the switch was off, said press secretary Randy Obata. "It's kind of technical what they're doing. I'm sure there are good operational reasons behind what they were trying to do," he said.