Label an Envelope

--75.39.239.39 20:02, 13 April 2017 (GMT)]]Labeling an envelope incorrectly will slow down the process of getting your letter or card to its intended recipient. An incorrect label could even prohibit your mail from getting to its destination. Follow these steps to learn how to label an envelope and ensure prompt delivery of your outgoing mail.

Steps

Writing the Return Address

  1. Position the envelope. Lay your envelope on a flat surface. Situate the envelope so the envelope flap faces down, towards the surface of the table, and the front of the envelope faces up, towards you.
    • The envelope should be oriented long ways left to right, not top to bottom.
    • For example, a standard business envelope measures 4 1/8¨ x 9 1/8¨.[1]
    • When you begin to label your envelope, the 9 1/8¨ length of the envelope should run from your left to right hand.
    • The front, smooth side of the envelope is where you will write all the information needed to get your envelope to the addressee.
  2. Print your title (Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms, or title earned in your line of work) and name for the return address. The return address is necessary in the event the mail is undeliverable. If the mail cannot reach its intended destination, the postal service will send it back to you at the location indicated by the return address.
    • The return address is written in the upper-left corner of the envelope and contains three lines of text.
    • The first line will be your title and name. You should write your complete name legal name.
    • For example, you can write “Mr. Jeremy H. Doe”, or "General Harry Smith". This way, your mail carrier will be able to recognize your name and deliver it to your mailing address by the name indicated on the return address.
  3. Print your street address. The second line of text in the upper-left corner will include your street address as given to you by the post office.
    • Remember to include your apartment number, if you have one.#
    • If you receive mail at a post-office box, print that on the second line.
  4. Print your city, state, and zip code on the third line.
    • If, for some reason, your city and state information takes up a lot of space (you find yourself writing far out into the middle of the envelope), it is acceptable to write the zip code the fourth line.

Writing the Mailing Address

  1. Print the title and name of the person to whom the mail is being sent. The mailing address indicates your letter's destination and also include at least three lines of text. The first line will be the title and name of the person to whom your letter will be delivered.
    • Write that person's title and name in the very center of the envelope, i.e., Mr. & Mrs. John Doe, Mrs. Jane Doe, Reverend Sam Holly, General George Patton. Miss or Ms is used for unmarried women. If you do not know a woman's title, then use Ms. It is rude and disrespectful to use Jane Doe, John Doe because it shows a lack of education and respect for others. It does not cost anything to show respect to the person to whom you are writing. You will be writing lines below this title and name, so be sure to start high enough up in the middle of the envelope to leave yourself space.
  2. The "attention" line abbreviation, “ATTN: ” is in all capital letters. For example, if you are sending your letter to an individual at a company, start the first line of the mailing address with the name of the company. For example, “Big Corporation X”.
    • Write the title and name of the individual to whom you are writing underneath the name of the company with "ATTN: Mr. John H. Doe, Attorney at Law". It is different for titled individuals, for example, Mr. James H. Howard, Secretary of State, or a Director.
    • This helps ensure that your letter will wind up in the correct person's hands instead of getting lost in the company's mail-room. Place: DO NOT OPEN IN MAIL ROOM on the envelope face, or EXCLUSIVE FOR: Director Jeremy A. Applegate.
  3. Know when and how to use the abbreviation “c/o”. You may also consider using the designation “c/o” (which stands for “in care of”) instead of “Attn:”. Use this convention when you are mailing a letter either to a person or business but know that the letter will be handled or delivered by an intermediary.
    • For example, if you are applying for a job, you will want to address your letter to the head of the hiring committee, but the advertisement may include the name of the administrative assistant who handles the applications. In this case, the first line of the mailing address will indicate the name of the head of the hiring committee, and the second line will read “c/o Mr. J. Doe (the administrative assistant)”.
    • You may also use “c/o” when you are trying to send a letter to a person whose address you do not have, but when you do have the address of someone you believe will be able to forward the letter.
    • For example, if you do not have the current mailing address of a childhood friend, but do know where her mother lives, you can mail the letter to her mother. The first line will include the friend's name, the second line will read “c/o Mother's Name”, and you will then include the mother's address below that.
  4. Write the street address of the recipient. Once you have filled in the name of the letter's recipient, you will print the street address to which the letter will be delivered.
    • Print this immediately below the name. This will be the second or the third line of the mailing address, depending upon whether you had a second line with “Attn:” or “c/o”.
    • Be sure to include the complete address, including any relevant apartment or suite numbers.
    • Also be sure to include any directions, such as NW (for northwest); many towns and cities have multiple streets with the same name which are only distinguished by these directionals.[2]
  5. Write the city, state, and zip code (or postal code) of the recipient. This information is the last line of the address, and appears directly under the street address.
    • If you are sending mail internationally, you will also need to include the country to which your letter is being delivered. This does not need to be included if you are mailing domestically.
  6. Be prepared with more information for military addresses. If you are sending a letter to a military address, be sure to include all relevant information.[2]
    • This includes the full name of the recipient (including either the middle name or middle initial), the PSC number, unit number, or ship name.
    • Instead of writing the city name, include instead APO (Air/Army Post Office), FPO (Fleet Post Office), or DPO (Diplomatic Post Office).
    • The state should be replaced with AA, AE, or AP.
    • Finally, the zip code should include the full ZIP+4.

