Some postal customers in Alabaster will soon have a new zip code.

Alabaster officials said due to repeated requests from citizens for the city to operate with only one zip code, 35007, the city asked the United States Postal Service to consider a change.

Many residents of the southern part of the city of Alabaster have previously been served by the Montevallo post office with the 35115 zip code.

Alabaster city councilman Tommy Ryals said in addition to bringing all residents under one zip code, the city was concerned with the loss of taxpayer dollars.

&uot;We saw several examples where people purchased tags, vehicles or appliances and the taxes were going to Montevallo rather than Alabaster because of the address,&uot; he said.

Ryals said it was not a lot of money, &uot;but it adds up.&uot;

At least one resident whose zip code will change was unhappy, however.

Melba Malbrou said she received a letter in the mail about a month ago concerning the address change.

She said most of her neighbors had told her they preferred staying with their original Montevallo addresses.

&uot;Most of them said they’d prefer to stay out of Alabaster,&uot; she said.

Ryals said the city was not annexing any area, that the change was simply a postal one.

He did confirm, however, that some residents who do not live within the city limits of Alabaster will have their Montevallo addresses changed as well due to USPS route necessity.

One example he pointed to was the front part of the Forest Park subdivision along Highway 119.

To determine the community’s preferences, the post office surveyed residents in homes which would be affected by the change to determine whether they’d like to change to 35007 or stay with 35115.

Voting no were 254; voting yes were 396; and 460 of the surveys were not returned.

Due to the positive vote, postal customers in that area will be served by the Alabaster post office after May 1.

According to the USPS Address Management Systems, there should be no delay in mail delivery due to safeguards built into the system.

Officials suggest, however, that residents relay their new mailing address — Alabaster, AL 35007 &045; to correspondents. The post office has change of address packages available