The article in question can be found at http://www.foo.be/docs/tpj/issues/vol4_1/tpj0401-0002.html (I had a hard time finding it via tpj.com, but Google worked.)
Unfortunately I think that the USPS site http://www.usps.com/cgi-bin/zip4/zip4inq
needed to run this script is no more. A search there for zip4inq produced nothing.
Does anyone know of a similar page, wither by the USPS or another provider of (web) services?
FYI, the Terms of Service for the USPS's website prohibit use of screen scraping. I don't think they'd care (much) if you made a small number of requests, but if you're talking thousands of addresses you should be careful. They also have some tools for doing this sort of thing, but I don't believe they are free. Their response to my specific request (batch processing of addresses) is below, but I believe they have some other tools which may be of use to you.
At 10:58 AM 9/23/02 -0400, the USPS Web Tools team wrote:
Address Information API's are accessible with special permission. We must first understand how you'll be using the API. We need a commitment that the API will be used on a transactional basis (not batch processing or cleansing of a database, but as a customer enters the information into a form on a website). Also, you must state that you will use the output from this API solely in association with USPS services (mail or shipping).
Please describe how you plan to use the APIs, include the URL of the site (development or production) and state your commitment to use the APIs in association with USPS services. Once this email is received, we will give you access to the documentation.
I hope this helps,
Jay Torg USPS Web Tools
Drew -- --------------------------------------------------------- Drew Taylor * Web app development & consulting [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Site implementation & hosting www.drewtaylor.com * perl/mod_perl/DBI/mysql/postgres ---------------------------------------------------------
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