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What is the minimal possible UK address?

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Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#211

Post by simmonmt »

HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #102

I'm sure it depends a bit on the delivery and sorting offices involved. The UK (I'm an ex-pat) seems to be WAY better than the US at this - it seems they really want to deliver the mail and make an effort to do so, vs here in the US where it's almost the opposite - like they are looking for any excuse NOT to deliver. I had one returned to sender since the post office wouldn't figure the missing town from the zip code…

This Tom Scott video shows some of the surprising (to me) lengths to which the USPS does go to figure out the right address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxCha4Kez9c Obviously this doesn't apply to your case, but I certainly didn't think they'd have a national center for decoding terrible handwriting.

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#213

Post by flir »

He's right in the general case (house numbers are guaranteed unique within postcodes, so that's the minimal set of information that makes something deliverable).

But he's wrong - "1 London" works as an address. It's Apsley House.

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#214

Post by nimro »

Aromasin wrote: post #177
theginger wrote: post #152

If you write to the DVLA (driver and vehicle licensing agency) they have various individual postcodes for different departments Eg SA99 1AR is vehicle customer services The whole of SA99 I'd dedicated to the DVLA, so simply SA99 on an envelope would probably get there, although written just DVLA would probably do that same.

Tangentially related, but I'm ordering a vehicle logbook from the DVLA at the moment. I'm a millennial/Gen-Z straddler, so it's been a real blast from the past-I-never-had. I need to pay for my tax online. In order to do that, I need a number which is found in my logbook (V5C), which I've lost. Can I do that online? Nope. To order a new log book, I need to fill out a V62 form and post it to the DVLA, along with a che…

You can order a new V5C online: https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-log-book

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#215

Post by PuffinBlue »

Aromasin wrote: post #177
theginger wrote: post #152

If you write to the DVLA (driver and vehicle licensing agency) they have various individual postcodes for different departments Eg SA99 1AR is vehicle customer services The whole of SA99 I'd dedicated to the DVLA, so simply SA99 on an envelope would probably get there, although written just DVLA would probably do that same.

Tangentially related, but I'm ordering a vehicle logbook from the DVLA at the moment. I'm a millennial/Gen-Z straddler, so it's been a real blast from the past-I-never-had. I need to pay for my tax online. In order to do that, I need a number which is found in my logbook (V5C), which I've lost. Can I do that online? Nope. To order a new log book, I need to fill out a V62 form and post it to the DVLA, along with a che…

I have lost a V5C before.

You can actually order a 'duplicate' logbook with just the vehicle registration number, VIN and registered keeper address: https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-log-book

You can pay by credit/debit card.

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#216

Post by quitit »

I can't claim to be this clever, but I do remember a friend telling me at least two decades ago that all he gives the taxi is the postcode + house number.

Seems this is also not some special knowledge as all of his friends did the same.

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#219

Post by chipsa »

joezydeco wrote: post #171
xhkkffbf wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many cases, the PO box number becomes the suffix of ZIP+4 so you could probably write 21240-1084. I have friends use this nine digit number as their return address. Note: the real barcodes use 11 digits. There are two extra digits beyond the Zip+4 that encode the stop along the route. The Zip+4 gets you to the block but then you need two more digits to specify the house/apartment etc. If you can decide the barcode…

My ZIP+4 describes exactly three houses - we're all on one side of one given block. I'm trying to figure out the minimum amount of info the delivery person would need to find my house among the other two. Is it cheating if I put a photo of the house on the envelope?

Zip+4 + delivery point is for the set of mailboxes. If you each have individual mailboxes (not clustered), the 11 digit code is enough. Or house number plus scrawl plus zip+4.

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#220

Post by madcaptenor »

simmonmt wrote: post #195
madcaptenor wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No state either? Would they know which state to route that to? I think yours is the largest but apparently there are a bunch of cities in the US with that name.

Zip codes are nation-scoped, not state-scoped, so yes they'd know which state.

What I meant is: if you address to just "Knoxville" how would they know it's the one in Tennessee?
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