Online shopping in Ecuador is about to get easier.

The government has invested $1,200,000 to create the first Ecuadorian postal code system, which is now in effect. Ecuador, approximately the same size as the size of the State of Colorado, will have 1,140 postal codes.

Addresses will be assigned a six digit number. The first two numbers will refer to the province, and are the same two digits that identify the province of birth on citizen ID cards (09 for Guayas, 17 for Pichincha, etc).

The next digits narrow it down by district, and the final two refer to the specific postal zone.

María de los Ángeles Morales, executive director of the National Postal Agency, said they used data from the census, military geographic studies, and territorial boundaries for parishes as set by the National Secretariat of Planning and Development (SENPLADES).

Each specific postal area will have about 6,000 addresses and 30,000 inhabitants. Borders usually consist of roads or geographic features like rivers and mountains.

Willians Saud, a statistician, says that developing the mail system has a direct effect on the development of society. “It affects economic processes, and now it affects e-commerce.”

The first country to create postal codes was Germany in 1941.

Original story