Canadian Postal Codes... when will we run out?

[twoNeurons]

Just thinking about this recently... and as the population density increases, there will be a need to allot more postal Codes.

There are only two letters unused, W and Z.

Ontario has K,L,N,M,P
Quebec has G,H,J
All the other provinces and territories have one letter (except Nunavut, which shares 'X' with NWT)

Ontario probably won't be the first to need one (it should be fine with 5 letters ) and I think Quebec should be fine for the time being as well. I wonder if BC will take "W", leaving Vancouver ( and maybe Vancouver Island ) with V?

We can reserve Z for all those Caribbean nations that want to join us one day.

Btw, I realize it's not as critical as phone numbers as Postal codes aren't directly proportional to population.

[trofirhen]

In the USA, where they had 5-digit zip codes for years, they solved the problem by adding numbers to them hence making them longer and able to take in more capacity.

Maybe they'd do something similar here.

[g35]

If my math is right, if you start with V__ ___ (or any letter) there are 676,000 possible combinations. (10x10x10x26x26 = 676000)

Looking at Lower Mainland, estimated 100 first-three-letter combinations are assigned to greater-vancouver, which makes about 260,000 unique postal codes. (100x10x10x26 = 260000)

That's probably enough.