Postal standards and abbreviations

Envelopes and mailing labels: standard format

Use all capitals.
Use no punctuation except a hyphen between the 5-digit and + 4 Zip code.
Follow the line arrangement shown in this example:

ELBERT F POWELL
POWELL PRINTING CO
STE 412
5800 BRATTLE ST
CAMBRIDGE MA 02169-1058
USA
Use standard abbreviations for street address, secondary address, and city/state/zip lines as specified below.
Except for such universal forms as "Co.," and "Inc.," DO NOT abbreviate recipient, company, or institution names unless you must do so to avoid line wrapping. When it is necessary to abbreviate, use the "ad hoc" abbreviations specified below.

Abbreviations, city, state, zip line

Use the following rules consistently for all US and Canadian addresses.

Use standard 2-letter abbreviations for U.S. states and Canadian provinces.
Do not abbreviate any part of the city or town name:

Abbreviations, street address line

Use the following abbreviations consistently in the street addresses of all envelopes and mailing labels.
Except for the ordinal numbers* (2nd, 4th, etc.), do not abbreviate the formal names of streets:

Apt	Apartment	NE	Northeast
Ave	Avenue	No.	(omit this word)
Box	(becomes PO Box)	NW	Northwest
Bldg	Building	Park	Park
Bur	Bureau	Pkwy	Parkway
Byp	Bypass	Pass	Pass
Cswy	Causeway	Path	Path
Cay	Cay	Pike	Pike
Ctr	Center	Pl	Place
Cir	Circle	Plz	Plaza
Ct	Court	Pt	Point
Cv	Cove	PO	Post Office
Cr	Creek	Rdg	Ridge
Cres	Crescent	Rd	Road
Crst	Crest	Expy	Expressway
Curv	Curve	Rdwy	Roadway
Dr	Drive	Rt	Route
8th	Eighth	Row	Row
E	East, eastern	Rue	Rue
Est	Estate	RFD	Rural Free Delivery (becomes RR)
Ext	Extension	RR	Rural Route
Fls	Falls	S	South, southern
5th	Fifth	2nd	Second
1st	First	6th	Sixth
4th	Fourth	7th	Seventh
Fwy	Freeway	SE	Southeast
Gdn	Garden	SW	Southwest
Gdns	Gardens	Spur	Spur
Grn	Green	Sq	Square
Grv	Grove	Sta	Station
Hbr	Harbor	St	Street
HC	Highway Contract Route(also called Star Route)	Strm	Stream
Hts	Heights	Ste	Suite
Hwy	Highway	10th	Tenth
Jct	Junction	Ter	Terrace
Key	Key	3rd	Third
Keys	Keys	Trl	Trail
Knl	Knoll	Tpke	Turnpike
Ln	Lane	Walk	Walk
Mnr	Manor	Way	Way
Mt	Mount	W	West, western
Mtn	Mountain
9th	Ninth
N	North, northern

Abbreviations, secondary address unit

Note that TIMSS/Group 1 will allow only STE or APT. For other terms, data entry must manually override Group 1.
Also, TIMSS/Group 1 will force secondary address to a new line above street address. To enable another position, manually override Group 1.

Apt	Apartment
Box	Box
Bldg	Building
Dept	Department
Fl	Floor
No.	Number(omit this word)
#	Number or space (omit this symbol)
Ofc	Office
Rm	Room
Ste	Suite
Unit	Unit

Abbreviations, ad hoc

Admin	Administration	Lab	Laboratory
Apt	Apartment	Lang	Language(s)
Assoc	Associate	Ldg	Lodge
Assn	Association	Libr	Library
Asst	Assistant(omit this word)	Lit	Literature
Attn	Attention	Loc	Location, local
Bd of Ed	Board of Education	Ltd	Limited
Bl	Block	Mnr	Manor
Bldg	Building	Mfg	Manufacturing
Bur	Bureau	Mtg	Meeting
Capt	Captain	Metro	Metropolitan
Ctr	Center	Mid	Middle
Chair	Chairman, chairperson	MS	Middle School
Cir	Circle	Mt	Mount
City	City	Mtn	Mountain
Colg	College	Mtwy	Motorway
Col	Colonel	Mus	Museum
Cdr	Commander	Natl	National
Comm	Commission	No.	Number
Cmnty	Community	Ofc	Office
Co	Company	Org	Organization
Cond	Condominium, condition	Phil	Philosophy
Conf	Conference	Plz	Plaza
Coop	Cooperative	Pt	Point
Corpl	Corporal	Port	Port
Corp	Corporation	PO	Post Office
Cty	County	Pr	Prairie
Curr	Curriculum	Pres	President
Dept	Department	Prof	Professor
Dev	Development	Psych	Psychology
Dist	District	Pvt	Private
Div	Division	Pub	Public
Dr	Doctor	Qtr	Quarter
Educ	Education	RR	Railroad
Elem	Elementary	Rcvng	Receiving
Engl	English	Regl	Regional
Ens	Ensign	Rep	Representative, republic
Est	Estate	Rsrch	Research
Expy	Expressway	Ret	Retired
Ext	Extension	St	Saint
Farm	Farm	Sch Bd	School Board
Fax	Fax	Sci	Science
Flat	Flat	Sec	Sector, section
FPO	Fleet Post Office	Sr	Senior, Sister
Fwd	Forward	Sgt	Sergeant
Gdn	Garden	Shpg	Shipping
Gdns	Gardens	Src	Source
Gen	General	Sq	Square
Govt	Government	Sta	Station
GPO	Government Post Office	Strm	Stream
Hbr	Harbor	Supt	Superintendent
Hon	Honorable	Sys	System
Hqtrs	Headquarters	Tel	Telephone
HS	High school	Twp	Township
Hts	Heights	Univ	University
Inc	Incorporated	US	United States (adjective)
ISD	Independent School District	USA	United States of America (noun)
Inst	Institute, institution	Vil	Villa
Instr	Instruction, instructor	Vis	Vista
Jr	Junior	&, #, c/o	Eliminate these marks
K	Kindergarten

Addresses: IRA post office boxes

Use the following address as standard for materials sent to 800 Barksdale:

Use the following address for orders for Building 700:

Use the following address for POSTAGE PAID #9 RETURN ENVELOPE:

Use the following addresses for POSTAGE PAID 4 x 6 POST CARD: