How to address letters and parcels

The following guidelines and examples will help you avoid unnecessary delivery delays.

Addressing examples

Canadian address example

  1. The addressee (first line)
  2. Civic address (second line)
  3. Municipality name, province or territory and postal code (third line)

See more addressing tips for Canadian addresses

U.S. address example

  1. The addressee (first line)
  2. Delivery address (second line)
  3. City name, state abbreviation and ZIP Code (third line)
  4. Country name (fourth line)

See more addressing tips for U.S. addresses

International address example

  1. The addressee (first line)
  2. Delivery address (second line)
  3. Municipality name, state or province and postal or ZIP Code (third line)
  4. Country name (fourth line)

Learn how to format your international address by visiting the UPU Postal Addressing Systems tool. Or see other addressing tips for international addresses.

Addressing guidelines

  • General guidelines
    • Write in uppercase letters (block letters)
    • Don’t use the # symbol
  • Street address guidelines
  • Municipality, province and postal code guidelines
    • Put the city, province and postal code on the same line
    • Put 1 space between the city and province and 2 spaces between the province and the postal code
    • Separate the first and last 3 elements of the postal code with a space, don’t use hyphens