CERRITOS : Residents to Get Their Own ZIP Code

Cerritos residents will have a ZIP code of their own beginning July 2.

Postal officials agreed to give the city a separate mailing code--90703--after a majority of residents said in a survey last fall that they preferred a separate code.

For years, Cerritos residents have been sharing the 90701 ZIP code with their neighbors in Artesia. City officials have been trying to make a break with Artesia since 1986, when a branch of the Artesia Post Office opened on Carmenita Road near 183rd Street in Cerritos. Cerritos postal customers often complained that their mail was being delayed or returned because of confusion over where they live, city officials said.

Postal officials last year agreed to survey more than 17,000 Cerritos households and businesses, asking if they preferred their own ZIP code. More than 6,650 surveys were returned, with 57% supporting the new ZIP code, according to city officials.

The change does not come without hassles. Fifty-six carrier routes will have to be altered out of the Artesia Post Office to serve Cerritos alone, which also could cause delays in delivering some mail, postal officials said.

Cerritos mail will still be sorted and delivered out of the main Artesia post office, city officials said.

The 84 Cerritos homes that now receive mail through La Palma will not use the new ZIP code. In their survey, residents chose to leave their 90623 ZIP code unchanged.