WHEATFIELD, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Towns of Wheatfield and Pendleton are on their way to getting new and unique zip codes after the House of Representatives passed a bill to update zip codes nationwide.
Addresses in Wheatfield are comprised of four different zip codes: Niagara Falls, Sanborn, North Tonawanda and Lockport.
WATCH: 'Our own zip code': One step closer to zip code changes in Wheatfield and Pendleton
For lifelong Wheatfield residents, like Robby Phillips, not having a unique zip code for the town is just the way things have always been.
“Your mailing address is Niagara Falls, but you live in Wheatfield, New York, so that’s something I’ve explained to people my entire life,” Phillips said. “When you’re in school learning your address and stuff,… everyone was learning something different.”
I’m told that impacts everything from neighbors to local businesses, like Phillips’ own Slawich Cut N’ Shave on Niagara Falls Boulevard.
“Misdelivered mail, incorrect death certificates,” Congressman Tim Kennedy said.
“[The shop is] on the side of the Boulevard that’s Wheatfield, although we have a North Tonawanda mailing address,” Phillips said. “At times, when there are new customers, they get a little confused, because a lot of our advertising says Wheatfield, but when they go to Apple Maps or Google Maps, they’re putting North Tonawanda in as the address.”
Congressman Kennedy is confident that this will all change thanks to a bipartisan bill that just passed the House of Representatives, by a vote of 278-121.
Within that bill, the U.S. Postal Service will be required to create a new and unique zip code for Wheatfield and the neighboring town of Pendleton.
“Now it’s on to the Senate, [then the president]. We have great faith and confidence that this will get done by the end of the year,” Kennedy said.
“It’s kind of exciting that we’re going to get our own zip code, putting Wheatfield on the map,” Phillips said.
