Here's what I have found helps (sometimes tremendously) with the USPS:
1. Always use nine-digit zip codes (easily looked up on the USPS web
site)
2. Block print in all upper case letters for handwritten addresses
3. Wherever possible, produce a computer-printed envelope or label with:
a. FIM-A "courtesy reply mail" bar code
b. Delivery Point bar code
c. All upper case address
d. Sans-serif font
I routinely send things to my daughters (both on the east coast).
Computer generated addresses as listed in item three above, and with
nine digit zip code, quite commonly make the trip in only 3 days for
first class mail. Handwritten they take 4-5 days (with block print and
nine-digit zip), and "traditional" (regular printing or handwriting and
only five digit zip) they take 7-9 days. I'm sending from a rural PO (we
don't even have home delivery here), so it's *not* because I'm going
from some major location... Parcels are far more likely to be delivered
in a timely manner this way.
It should be obvious that script handwritten addresses would be slowest.
Anything that requires the PO to have to have some person read and
interpret an address is far more prone to delay and error.
All this info came from a postcard the local PO once placed in our PO
boxes here with essentially the above info on them (as well as some
other tips). One difference in what I wrote from what the PO sent out: I
always include the "FIM-A courtesy reply mail" bar code (which prints
just to the left of the stamp area). For some reason, without this, some
PO's address readers fail to detect the Delivery Point bar code (the one
for the address). That's a tip I got from a friend in the USPS. All this
is easily done in many word processors, label print programs, etc. Takes
about 30 seconds (for those who have word processors that'll access an
address book file) to select the address and feed an envelope.
---
Scott Gomez
-----Original Message-----
From: ClassicVW@xxxxxxx [mailto:ClassicVW@xxxxxxx]
Subject: [OM] Re: Ebay stuff
<snip>
But all this is still better than the luck I've had with mail
sent/received
within the U.S. A cross-country ( 3,000 miles) letter to me took NINETY
DAYS to
arrive, and no explanation. Another letter I sent, with a payment
inside,
approx 800 miles away, never showed. I then re-sent the payment, THAT
one arrived
(but still took 9 days), then the first one arrived back to me SIX WEEKS
later stamped "NO Such Address" even though the addres WAS correct,
written by me
exactly the same as the one that did arrive there.
Go figure indeed.
George S.
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