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08/05/2005: "Bad UI design: Canada Post"

I've just registered with Canada Post's "Online Business Centre", and it was a harrowing experience, to say the least, all because of an invalid postal code.

First, I tried every format I could imagine for Canadian postal codes: R7N2V4, r7n2v4, R7N-2V4, R7N 2V4, r7n 2v4, ... every permutation of case, punctuation and spacing I thought was reasonable. None worked. Now I really need to pay this bill today, and I don't want to waste time at a bank in line (not to mention the annoying fee for paying a bill at the teller), so I called Canada Post and they told me that they had a different postal code on file. (One address is our location; one is our post office box.) Armed with better information, I hung up and tried registering again.

Well, R7N1M8 didn't work, and neither did r7n1m8 or r7n 1m8. Finally, R7N 1M8 was the winning combination. (It felt, after all, like opening a safe.) I am now registered and have the privilege of paying Canada Post their $207.

Why on Earth would a simple web form force me to get both case and spacing right on something as simple as a postal code?! Web form designers everywhere, stop doing that!