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Only one person has to pay for it, then they can share it with the rest of us for free. It's not like the data is trade secret or protected by copyright or patent. It's public data.
> LICENSEE shall use the Database and Data for the Permitted Use only and shall not disclose, release, distribute, or deliver the Database or Data, any portion of the Data or Database, or any other information derived from the Data or Database to any third party without LICENSOR's prior written consent. For the avoidance of doubt, LICENSEE may incorporate the Data into the products or services listed in Exhibit B (ZCB Order Form), as allowed by Exhibit D (ZIP Code Boundaries Tiers of Access and Usage), but no Data either in whole or in part may be transferred or sold by LICENSEE.

https://postalpro.usps.com/ZCB_License

Sooo... You can't compel the government to create a document or data as part of FOIA, but...

You can request any already-existing dataset (which this now is). And they're required to charge only reasonable duplication costs and respond in a timely manner... And such FOIA response would not come with the same restrictive license.

As another commenter noted, the USPS has a unique exception to FOIA when it comes to commercially valuable data, which this is almost by definition: https://www.21cpw.com/the-law-has-two-exemptions-that-usps-f...
No problem, I'll just cross that part out before I sign it.
>USPS® ZIP Code Boundaries - Publication

>Four quarterly updates with limited publication.

Sharing it with everyone is probably going to get you banned from getting quarterly updates, as there's strings attached. Though I do wonder just how they keep track. Are they fingerprinting the data somehow? Does that make the dataset less useful?

Oof:

>Each Party acknowledges and agrees that a breach or threatened breach by LICENSEE of any of its obligations under this Agreement would cause the LICENSOR irreparable harm for which monetary damages would not be an adequate remedy and agrees that, in the event of such breach or threatened breach, the LICENSOR will be entitled to equitable relief, including a restraining order, an injunction, specific performance, and any other relief that may be available from any court, without any requirement to post a bond or other security, or to prove actual damages or that monetary damages are not an adequate remedy. Such remedies are not exclusive and are in addition to all other remedies that may be available at law, in equity, or otherwise

  > "Does that make the dataset less useful?"
Maps have a lengthy history of including "Trap streets" to identify copies.

Changing the value of the least-significant decimal place for a couple of points in a polygon is unlikely to significantly change the shape or reduce the accuracy so significantly that it reduces the value of the data.

One person per quarter I suppose.
loading story #50438807
The data does change though, and I wouldn't be surprised if at this boutique subscription pricing it's individually fingerprinted
I vote you pay for it and share it with us for free.

(Or start a gofundme for it.)

They could host a Webservice like a Google map I suppose but can’t give away the raw data
Derived data is not allowed
You wouldn't steal from the post office would you?
You wouldn't download a car.
You especially wouldn't download one of those old postal vehicles.
I legit tried to get one of those new. They're practically indestructible and have shit tons of storage. They would be awesome get arounds on the farm. If they were AWD or 4wd, I would give my left leg for it.

Sadly, you cannot, from what I can tell.

Those old postal vehicles were made from the GM parts bin with a custom shell built to spec, though most of them were from the S-10 platform. They are not indestructible, the USPS started scrambling to buy COTS vehicles while the NGDV was in development.

The S-10 itself is a really good farm truck though, so I'd keep your eyes on the market for one. Or maybe the equivalent Ford one.

Old Toyotas are indestructible as well and oem parts are readily available.
We had a 1991 s10 for years. I didn't realize that's what that was based on.

I'd like to have a Hilux, because the Tacoma isn't as good but that's just not an option here.

> Sadly, you cannot, from what I can tell.

I have heard it claimed that they are not DOT compliant which prevents them from being sold to the public, so USPS crushes them all at the end of their life.

That said, once in a great while a non-USPS LLV shows up on GovDeals. Last one I saw was local to me a few years ago and it sold for over 10 grand.

"I have heard it claimed that they are not DOT compliant which prevents them from being sold to the public"

For the very small bit of time (as you mentioned) - the Commercial Long Life Vehicle, or CLLV: https://www.flickr.com/photos/hugo90/33789231153

> If they were AWD or 4wd, I would give my left leg for it.

I assume you're talking about the LLV?

I had thought the post office bought a small number of 4x4 LLVs, but I don't see anything about it on wikipedia, so probably not. That said, maybe you could bodge something together from S-10 4x4 parts? (wikipedia says the rear axle is from the 4x4 s-10 blazer and the front axle is from the 2x4 blazer ... it might not be easy, but it's probably not impossible to grab a 4x4 front axle and stuff it in... )

I've read that the post office doesn't sell their old ones, but they weren't the only buyer and some of the other buyers do sell them.

Wikipedia does say the NGDV comes in all wheel drive. Although yeah, probably hard to buy a new one.

I'd buy one. USPS could get into the large storage and moving business.
I'd take one of the old right-hand-drive two-door jeeps in a second, though.