About 25% of ZIP codes don't have a corresponding Census Bureau ZCTA, for example 10118. Do you end up needing special handling for those cases? Or has it not yet come up in practice?
For missing ones you have to fall back to distance based estimates and in my business that means you’re quote may be off and you’re exposed
That said, this is a textbook example of what I have always found so infuriating, personally, about working on commercial software, and one of the many reasons I ultimately moved into a non-software-writing role. The (very sensible and practical) shortcuts and tradeoffs that are commonly made due to time and cost constraints. The attitude of "well the vast majority of our use cases work, so we're done." I've always thought edge cases must be addressed. Something in my brain hurts when I knowingly release something where only 99% of cases work.
I can imagine this is probably the same thing some artists feel when they are commissioned to produce (in their view rushed, flawed, or incomplete) artwork for business purposes.
I only write software at home, as a hobby now, and this gives me the outlet to follow my heart around edge cases!
also i hear your point on swe roles and don't disagree