United States Postal Service

:This article describes the United States Postal Service. For the band named The Postal Service see The Postal Service.

Addressing envelopes

For any letter addressed within the United States, the USPS requires two things on the envelope.

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The first is the address of the recipient, to be placed in the center of the envelope. It is sometimes required to put the name of the addressee above the address; regardless, it is always a good idea to do so. Another optional addition to the address is a ZIP+4 code.

Related Topics:
Address - ZIP+4 code

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The second is some means of indicating that postage has been paid, usually a stamp, but perhaps a meter label, or in certain cases such as members of Congress a signature or other writing indicating that the sender has franking privileges. First-class mail costs 37¢ upwards, depending on the weight of the letter and the class, and the indicia is supposed to be placed in the upper-right corner. A third, and optional (but strongly suggested) addition is a return address. This is the address you wish the recipient to respond to, and, if necessary, the letter to be returned to if delivery fails. It is usually placed in the upper-left corner or occasionally in the back. Undeliverable mails that cannot be readily returned, including those without return addresses, are treated as dead mails at a Mail Recovery Center in Atlanta, Georgia or Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Related Topics:
Stamp - Franking - Indicia - Return address - Atlanta, Georgia - Saint Paul, Minnesota

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;The formatting of the address is as follows:

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:Line 1: Name of recipient

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:Line 2: Street address or P.O. Box

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:Line 3: City ( or APO/FPO code) and ZIP+4 code

Related Topics:
City - ZIP+4 code

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;Example:

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:Mr. John Doe

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:1111 JOHNSON ST

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:NEW YORK NY 10036-4658

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The USPS maintains a list of proper abbreviations at this page

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The formatting of a return address is identical. A common myth is that a comma is required after the city name, but this is not true. The Post Office recommends use of all upper case block letters using the appropriate formats and abbreviations and leaving out all punctuation except for the hyphen in the ZIP+4 code to ease automated address reading and speed processing, particularly for handwritten addresses; if the address is unusually formatted or illegible enough, it will require hand-processing, delaying that particular item. The USPS postal addressing standards may be found here.

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Mail sorting

Currently, processing of standard sized envelopes and cards is highly automated, including reading of handwritten addresses. Mail from individual customers and from public postboxes are collected by the mail carriers into plastic tubs. The plastic tubs are taken to a Processing and Distribution Center, and emptied into large carts which are then automatically dumped into the Advanced Facer-Canceler System.

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In contrast to the previous system which merely canceled and postmarked the upper right corner of the envelope, thereby missing any stamps which were inappropriately placed, the Advanced Facer-Canceler is sophisticated enough to locate the stamp anywhere on the envelope and cancel it and apply a postmark. Using the location of the stamp as one clue among others, it identifies the orientation of each item, and rotates them when necessary so that all the items are similarly oriented. The mail is then output by the machine into three categories; mail already having bar-coded addresses (such as many preaddressed reply envelopes and cards), mail with typed addresses, and mail with handwritten addresses. Additionally, some new AFCS machines have capability to read the mail piece enough to determine whether the address is local or outgoing.

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Mail with typed addresses goes to a Multiline Optical Character Reader (MLOCR) which reads the ZIP Code and address information and prints the appropriate bar code onto the envelope. Mail (actually the scanned image of the mail) with handwritten addresses (and machine-printed ones that aren't easily recognized) goes to the Remote Bar Coding System, a highly advanced scanning system with a state of the art neural net processor which is highly effective at correctly reading almost all addresses, no matter how badly written. It also corrects spelling errors and, where there is an error, omission, or conflict in the written address, identifies the most likely correct address. When it has decided on a correct address, it prints the appropriate bar code onto the envelopes, similarly to the MLOCR system. RBCS also has facilities in place, called Remote Encoding Centers that have humans look at images of mail pieces and enter the address data. The address data is associated with the image via an ID Tag, a fluorescent code printed by mail processing equipment on the back of mail pieces.

Related Topics:
Multiline Optical Character Reader - Remote Bar Coding System - Neural net - Remote Encoding Center - ID Tag - Fluorescent

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Mail with addresses which cannot be resolved by the automated system are separated for human intervention. If a local postal worker can read the address, the appropriate bar code is printed onto the item. If not, the item is sent to one of three Mail Recovery Centers in the United States (formerly known as Dead Letter Offices, originated by Benjamin Franklin in the 1770s) where it receives more intense scrutiny, including being opened to determine if any of the contents are a clue. If no valid address can be determined, the items are held for 90 days in case of inquiry by the customer; and if they are not claimed then they are destroyed.

Related Topics:
Mail Recovery Center - Dead Letter Offices - Benjamin Franklin - 1770s

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Once the mail is bar coded, it is automatically sorted into destination postal stations. Items for local delivery are retained in the postal station while other items are trucked to either the appropriate station if it is within approximately 200 miles, or the airport for transport to more distant destinations. Mail is flown, usually as baggage on commercial airlines, to the airport nearest the destination station, then at a nearby processing center the mail is once again read by a Delivery Bar Code System which sorts the items into their local destinations, including grouping them by individual mail carrier. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, mail has not been flown on passenger airlines. Instead it is transported via commercial carriers, most notably FedEx.

Related Topics:
Delivery Bar Code System - September 11, 2001 attacks - FedEx

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