P.S. Interestingly enough , if you search similar questions on the net I see this response in Stackoverflow from a developer...so now I am wondering if Google is trying to rely on their directions or places API…or if they are just mis-directing by accident, or they are playing games with everyone.
More recently similar questions were submitted to Google and ended up in Stackoverflow as well.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/50037957/google-maps-api-geocode-not-returning-results-on-passing-postal-code-as-a-value
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30550915/google-geocode-api-fails-for-certain-valid-zip-codes?rq=1
So I went to the source to see what they suggested:
Under their new forward geocoder
They of course say they have decided zero results is a better response rather then give you a location nearby, and lo and behold, i am guessing their Places API is more expensive then the MAPS API…just a guess.
Basically they are saying what we have been instructing people, to have your user enter more complete address queries.
Ill let you know if there is a work around otherwise