If you shop online at all, you need to have your address listed correctly. If you don’t, sooner or later something you ordered in the mail won’t make it to your residence.
Sometimes the dumbest things can cause the things you order delivered not to be delivered, even if it’s as simple as separating one address line from another because you thought it was correct when in fact it isn’t.
In the US, certain towns and cities are very forgiving with addresses that are incorrectly written and will still make it to their intended destination, while others are rigidly strict. The safe assumption is to go with the strict method.
The wrong way
[First Name] [Last Name]
[Street Address or PO Box]
[Apartment or Suite number or letter]
[City or Town], [State Abbreviation]
[ZIP Code]
Example:
John Doe
123 Any St.
Apt. D
Anytown, ST
12345
The above is what’s been taught to most people as being correct. It isn’t. Maybe at one point it was, but it hasn’t been for years. The periods after St, Blvd or Ave aren’t even necessary.
The right way
[First Name] [Last Name]
[Street Address or PO Box] [Apartment or Suite number or letter]
[City or Town] [State Abbreviation]
[ZIP Code+4]
Example:
John Doe
123 Any St Apt D
Anytown ST
12345-6789
How to find out exactly what the USPS (and other mail carriers) prefer?
You can find out right here.
Punch in your address, or even a partial address, and you will be told exactly what your physical residential address should look like. You’ll also be informed what your +4 is for your ZIP code, even if you don’t know it. If what you see is drastically different from what you’ve been taught was the correct address, don’t be surprised.
Will mail be delivered faster and with more reliability if you use what the USPS tells you to use?
Yes, absolutely. When you want the stuff you buy online to absolutely get delivered with no wrong-address crapola involved, use what the USPS tells you for hassle-free shipments.
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Agreed that using the right address form for the shipper the supplier will use is to be desired. As one who has no mail delivery at my home address and no UPS/FEDEX delivery at my post office mail box I’ve fought the problem for as long as I have been ordering stuff from on line retailers.
There are two major problems with doing it right. The first is with the order forms and how the mailing software handles addresses. The second is with shippers not being able to tell you their shipping methods so you can fill out the information correctly.
The post office specifies that the delivery address should be the second line in a multiple line address. If I use:
street address
P O Box address
C S Zip+4
most supplier software will change the correct zip and +4 to the one for the street address which delays mail shipment. Using the P O Box only will allow the correct one. But if I leave out the street address I get an even greater delay while the surface delivery company sorts it out. UPS/FEDEX people seem to be better able to handle my version of 2 line address. They get stuff to me even though the zip code doesn’t match.
I’m waiting to see how the Post Office program to accept UPS/FEDEX on my behalf works out.
Technically speaking, the Address[next line]City/State portion shouldn’t even be required because the ZIP+4 states everything that needs to be said to get delivered exactly to the correct destination – particularly for PO box addresses – and could even be shimmed down to a *single* line address (i.e. “12345-6789″ and nothing else), but the USPS wouldn’t accept it. It would be awesome if you could do that however. If I could address everything to me using just 9 digits and nothing else, that would be just plain cool.
I use zip+4 for my return address. Don’t know that it has worked every time but I have received stuff back that way.
Stuff that is misaddressed generally gets to me. A benefit of living in what used to be a small town and having a PO box for 55 years, although the number has changed 3 times as the office has moved and blocks of numbers were not available at the new location.
And one funny: Had an office in a neighboring town, different city, different zip. One day, probably 15 years ago, I received at the local post office box something that was addressed to the location in the other town.The postal officials never did explain how that happened. I suspect that it was a substitute that worked both towns and recognized the name.
I had a letter returned when I forgot to put the zip code down.. and the town bordered my town. Maybe it depends on the mood that the mail sorter is in that day.
I’m sure I’m not alone when I say I’ve been writing it wrong my entire life and have never had a problem. I’m sure it matters more in some other cities though.
What’s more (and worse), not only are our mail services forgiving, they deliver mail that is outright wrongly and ambiguously addressed. I live at 123 S Place Ave. And for years we have been getting mail intended for the little old lady at 123 N Place Ave. but which is addressed “123 Place Ave.” We’ve told this lady several times over the years to tell her friends to update their address books, to no avail. Why is this mail even being delivered? /rant
You’d be amazed at what the post office will accept for physical addresses in some instances. There are still those to this day who don’t put the ZIP on a first class letter and in many cases will still get delivered.
Also, the USPS link above will actually *tell* you the common mistakes people make when addressing to certain ZIPs. If you go to that link and click the “Cities by ZIP Code” tab, punch in 06241 and watch what happens. “While it’s not correct, some mailers mistakenly use this ZIP code for…”