Comprehensive Guide to Postal Codes of Nepal: ZIP Code Information

Postal codes are the indication of any geographical location provided within the country, which is either in the form of numbers or alphabets. Be it a number or alphabet, they are in about five to six characters and are controlled by the responsible head of that national geography. With the identification of destination, the numbers or alphabets help the postal service to know the location that the mails need to be sent to and hence easily deliver to the postal mail destination. Without it, it might take longer for mail to reach the destination. 

Postal Codes in Nepal

In the case of Nepal, the Nepal Postal Service controls and manages the PIN codes. So, basically, postal codes have limitations and are used within a country or a national boundary only, to ease the distribution of mail for the post office.

Furthermore, in Nepal, the codes are 5 digits where the first two digits represent District and the last 3 digits represent the post office. For instance, for Kathmandu district, the first two digits are 44.

Now under Kathmandu District, Chabahil’s Post Office, the Postal Code is 44602, while Dillibazar’s Postal Code is 44605. Nevertheless, the Code for overall Kathmandu is 44600. Besides that, other common places in Nepal are Pokhara, Chitwan, and Lumbini, and the postal codes for each place are 33700, 44200, and 32914. Among 922 Postal Codes available in Nepal, some are mentioned below, on the basis of their Provinces.

Province 1 is the easternmost part of Nepal, and the province with the highest peak in the world, Sagarmatha. It includes places like Solukhumbu, Okhaldhunga, Khotang, Udaypur, Sankhuwasabha, and Bhojpur. The places in Province 1 along with their Postal Codes are presented precisely below:

The Second Province, also known as Madhesh Province covers most of the Terai region which is known for it religion, culture, agriculture, and plain lands. It includes places like Parsa, Bara, Rautahat, Dhanusha, and Saptari. The places in Province 2 along with their Postal Codes are presented precisely below:

The third Province is also known as Bagmati Province and is the Capital Province of Nepal the Capital City of the country, Kathmandu, lying at its heart. This province is the most developed province in Nepal with places including Chitwan, Makwanpur, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, and more. The places in Province 3 along with their Postal Codes are presented precisely below:

Province 4, which is also known are Gandaki Province, is one of the most attractive places in Nepal when it comes to tourism (both national as well as international). Various Lakes and temples are the major attractions feature of this province and places like Mustang, Myagdi, Baglung, Kaski, and Gorkha lie in this Province. The places in Province 4 along with their Postal Codes are presented precisely below: 

Province 5, also known as Lumbini Province, is also famous in terms of tourism because it is the province with the birthplace of Lord Buddha. Along with Lumbini, other places including Bardiya, Banke, Rolpa, and Dang, are also present in the province. The places in Province 5 along with their Postal Codes are presented precisely below: 

Province 6, also known as Karnali Province, is the Province of Lakes and Mountains. Karnali Province is considered one of the rural places in Nepal, with minimum construction work done. Some of the popular places there are Humla, Jumla, Mugu, Surkhet, and Salyan. The places at Province 6 along with their Postal Codes are presented precisely below:

Last but not least, Province 7, also known as Sudurpaschim Province, is a province full of plants. Places like Darchula, Kanchanpur, Dadeldhura, and so forth are located there. The places in Province 7 along with their Postal Codes are presented precisely below; 

Besides these codes, the basic code that is used for overall Nepal, that is, the postal code of Nepal, is 00977.

Background information on Postal Codes

Initially, one of the postal inspectors in Philadelphia came up with a concept of referring general regions with a system of codes in 1944. Later, this idea was expanded worldwide and the Zoning Improvement Plan (ZIP) concept also came into existence. This made the system of delivering mail, envelopes, and finding addresses faster for the mail-delivering companies. While a Postal Code is more about a specific place or region within a nation, Zip codes are tied to the major routes of delivery,  the delivery officer’s location, and receiving and delivering of physical mail, more precisely.

Importance of Postal Codes in e-commerce

With the increasing trend of globalization, global shipping routes are also becoming popular. With this surplus, postal codes have become increasingly important, not only for the sake of big deliveries, mail, or governmental work but also for the continuous growth of e-commerce platforms. The biggest challenge for e-commerce in today’s world is to efficiently locate the correct shipment address and not underestimate the time factor when doing so. However, in big countries with many houses and an equally big population, meeting the requirement is difficult. Many small cities might have the same name and separating the final destination might be confusing. Nevertheless, with the help of Postal Codes, the e-commerce platform has gained the facility to track the location quickly and hence instantly ship their order.

Problems that the Postal Code catered to

Initially, the problem that the post office was facing was that there were limited offices. Then they decided to establish more Post offices and hire more people. However, this brought in another problem as the delivery people were confused about who would take the mail and to which house. For instance, there is a house which is in equal distance with two of the post offices, one on the left and the other on the right. Now, which office person would deliver the mail to that house was the concern. This problem was solved when the concept of the Postal Code came and drew the line and created boundaries among those offices, and their catering mails.

Another major problem that the Postal Code has been catering to, is the easiness of parcel deliveries, especially when there are places, or streets with similar names. For sorting such problems, a Postal Code can help because streets can have the same street name, but not the same PIN code. 

Problems faced by Apple users when creating a postal code system in their device

Mostly, Apple users are seen to have difficulties when entering their postal code and mobile number on their devices. The apples demand a 6-digit postal code and a 9-digit mobile number. However, to date, the postal code for Nepal’s geography is 5 numbers and the phone number is 10 digits. Hence, for that, the user can first use the number ‘0’ and enter their location’s 5-digit number, making it a 6-digit postal code.

When it comes to entering the phone number, the users can either enter a landline number that they have access to or use the landline number of the General Post Office of Dillibazar as ‘014433326’.

Besides mail and logistics, what other things can the Postal Code help with?

The main motive of the Postal Code’s initialization was to process the mail accurately and increase its efficiency. However, besides that, Postal Codes have been helping in various other scenarios including crime, quick finding, and e-commerce trying to find and reach to their targeted audiences. For instance, in terms of crime scenarios, this can be the data of similar crime scenarios that occurred in earlier times, within the same geographical area. Other, so forth investigations can be taken with the help of the Postal Code’s data. 

Postal Cards have become something crucial when it comes to delivering mail as well as other physical items in the present scenario. With the increasing trend of online businesses, and e-commerce, people from even the rural province of Nepal have started engaging in online ordering and delivery too.

Are the currently trending Courier or Delivery businesses the same as the Post Office?

A postal service also facilitates the shipping of parcels and documents either domestically or internationally, but the main difference is that a postal service is owned and operated by a nation’s government.

Having the same type of business model where the documents and Parcels are shipped both nationally as well as internationally, the delivery or courier business is completely different from what a Post Office is. While courier companies are operated privately, Post offices are owned and operated by the nation’s government. Hence, although Post offices are cheaper than cargo, they are unpredictable when it comes to delivery time, reliability, and large-scale orders. 

Overall, Zip or pin Postal Codes are used by most countries and were created initially with the motto to enhance their post office service. With time, the need for the use of the Postal Code seems to be increasing and widely used, not only by the post office but also by other businesses and governmental bodies.