Attn:UK members!

[McGizmo]

Hi guys,

I can't recall when it came up but in generating postage on line, at some point, I couldn't specify United Kingdom as the "country" because the software states that the US does not recognize nor will it accept UK on any customs forms. Since then, I have been assuming that England would be the proper alternative but that may only work if you are in fact in England?!?!

There are other international country designations which although are readily understood, they are not seemingly accepted by the USPS. This info and discussion could probably be of benefit beyond the McGizmo forum and for all I know, it has been addressed elsewhere or perhaps in the Marketplace but I admit I don't know about it.

 

[RocketTomato]

If I am not mistaken, I believe you can use "Great Britain and Northern Ireland" and it should work.

 

[Kiessling]

Ah ... those Americans ... :shakehead: :nana:

 

[McGizmo]

If I am not mistaken, I believe you can use "Great Britain and Northern Ireland" and it should work.

Yes Great Britain works provided I spell it correctly.

I recall some issues with Korea and China but not the particulars at this point. There was also some confusion with one of the "stans" but danged if I can recall what it was.

I rely heavily on cutting and pasting the address from the e-mail to the postage software in order to avoid any clever dyslexic or other error on my part. When the results are not recognized, I get concerned!

Back to the Brits, what's with the number of lines in some of your addresses?!?! :nana:

I exaggerate:

John Smythe
Around the corner from the bell
Hamptonshire
On the down
Not the up
Place 3b
West of Essex
abc123
United Kingdom

Unless I want the font to be micro dot in size, I find I have to use commas and combine multiple lines in one line. It seems to work so I can't but

 

[Codeman]

ROTFLMAO

Maybe the bigger addresses are simply meant to make the country feel bigger than it really is... :duck:

Seriously, though, it may be due to how their post service is set up and how the logistics of their facilities are tied more to geographic entities than it is in the U.S.

 

[nfetterly]

I had someone who worked at the USPS comment on the British addresses, the part she liked was;

The third gate to the left of the bush


For directions (slightly off topic), I like something along the line of "when you see the barn you have gone too far..."

 

[dmdrewitt]

Just out of interest, here is a link to the Royal Mail (Great Britain's equilivant to USPS) website, which allows you to find the official postal address.

You will find many GB people don't seem to know their "official" postal address. They add words like "Near", when maybe it is not necessary to put that line in as far as Royal Mail are concerned.

Royal Mail Address Finder

Maybe you could check one of these long ones Don in the above link and see if their address is "officially" shorter than they purport. (Purely out of interest!)

David

 

[London Lad]

You US guys are just jealous because all you have is a load of numbers :nana:

You can find a proper British address without recourse to those newfangled computer things!!

All joking apart, my CORRECT address for international purposes is seven lines. (This is not the actual address, just an example of the format)

1: The Pig Shed
2: The Common
3: Melling
4: WESTCLIFF ON SEA
5: Suffolk
6: IP99 6XX
7: England

1: This is the street number or house name.
2: This is the name of the street (in my case 'The Common' as I don't live on a road as such)
3: This is the name of the town or village.
4: This is the 'post town' i.e. nearest town with sorting office.
5: This is the county, like your state
6: This is the post code, like your ZIP
7: This is the country.

If you live in the 'post town' itself then lines 3 and 4 would be the same so 3 would be missed out.

Royal Mail say there is no need to show the county at line 5 now post codes are in use but as town names are often duplicated in different counties I still show it.

See, it's simples :thumbsup:

 

[litew8]

Thanks for a Sunday morning chuckle !

 

[AlecGold]

Here it is a Sunday evening chuckle
but I have posted letters like this:

3312 JP; 9

and it arrived without any trouble.
That is by mail within my country. But if you would write Netherlands underneath
it will arrive from anywhere over the world .)

