Likewise the abbreviation for Apartment is Apt. Notice the abbreviation for “floor” is FL. Alleghany Insurance 1411 Broadway Fl 34 New York, NY 10018 This is especially important to include-and do so correctly-because if you send a letter to your cousin Cynthia at her apartment building, how is the postman supposed to know which of the 500 units to deliver the letter to? Or what if you are trying to get those accident reports to the correct insurance company in the skyscraper on Broadway in New York, but you don’t have the floor number? Here’s how you’d do it correctly. The same rules apply for suites, floors, or building numbers. So your address would now look like this: Recipient’s Name Building Number | Street Number/Name | Apartment Number City Name, State Abbreviation | Zip Code

While most of the address stays the same, you’ll now add the apartment number at the end of the street line. Things get a little bit more complicated when you add an apartment number or building to the mix. Mixing up a Zip Code is that single degree that could get your letter sent to the wrong side of the country, or returned to you. It is important to get the City, State, and ZIP Code as accurate as possible because the USPS automated mail sorters process addresses from the bottom up. If you're not sure of some of the components of the recipient's address you can get that via an address validation tool like the one that you can use for free at Smarty. Peter Venkman 2335 S State St Provo, UT 84606 Here’s an example of a simple letter in an envelope being sent domestically. Where should this information go on the envelope? Smack dab in the center. If you need to write a mailing addresses for a domestic address, or a letter from a United States address to another United States address, it’s quite simple: Recipient’s Name Building Number | Street Number/Name City Name, State Abbreviation | Zip Code It wasn’t until years later that I began to wonder what the components of an address were, and how the formatting mattered. So it was at a young age that I first wrote my grandmother's street address on an envelope. “You have to send mail to get mail.” my father would say. we’ll go over that information as well.Īs a child I remember asking my parents why I never got any mail. If you’re looking for details on how to correctly abbreviate street names such as “street”, “avenue”, “parkway”, etc. What things are most important when trying to ensure that your letter, package, or postcard gets to where it needs to go? What if you’re trying to send to a military address? What about new addresses, or urban addresses? What if you’re sending something overseas to an international address? We’re going to go over several postal address examples to answer these questions. The same can be said about an address that has a single component in the wrong place, omitted, or simply incorrect. Try them now, or continue reading to learn more about how to write a mailing address, address formats and see address formatting examples for different address types.Īn airplane that begins its journey even one degree off can end up miles and miles away from where it is supposed to be. We've included useful tools to correct, verify, and standardize your addresses to authoritative formatting guidelines in the US and for 240+ countries worldwide. Equally important, is verifying the mailing address is complete, valid, and deliverable by the local postal service. The official postal address format in the US is run by the United States Postal Service (USPS).įormatting an address correctly on your envelope, postcard, or parcel is essential for accurate delivery. We’ll cover the steps to write several types of addresses including standard mailing addresses, apartments, PO Boxes, APOs, and FPOs.Ī Mailing Address Format is a set of spelling, abbreviation, and formatting guidelines, created and maintained by a country's postal authority for use within local mail delivery systems. How to write a mailing address is determined by the mailing address format of your country, the destination country, and the type of address you're sending to. How to Write a Mailing Address - Format + Examples

Fill out a letter envelope