U.S. Delivers a New ZIP Code to Oxnard

When Terry Lopez received a letter notifying her that her ZIP Code was changing, she figured it was just part of living in a growing county and that she had better go with the flow.

But when she learned her employer also was affected, she began to panic.

As the principal’s secretary at Oxnard High School, Lopez had just submitted the yearly request for letterhead stationery and envelopes--7,000 of them--with the old ZIP Code.

Luckily, Lopez figures she has enough time to catch the order before it goes to print.

The change, due to take effect July 1, splits Oxnard’s main ZIP Code of 93030.

The change is necessary because 93030 now has 26,000 addresses, and the U.S. Postal Service likes to cap the number at 20,000.

About 11,000 of the current addresses--residents and businesses along Gonzales Road and north of Gonzales Road--will be switched to the new ZIP Code of 93036.

While the change takes effect next month, businesses and residents have one year to keep using 93030.

“Theoretically, it could be a problem after that, but probably not, since the mail will continue to be sorted out of the Saviers [post] office,” postal spokeswoman Terri Bouffiou said.

Notification letters were mailed to those affected by the change on May 30. Bouffiou said only one complaint has been received, and that was from someone who thought there was only a month to continue using the current ZIP Code. Once the caller was told it was a year, Bouffiou said, it was fine.

“I think that’s an indication of how accepted the change is,” Bouffiou said.

As office manager for Vista Ford on Auto Center Drive, Laura Ortiz said she plans to wait out the one-year deadline before ordering new office supplies.

“I think it’s a pretty big inconvenience,” Ortiz said. “It affects me personally too, because now I have to change my bank account and my credit cards. But I do understand that the city is growing, so this is something you have to expect.”

Bouffiou said the change has been in the works for the past year.

The last time Oxnard had a split was in the mid-1980s, when 93033 and 93035 were created. With this latest addition, Oxnard has seven ZIP Codes, including three--93031, 93032 and 93034--for rental boxes at the city’s three post offices.

Prior to the new ZIP Code, the last one to be created in Ventura County was in 1999, when Oak Park residents got their own ZIP Code.

Before that, in 1993, Camarillo’s 93010 split into 93012.

“We can’t predict how the county will be 10 years from now, but when we are creating a new ZIP Code we try to figure the county’s growth rate into our calculations,” Bouffiou said. “We think this will be the last change for Ventura County for quite a while.”