Off topic: postal codes and country code Thread poster: VCampilongo
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Which is the right way of writing the postal code and country code, for Spain in this case:
-ES-29639 Benalmadena
or
-29639 Benalmadena, ES
Does anyone know about rule for writing addresses?Actually, I found references for both ways but I am not sure about which one is the right or the most common one.
Any help?
Thanks
| | | | Thomas Pfann 
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:12
Member (2006)
English to German
+ ...
| Guidelines for postal use | May 20, 2009 |
The Universal Postal Union has some guidelines on this:
http://www.upu.int/post_code/en/formatting_an_international_address_en.pdf
Quote: "Administrations may recommend that, on items addressed to countries where the recommended position of the postcode should be preceded by the EN ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2 country code [= for example 'ES' for ... See more The Universal Postal Union has some guidelines on this:
http://www.upu.int/post_code/en/formatting_an_international_address_en.pdf
Quote: "Administrations may recommend that, on items addressed to countries where the recommended position of the postcode should be preceded by the EN ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2 country code [= for example 'ES' for Spain] followed by a hyphen. This shall in no way detract from the requirement for the name of destination country to be printed in full."
So in your example that would be:
ES-29639 Benalmadena
SPAIN
Important: The full name of the country is still needed (preferably in the language of origin, plus a universally known language to avoid problems in transit countries).
Whether or not the 'ES' is actually needed, depends on the country. It is optional in most countries. In fact, in the UK, for example, the post office actually does NOT want us to use the country code at all (as far as I know).
So when sending a letter from the UK to Spain the address should look like this:
[Name]
[Street]
29639 Benalmadena
SPAIN
But as I said, rules and preferences seem to vary from country to country. ▲ Collapse
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Hello Mikolina,
The right way of writing it (in Spain) is:
29639 - Benalmádena
(España)
I don't know if it's a rule or not, but it's the way we do. Sometimes we add CP (código postal = postal code) before the number:
CP 29639 - Benalmádena
(España)
You can write the name of the country in English or in Spanish if you're sending the letter from abroad, it doesn't matter.
Best regards,
Patri... See more Hello Mikolina,
The right way of writing it (in Spain) is:
29639 - Benalmádena
(España)
I don't know if it's a rule or not, but it's the way we do. Sometimes we add CP (código postal = postal code) before the number:
CP 29639 - Benalmádena
(España)
You can write the name of the country in English or in Spanish if you're sending the letter from abroad, it doesn't matter.
Best regards,
Patricia Navarro ▲ Collapse
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Go from specific to general.
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| If it's to a local... | May 20, 2009 |
...please "Ben-all-madeener" so that locals can understand it. I mean that most locals are British...
| | | | Paul Dixon
Brazil
Local time: 16:12
Portuguese to English
+ ...
In memoriam
In Brazil the usual format is to put the number before the city name and state. So it would be:
[Name]
[Street]
[Postcode] [City] [State]
Normally when writing abroad we do not use the country code, so "29639 - Benalmádena" and not "E-29639 - Benalmádena" (TTBOMK, Spain is "E" and not "ES", although this may have changed).
In Brazil, a post box is a Caixa Postal.
Example: (fictitious address - the postcode is correct):
... See more In Brazil the usual format is to put the number before the city name and state. So it would be:
[Name]
[Street]
[Postcode] [City] [State]
Normally when writing abroad we do not use the country code, so "29639 - Benalmádena" and not "E-29639 - Benalmádena" (TTBOMK, Spain is "E" and not "ES", although this may have changed).
In Brazil, a post box is a Caixa Postal.
Example: (fictitious address - the postcode is correct):
ABC Ltda
Avenida Paulista, 1
Bela Vista
01311-000 SÃO PAULO - SP
Some people have the habit of putting "CEP" before the postcode but this is not accepted by the Post Office and can delay delivery. We also have standardised envelopes with eight squares, in this case we put one number of the postcode in each square and then it is not necessary to write the postcode before the city name.
Apparently this makes sorting easier.
(Along these lines, I have always wondered why the United Kingdom insists on letter-based postcodes while 99% of the countries in the world have a number-only postcode - Canada being the only other exception I can think of) ▲ Collapse
| | | | Thomas Pfann
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:12
Member (2006)
English to German
+ ...
Paul Dixon wrote:
(TTBOMK, Spain is "E" and not "ES", although this may have changed).
Yes, I was going to say the same, but apparently this has indeed changed - although not widely spread, it is recommended to use the two letter code (the so-called ISO Alpha-2 code). See the section 'Usage Conventions' in this Wikipedia article on postal codes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_code#Usage_conventions .
[Edited at 2009-05-21 07:57 GMT]
| | | | | UK post-codes | May 20, 2009 |
[quote]Paul Dixon wrote:
I have always wondered why the United Kingdom insists on letter-based postcodes while 99% of the countries in the world have a number-only postcode
UK-post-codes can pinpoint an address to up to several houses in most towns and cities. I must admit it doesn't make delivery any more efficient.
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