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What is the minimal possible UK address?

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Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#311

Post by lxgr »

1-more wrote: post #232
madcaptenor wrote: post #83

In the US I wonder if something like "6 W 8, NY NY" would work. Google Maps can find it: https://www.google.com/maps/place/6+W+8th+St,+New+York,+NY+1...

Yeah that's totally unambiguous for NYC, so I'm sure it would. I imagine they'd really prefer if you also included the ZIP. An annoyance in NYC is people not in Manhattan giving their address as NY, NY. A lot of street names repeat in other boroughs so you do in fact need to specify that that address is in Brooklyn if it's there. Queens is even more complicated since street names are not unique within the borough so…

A ZIP code (even just the 5-digit one) should disambiguate all of that though, right?

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#312

Post by donalhunt »

theonlybutlet wrote: post #205
aisio wrote: post #39

In Ireland you can just describe the person instead of the actual address and it'll get delivered https://twitter.com/weefeargal/status/1479069076144234497?s=...

In Ireland any six digit eircode is unique to your address. You only have to put that on the envelope and it'll get delivered.

Eircode length is seven.

And as already mentioned - it's used by some automated sorting (I believe) but last mile delivery doesn't use it (aiui).

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#314

Post by lmm »

michaelt wrote: post #110
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…

> I had one returned to sender since the post office wouldn't figure the missing town from the zip code! Well, here in the UK the norm (for non-commercial mail) is not to include a return address on the outside of the envelope. To return something to the sender, they have to open it and hope they find an address inside. Much easier to just deliver it!

> Well, here in the UK the norm (for non-commercial mail) is not to include a return address on the outside of the envelope.

Huh? I was always taught to put your address on the back.

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#316

Post by justincormack »

twic wrote: post #272
rax0m wrote: post #88

Olga was a famous doorkeeper at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. Students used to send her postcards from their journeys. It became so popular that it was enough to write "Olga, Sweden" for her to get the letters [0] (source in swedish). [0]: https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_Boberg

My dad's Uncle Bill was a quite well-known rugby player at one time, and received letters addressed just to "Bill $surname, Wales".

My uncle got mail to his name, Cambridge. They tried the University, which routed to him.

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#318

Post by pm215 »

Symbiote wrote: post #258
dfxm12 wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll bet "Rishi Sunak" would get to 10 Downing Street. I wonder if random mail sent to top level politicians actually gets to them. The intention is clear, yes, but there's probably layers of security that will prevent it from getting to its intended address...

If it's a reasonable letter, I doubt the way it's addressed makes any difference. Members of Parliament have a duty to listen and respond to their constituents, which in Sunak's case is the people of Richmond, North Yorkshire. I don't live there, but I have lived in a senior government minister's constituency in the past. I wrote one letter, and I did get a reply — I doubt my letter was directly read by the minister,…

The difficulty these days is the volume. Rory Stewart (an ex-MP) mentioned on his podcast recently that one of his predecessors in his seat in IIRC the 1950s got about 5 letters a week to deal with; when Rory was an MP in the 2010s he was getting over 20,000 emails a year. It's much easier to have a personal touch in correspondence at 5 a week!

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#319

Post by jjeaff »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #80

In the US, someone I know who had a Post Office box liked writing simply `box-number zip-code` as their address. It worked. Eg, if you wrote on an envelope: 1034 21240 It would get there! You might want to add a "Box" before the "1034" to be safe -- and to disambiguate between a house number, as in OP? (I'm not sure just a house number would ever work in the USA?) But it looks cooler with just two numbers. Especially…

My family lives in a rural community where most people know everyone's name. So I have successfully sent a postcard to myself across the US with simply my first name and the zip code.

Re: What is the minimal possible UK address?

#320

Post by Kon-Peki »

dhosek wrote: post #236
dfxm12 wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll bet "Rishi Sunak" would get to 10 Downing Street. I wonder if random mail sent to top level politicians actually gets to them. The intention is clear, yes, but there's probably layers of security that will prevent it from getting to its intended address...

For mail to the U.S. president, it goes to a facility near the White House where it’s screened, sorted, replies are sent (usually selected from a set of pre-generated forms) and (depending on the incumbent) a handful are brought to the president’s personal attention.

I sent Clinton an invitation to my high school graduation party, and got a letter back that said good luck in college.
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