There are so many times where I try and enter my ZIP+4 – not just the ZIP code, but those extra little digits to be helpful. And at times, I am stymied by a field that only accepts a strange number of characters – like 7. I think it could be better, and just not allow me to enter more than 5 if I’ve selected the US and they aren’t going to support the ZIP+4 format, but it’s better than nothing.
Others don’t even go that far. They appear to have a field with no data entry limit at all – I could go on and on with that data, so I’m perfectly able to enter all 10 digits of the ZIP+4 – including the dash separating the parts. But then we I submit it, I get an error like Invalid ZIP Code, or Unknown ZIP Code or something.
Then there are the folks who store the ZIP+4 in the account – so if you go looking, that’s what you’ll see in the field. Then when you save it, it doesn’t work. That’s just ridiculous.
So come on, people – it’s not that hard. A little Javascript is all it takes to restrict the field to a particular length for a particular country. And if you can’t accept that data, don’t store it in your user records!