Pedantically, yes. Practically, no.

Basically everybody in the US uses the phrase "zip-code" informally to mean postal code even when talking about international addresses.

> I've never run across anyone in the U.S. who refers to postal codes as zip codes.

Say what? Where in the U.S. do you live? I've been all over, and I've never once heard them called 'postal codes'; always and every time 'zip codes.'

I've only ever heard "postal code" in the South.

You must live in a different U.S. than everyone else. It's clearly the other way around.

https://www.google.com/search?q=site:usps.com+"zip+code" returns 120k results

https://www.google.com/search?q=site:usps.com+"postal+code" returns 372 results

To be honest, everyone should refer to these as postal codes or at least address codes. No one refers to the ZIP code as Zone Improvement Plan code anyway.. so what is the use of these code in the real life?

'should'?

What's wrong with calling them Zip codes? That's how they're written everywhere.

Good grief, I was talking about referring to international postal codes as zip codes, which I thought was what this thread is about.

I've only heard of ZIP pronounced as a word and not spelled out like you'd spell out CPU. I'd call it an acronym.