Envelope Addressing Tips

In the USA, we write addresses in minor-to-major order, with the most specific (smallest) item (e.g. person's name) at the top, proceeding to the most general (largest) item (i.e. country name) at the bottom.

In cases where the street name and number might be too long (e.g. for a database field, or for an automatic reader), any part of this line that denotes a sub-part of the main address (e.g. an apartment or suite number) can or should be put on a separate line above the street name and number. See below for an example.

The US Postal Service prefers envelopes to be:
--Typed, not handwritten
--Typed in all UPPERCASE letters for all fields (for ease of automatic scanning and application of bar codes)
--Commas and periods omitted
--Two spaces between the state abbreviation and zip code
--Addressed in large enough type to be read from an arm's length away
--Do not spell out state names. Instead use the proper two-letter abbreviation