Sandy Springs, by any other name, is still Atlanta at the U.S. Postal Service.
Six years after incorporating, Sandy Springs remains in Atlanta’s shadow for mail delivery because post office computers have kept Atlanta as the default city for those ZIP codes covering Sandy Springs. Residents can use either Sandy Springs or Atlanta as a mailing address, but when a company tracks a customer’s address by ZIP code, the address defaults to Atlanta.
“In a ZIP code look-up engine, like USPS.com, if you were to key the address and ZIP code without the city name, it would return Atlanta as the standardized address,” said Tom Taylor, manager of address management systems for the USPS. “The Postal Service recognizes both Sandy Springs and Atlanta now on mail and will deliver mail without delay with either name on it.”
But some residents of the city, including Mayor Eva Galambos, want the Postal Service software changed to distinguish Sandy Springs addresses.
And it’s more than simple pride.
Many residents pay higher sales taxes when ordering products online or by mail. If a mail-order company uses the Atlanta default for Sandy Springs customers, it charges 8 percent sales tax instead of the 7 percent rate for Sandy Springs.
“It’s happened to me,” said Galambos, who has just recently succeeded in getting the ear of postal officials.
Another concern, city leaders say, is the fee on telephone transactions for 911 service. If Sandy Springs phone customers are billed as living in Atlanta, the fee is sent to the wrong agency. Sandy Springs has a mutual 911 service with Johns Creek and Dunwoody that has yet to break even.
The Postal Service has agreed to poll Sandy Springs residents early this year by mail to gauge support for the change. Making it so these ZIP codes won’t automatically default to Atlanta will require approval of a majority of residential customers and 80 percent of business customers.
“This is a win-win for Sandy Springs and the businesses located here,” City Manager John McDonough said. “We are asking businesses to support this change that will help us keep local dollars at home.”
The city has already received close to 200 calls or emails about the possible change.
Most want to know whether altering the Postal Service software will mean a new ZIP code. It won’t. They also want to know whether they will be allowed to keep their city designation as Atlanta if they choose. They will.
In December, about a dozen residents attended the first of two city-sponsored open houses to learn more about the proposal and speak with postal officials.
“My wife loves Sandy Springs, but I’m just as comfortable with Atlanta, 30328, as I am with Sandy Springs, 30328,” said Herb Daws, a retired postal employee. “I’m also comfortable that whichever of those two addresses people write to me, it will be delivered.”
Resident Drew Evangelista welcomes the change. He said he’s experienced confusion with residential package deliveries and utility companies, even the newspaper.
“This would clear things up,” he said. “It’s actually pretty messy now. The fact that we get to choose Sandy Springs or Atlanta sounds like a happy medium.”
Not everyone is eager to stamp Sandy Springs on their letterhead, though.
UPS, which moved its headquarters to Sandy Springs 20 years ago, has taken a shine to its Atlanta address.
“Using an Atlanta address is something that is instantly recognizable around the world where we do business,” said Norman Black, director of global media services for UPS.
Another consideration, Black added, is that the cost to change letterhead and other footprints all over the world could be substantial.
Postal officials and the city plan to hold another public open house in late January to answer any further questions from residents.
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