Addressing Your Holiday Packages

Every holiday season, insufficient, incorrect or illegible addresses send too many gifts to the land of lost toys instead of to their intended recipients.
The first rule of addressing a package is to place a card showing the names, addresses and phone contacts for the sender and addressee inside the parcel. Next, remove or cross out any old labels, especially those with bar codes. Clearly print return and delivery addresses with full first and last names. All lines of an address should be formatted with a uniform left margin.
For international mail, foreign postal codes go on the line above the destination country. Some countries prefer the code before the town name, others after. The last line of the address block area must include only the complete country name in English — no abbreviations — written in uppercase letters. So, when granny sends a gift to her granddaughter, she’ll address her package like this:
MISS JANE CARLIN
1010 LAKE ROAD
OTTAWA ON K1A 0B1
CANADA