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WEST VALLEY CITY — When can ZIP codes become a big headache? Officials in West Valley City say they've been trying to get the U.S. Post Office to properly recognize their city for a long time, without any luck.
City leaders say four ZIP codes — 84118, 84119, 84120 and 84128 — are technically listed as Salt Lake City, even though they're really part of West Valley City.
West Valley Mayor Mike Winder said, "You'd think over a few years after incorporation that the post office and other entities would recognize, ‘Oh, here's an independent municipality,' and correct things accordingly. Obviously, most groups have done that."
Winder said the city has formally requested to have these ZIP codes listed as inside their city limits, and the U.S. Postal Service has told them no.
"When we talked to the post office about it, they said, ‘You're technically a branch of the Salt Lake City Post Office,' and we're just out of luck," Winder said.
(The post office) said, 'You're technically a branch of the Salt Lake City Post Office,' and we're just out of luck.
–Mayor Mike Winder
So, what's the big deal? Winder said a lot of online businesses can't find West Valley City because they get their info from the postal service.
"It's frustrating when you're the second-largest city in Utah and there are different online databases or e-commerce sites where you type in ‘West Valley City' and it says, ‘No such place,' " Winder said.
He claims some businesses within the city have had to say they're in Salt Lake City when they really aren't.
"Even their business cards or corporate letterhead says ‘Salt Lake City' instead of ‘West Valley City' because the out-of-state people putting that together for them look at the ZIP code data," Winder said.
Since the postal service won't make the changes, Winder said the city has asked for help from Utah's big guns. He said lawmakers like Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, have offered to support the city's proposals to have the changes made.