 

[McGizmo]

It seems that many Hong Kong addresses also share in large numbers of lines and I wonder if this is thanks to you Brits!! :nana:

I developed an "attitude" about this I admit when I first started sending flashlight stuff out and back then, I had to hand write the addresses on the custom's labels and my writing is illegible to anyone, myself included. I realized that a denial of an order request based on the difficulty of the mailing address wasn't very equitable or reasonable for that matter. Offering a discount to someone if they would move wouldn't be very effective either.

What finally prompted this thread was one of you in the UK had me send you a light and I substituted England for United Kingdom only to find that you are in Wales! My Bad!!

As many of you know, I now live on Maui. I found it interesting that although many of us live in different locations identified by Hawaiian names, when it comes to postal code we all live in the city of Lahaina. To a local, if I tell them I live in Honokowai, they have an idea of where I live. If I say Lahaina, they'll figure I live about 10 miles south of where I actually live. Further, there is no provision for which island and the state is of course Hawaii. My mailing address works no problem for mail but it hardly makes it obvious to someone not familiar with the islands as to where I live. A couple more lines of information would make a big difference.

I wonder if some day address will have Lat and Lon and elevation as elements of location ID. :tinfoil:

 

[reeso]

What finally prompted this thread was one of you in the UK had me send you a light and I substituted England for United Kingdom only to find that you are in Wales! My Bad!!

:wave:

 

[souptree]

It's all very sensible. Maybe Americans should insist on something along the lines of:

Joe Smartass
123
Main Street
Los Angeles
Los Angeles County
California
12345
United States

:wave:

 

[Th232]

For Australia:

34 Drop Bear St (house number and street name)
Middleofnowhere (suburb/town)
QLD, 4000 (state and postcode, note that the state is always a 3 letter acronym, postcode is 4 digits)
Australia ('nuf said)

Alec, how do you guys read that type of address, something like "street number and abbreviation; province"?

 

[reeso]

Slightly OT aimed at UK members.
How long did it take your McGizmo to reach you ?
Thanks

 

[London Lad]

If they are coming direct from Don, 5 to 10 working days, usually nearer 5.

This seems fast but Don labels them correctly, uses a reliable service and most importantly, posts them when he says he does :twothumbs

 

[reeso]

Thanks.
Maybe they are still clearing the strike backlogs.

 

[McGizmo]

reeso,
My bad for not searching for your order e-mail in the folder and sending you off a note. I intended to but then life and short memory stepped in the way. (I have reasons and not excuses :duck: )

Your package returned to me with a note from the USPS that I used the wrong custom's form.

They included the correct one which was really silly because it is bigger than the package and once the multi copies would be placed in their plastic envelope and the envelope stuck to the box, you wouldn't be able to take the forms out?!?!??

I have been shipping the same package with same form (integrated within the label I print) for some time with no glitches?!? I was surprised and frankly dumbfounded about this. I called the USPS and the guy I spoke with ultimately had to put me on hold for a while and then got back to me and said that I was doing the right thing and that it was an error on their part. I would guess your package lost a couple days transit time as a result. My guess is that they have someone new in the post office there who is being perhaps over diligent in their efforts. I also had a flat rate box (med) returned to me stating I needed additional postage. I had generated the appropriate flat rate box postage label but I had also cut the box down to about half its original size. I have done this before and figure I am doing everyone a favor in reducing the volume of the package. It wasn't worth the hassle so I just added a correction label with additional postage purchased and sent it through again. Hopefully this new person is well on the way with their learning curve and there won't be any more surprises.

Back to your particular package, as soon as I got off the phone with the USPS and put a post-it note stating the label was fine per so and so over their post-it note which stated I needed to use a different form, I put it back in the drop box and then proceeded to the beach to shoot some seahorses. When I got home, I had a number of images to view and process and I admit that my intention to notify you fell by the way side (I knew you would get your package but I did realize there was a delay at this end). In my final defense, I submit a sample of what took over my concentration and occupied my mind:

 

[nfetterly]

Okay - there IS a seahorse there. It seems to have a natural ability for camouflage. :laughing:

 

[Kiessling]

Yes. There is a seahorse there. It is in the way.