Taking Care of Postage

  1. Determine the correct postage. Postage is required to send mail through the postal services in most countries. If you are using a standard business envelope, you will most likely only need one stamp to mail your letter.
    • Currently, stamps are $0.49 each. One stamp is sufficient for a letter that does not exceed one ounce in weight.[3]
    • If your letter weighs more than one ounce, you will either need to affix an additional stamp, or better yet, you should take it to a local post office to be weighed. You can then pay the exact postage needed.
    • You can also calculate your required postage by going to the United States Postal Service's website.
  2. Be aware of different postage rates. Postage rates do change fairly frequently. If you haven't mailed a letter in awhile, the old stamps that you have stashed in the back of your desk drawer may be insufficient.
    • A good way to handle surprise increases in the cost of a stamp is to purchase Forever Stamps. These are non-denominational stamps which once purchased can be used to mail First-Class letters forever—regardless of any subsequent price increases.[4]
    • Currently, a First-Class Mail Forever Stamp is priced at $0.49. [5]
    • Currently, a First-Class Mail International Global Forever Stamp and/or a Postcard Stamp is priced at $1.15.
    • If you send a lot of letters (and you should consider doing so—writing letters is a lost art!), you should definitely stock up on Forever Stamps.
  3. Place a stamp on your envelope. The stamp goes in the upper-right corner of the envelope.
    • Make sure that you do not place your stamp over any part of the mailing address (the mailing address should be centered lower on the envelope, so this shouldn't be a problem).
    • Make sure as well that you do not write over the stamp.
    • Of course, if you do not have stamps, or do not have the correct postage, take your addressed envelope to the nearest post office and they will handle it from there.
    • Double-check that you've included all of the necessary, correct information. You're ready to mail!

Tips

  • Write on your envelope with a permanent pen or marker. If you don't use a permanent pen, the mailing address or return address could get smudged or erased, and result in an undeliverable envelope.

Warnings

  • When addressing your envelope, always print with legible handwriting. Don't use cursive.
  • When addressing your envelope, you should not include any commas or periods.[2]

Things You'll Need

  • Envelope
  • Permanent pen or marker
  • Stamp

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.officedepot.com/a/browse/business-envelopes/N=5+514133/
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm100/addressing-mail.htm
  3. ↑ http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm#2203672
  4. ↑ http://www.stamps.com/usps/forever-stamps/
  5. ↑ http://pe.usps.com/
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