Using CHAR instead of VARCHAR2 for small fields

I have been designing Oracle tables, using CHAR data type for fields that contain a small domain, rather than using VARCHAR2.
An example would be a field "STATUS CHAR(8)", and it's legal values are
{'NEW','OPENED','ASSIGNED','COMPLETE','QA'}. I also used a CHAR(2) for a postal state code, which can only contain exactly two characters.

I used the CHAR type becuase it seemed impractical to use a variable length string (VARCHAR2) to store this type. I'm not concerned about space usage, and it seems the updates will be faster on a fixed size field.

However, when i look at some Oracle views, I see fields of type VARCHAR(1), VARCHAR2(2).

Any advise on this matter??

--Michael

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