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Forums » Smalltalk » Shipping things to foreign places

Hullo! I could probably find out from more extensive Google searching but I wanted to just ask here and see what happens. Ah, basically, if I were to send a postcard to someone in England - from the USA - I would address it US style, right? I'm pretty sure they write addresses differently, anyway, but I find it a little confusing to read about.
Anyway it seems pretty obvious since I figured that like our machines can read our style of postage at least for outgoing... But maybe they can read both? Are there any risks you guys know of with addressing it one way or the other? Thanks in advance!
-Shiny

(Also as a side note what do you guys like to write on postcards? I thought of putting a rude joke, but, well... I don't know if my friend would actually laugh so it's better to do something nicer.)
The address of the recipient must match their style.
The address of the sender must match their style.
Include the country on each. In this case, a US address on the sender, an England, United Kingdom address for the recipient. Postage always matches where it comes from.
The addresses go to the same location—top left for sender, middle for recipient.

Or at least that’s what I know.

As for what to put on…what may be a rude joke here may lose its meaning there.
Sanne Moderator

It's often best to check with the postal carrier that you're sending from! For example, USPS has this as their guidelines:

https://faq.usps.com/s/article/International-addressing-requirements#examples
It is whatever style their country does. I struggle sending things to the US because they don't put zip code on its own line.

You can easily google the format for any country.

I would also avoid rude jobs because anyone can read a post card.

I like to put fun facts on my post cards. I also share language I'm learning.

IF you put your address on it, put it higher than the delivery address. A lot of countries are using computers to decide whre to send it and they go with the LOWER codes.
Shinyrainbowlithogra Topic Starter

Ah, that's quite neatly arranged, isn't it? Thank you, Sanne.

Thank you Xpoint MetaPulse and Cacophony also, the joke was simply, would you like to hear a joke? Knock knock, who's there? The British government.
But as I don't know if the person's opinions have changed on said government, and I know they're part of a minority, I wouldn't want to cause any bad feelings. Hehem. Fun facts seem like a good idea and it's true that anyone could read such a thing, which is also a good point
I may just write about the place I visited and put a bit of local fun fact on there, as my friend sent me a postcard once and talked about their visit to Wales in Welsh... But in the place I visited almost everyone was speaking English around me.
Danke for responding

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