Residents of Granite Quarry deserve to have accurate addresses — addresses based on the reality of where they live, not the U.S. Postal Service’s mindset.

This is a long-standing issue. Because carriers from the Postal Service’s Salisbury office deliver mail in Granite Quarry, homes and businesses in the town bear Salisbury addresses. Some parts of Spencer have Salisbury addresses as well. Likewise, many residences of rural areas that feel far removed from Salisbury also have Salisbury addresses. But that’s different from living in a town and having to use a different city’s name in your address.

The subject came up at the Granite Quarry Board of Aldermen’s recent retreat. Some residents, like Mayor Bill Feather, have added “GQ Street” to their address to clarify the matter.

Town officials are afraid Granite Quarry may be missing out on some things — or paying too much on others — because someone mistakes their residents for citizens of Salisbury.

We don’t know about that. But considering all the areas of the county that bear non-Salisbury addresses, persisting in labeling Granite Quarry as Salisbury is a Postal Service anachronism — something being done a certain way because it’s always been done that way.

East Spencer’s population is half the size of Granite Quarry’s, and those residents have East Spencer addresses. Cleveland is even smaller; but people there have Cleveland addresses.

Even towns that are unincorporated — Mount Ulla and Woodleaf, for example — have the town’s name in local addresses.

Why not Granite Quarry?