How to write your address so your package arrives efficiently.

It's seems so simple that writing this may seem condescending. That's not my intent. I just want you to happily get your stuff.

Back in my day we were taught how to properly write an address. Now that I'm running an online retail business I can see that this lesson is no longer taught. Today I decided to do a little homework, and I discovered that there still are "best methods" even for somewhat complex addresses.

I'm not going to tell you how old this manatee is, but Pony Express riders preferred a format of smallest to largest.

You're the smallest, so you'd go first. on line one.

Located in a business?  that was next.

Suite or apartment, flat, PO Box?  Third line.

Building number, and street, road, highway.... fourth.

City or town was next along with state and of course, and, there was no zip code of the old west.

That will still work, usually, kind of, for the most part, in a way.... but, things have changed a little, and from my recent research I hope to help you avoid a little frustration.

We're talking about ordering stuff online so first, read over the seller's and shipper's requirements carefully for limits, conditions, prohibitions, restrictions and other words from the thesaurus which are similar. There may be variations based on size, weight, value, your location, etc.  Sometimes a signature may be required or PO boxes are not acceptable, and some geographic areas not serviced. Many of these conditions are out of the control of the seller. Amazon, eBay, PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, AmEx, UPS, USPS, FedEx, and of course, the ever meddlesome government all have their... shall we say,  "preferences."

If you're not 100% sure, contact the seller BEFORE placing your order. Many sellers don't play by the rules, but eBay, PayPal, etc really frown upon sellers altering anything after the order's been placed even at the behest of the customer.

I hate it when people yell at me, but apparently shipping methods love it. Before you start entering your address, go ahead and hit that CAPSLOCK AND FORGET EVERYTHING YOU WERE TAUGHT REGARDING PUNCTUATION.

YOUR FULL LEGAL NAME IS BEST TO USE AND A BUSINESS NAME IF YOU'RE PACKAGE IS BEING DELIVERED SOMEWHERE OTHER THAN A RESIDENCE.

PO BOX BUILDING NUMBER STREET AND SUITE NUMBER

CITY TWO LETTER STATE IDENTIFIER AND ZIP CODE PLUS FOUR

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

LIKE SO...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JACK CREVALLE

BLUEFIN INC

4242 OCEAN BLVD STE 12

STUART FL 34997-4816

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LISA LADYFISH

156 BIG DAM RD PO BOX 42

ARBUCKLE AR 38374-1913

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You get the idea. Now, check your work carefully. It's disappointing when your stuff gets lost because the shipper can't find BIC DAM RD. More information is better than not enough A phone number and email address may make the difference between a successful delivery and an incomplete pass.

Make sure you're official eBay, credit card and PayPal address matches your delivery address. PayPal specifically frowns on sellers shipping to addresses not registered to the card holder to protect buyers from fraud. In addition, Manatee Max utilizes a fraud detection service called  Signifyd  which cross checks the information Max receives against other records and will flag orders which contain mismatched information. PayPal will not back any delivery guarantees to addresses other than those officially registered with them by the account signatory.

One last helpful tip:  Go to https://www.google.com/ and type your address into the search field and make sure the input address can be found and is correct.

I hope this information has been helpful, and may all your packages be correct, undamaged, and on time.