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1. Embed this notice
   clacke (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Saturday, 08-Jul-2023 21:43:08 JST clacke

   Things developers believe about shipping addresses:

   - Addresses worldwide look like yours.
   - Addresses have any kind of standard format whatsoever.

   I have been eagerly waiting for a parcel for weeks. Now I found out it had been returned to the sender in Europe, because half of the address lines didn't make it into the shipping order.

   My address looks like this

   Flat N, XX/F, Tower YY, Some Residential Complex
   Z Some Street, A District
   Hong Kong

   The address the shipping company captured was:

   Flat N
   Z Some Street
   A District
   Hong Kong

   That matches two residential complexes , a shopping mall, a management office and a bunch of street-level shops, of which one residential complex has 600 flats N, the other, I don't know, maybe 100 flats N.

   The seller kindly shipped it again and this time I noticed the fragmentary address in the mail from the shipping company. I hope it can be updated so that I'll get my precious goods.

   I was wondering why it was taking weeks when it was supposedly by air.

   Also, tracking just said "left country of origin" for three weeks, nothing more.

   • LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} likes this.
   • LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Bill, organizer of stuff (wcbdata@vis.social)'s status on Saturday, 08-Jul-2023 21:43:18 JST Bill, organizer of stuff

     in reply to

     @clacke This was my constant soapbox speech when building data models for corporate software projects. Not only do developers and stakeholders believe every address (and name, and employment situation, and vehicle, etc ) looks like theirs, they will actively fight you on any discussion of alternatives. It's thankless work...

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Parade du Grotesque 💀 (paradegrotesque@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Saturday, 08-Jul-2023 23:36:32 JST Parade du Grotesque 💀

     in reply to

     @clacke

     I believe that was part of the "things programmers believe" series...

     Ah yes: feast your eyes upon the glory that it is...

     https://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-addresses/

     Good luck getting your delivery!

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     hypolite (hypolite@friendica.mrpetovan.com)'s status on Saturday, 08-Jul-2023 23:36:36 JST hypolite

     in reply to
     @clacke I have shipped a LEGO package from the US to China once and it’s been nerve-wracking the whole time. They sent me their address in ideograms and in Latin form, I tried to add both to the shipping label and crossed my fingers. It eventually arrived!
     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw48a1@nu.federati.net)'s status on Sunday, 09-Jul-2023 02:44:22 JST LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}

     in reply to
     In the US, companies use #USPS's own address filtering program, which has its own errors.
     
     (Examples include State Route X replaced with US Highway X ... which doesn't sound bad, but US Highway X is halfway across the country, so occasionally an item cannot be delivered.)
     
     (For those outside the USA, USPS = US Postal Service. There's also a package shipping company called UPS that is not owned by the US government.)
   • Embed this notice
     Jason_Dodd (jason_dodd@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 11-Jul-2023 14:32:33 JST Jason_Dodd

     in reply to

     @clacke I supported mailing address systems for a couple of decades. Addresses aren't standardized even within the US. Let alone other countries.

     clacke likes this.