How to Save One Day for All USPS Mail.

[MineralMan]

Go to your local post office and find out the correct way to address mail to your address. They'll give you the correct ZIP+4, and tell you how to format your address.

These days, the USPS wants addresses in all upper-case, with no punctuation after things like ST, AVE, etc. It also wants city names with words like SAINT spelled out, not abbreviated. St. Paul isn't correct, for example. it should be SAINT PAUL MN. 55NNN-NNNN No commas, nothing extra.

If you do that, your mail will sail through the sorting machines without any errors. Same thing for mail you send to others. Format your addresses correctly and you'll save a day in transit most of the time.

Best idea is to print mailing labels. Use Arial Bold as the font, and nothing smaller than 12 point type.

[underpants]

1. Okay thanks

👍

[handmade34]

2. my work

required correct addresses... I very often used this link... it is the tool to find zip code but put in what info you have (by address) and it will give you the preferred and proper address

https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction_input

[MineralMan]

3. Thank you!

That's perfect. It even puts whatever address you enter into upper case and removes punctuation. Great tool!

[3catwoman3]

4. Interesting.

I had no idea.

[MineralMan]

5. Handwritten addresses often require human handling.

If you do hand address, though, use black ink, all caps, and leave out the punctuation. Block Letters Only. Print as clearly as possible.

[3catwoman3]

7. DU is so...

...educational-

[MineralMan]

9. "Knowledge Is Good"

A slogan for everyone.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

11. For business mail (bills, subscriptions, etc) I print with block letters.

For personal mail (christmas cards, get well cards) I use cursive. The cards seemed to get there quickly. Maybe because I write the zip code clearly.

The kids may have never seen cursive. They probably think Uncle Bozo is writing in Arabic. They're happy to cash the check, anyway.

[csziggy]

15. Most printers and all wordprocessing programs can print envelopes

I mostly use the WordPerfect envelope feature under Format and use the special paper feeder on front or back of my printer to insert the envelope. WordPerfect saves my return address and lets me print the addressee's address in a larger font.

Word is more complicated and you have to jump through various hoops to print an envelope but both programs can do the job. The most annoying part is making sure the envelope is in the printer feeder tray the right side up and the right way around. I've mailed envelopes with the addressee's address printed across the glue side, because it was perfectly printed and I didn't want to waste the envelope.

Some cheaper printers do not have that extra tray that will hold an odd sized piece of paper (or an envelope) but you can still print - just put the envelope into the paper tray and create a custom paper size to fit the size of the envelope.

[frazzled]

6. You don't have to go to the post office

Just put in your address and USPS will provide the proper ZIP+4

https://m.usps.com/m/ZipLookupAction

[MineralMan]

8. Even better. Someone else also supplied that link.

Very, very useful!

[Blue Owl]

10. K&R

Good info!

[AwakeAtLast]

12. My English teachers are shuddering in their graves!

I get it, but when I think of all the time my teachers spent teaching us all how to properly address envelopes, well, it just makes me sad.

[ChazII]

13. As a former primary grade

teacher I understand. Teaching my students how to space and address the envelope back in the 1980 and 90's seems like I wasted their time.

[AwakeAtLast]

14. And all that practicing cursive!

I love good penmanship and calligraphy. I guess it's just decorative now.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

16. What makes me shidder

About writing becoming block letters is this ,Kids will not be able to read cursive so they cannot read the original constitution and the writings of the founders directly.

Some republican wanna be tyrant could put a different fake constitution in place and the lay person wouldn't be able to see what is wrong or missing in it and they would get fooled.

[dalton99a]

17. Your handwriting may have to be deciphered in Utah

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/have-bad-handwriting-us-postal-service-has-your-back-180957629/

What with so much mail zipping around the country, odds are some of it will never reach its final destination (fingers crossed that'll include Aunt Gale's ugly Christmas sweater). That's because the service uses computers to route the mail, and about two percent of the time (about 40 million pieces of Christmastime mail), the address on a package is illegible. Bad handwriting, water damage, archaic fonts and those plastic windows on letters all cause trouble for the computers.

That's where Karen Heath and her staff at the Remote Encoding Center in Salt Lake City step in.

"It's the handwriting, like your grandmother's, so unique that the computer has a hard time deciphering it," says Heath, manager at the center.

The U.S. Postal Service has a massive 78,000-square-foot branch, tucked away in the Utah capital, that deciphers illegible addresses. On a normal day, about 5 million pieces of mail are funneled through this branch, but as it creeps closer to December the number can be as high as 11 million, says Heath.

With just under 1,700 employees, the Center employees tackle all of the United State's illegible addresses in 33 different shifts that operate 24/7. And, according to Heath, they have a high success rate.