Envelope Addressing

[Don Wells]

Although my query originates from a Word observation, I believe that it belongs here.

When using Word 2003to merge and print envelopes, if the destination country is the U.S.A. the address appears as:
    Mr. & Mrs, FirstName Lastname
    Address Line 1
    Address Line 2
    City, State    Zip code
    U.S.A.

If the destination country is Germany the address appears as:
    Mr. & Mrs,
    FirstName Lastname
    Address Line 1
    Address Line 2
    etc.

Is this tne normal format for Germany?

[HansV]

Yes, see for example Germany Mailing Address Formats.

[Don Wells]

Thank you Hans; I should have asked you several hours ago.

[Bowlie]

In much of Europe the postal code almost always precedes the name of the town/city:

CH-1277 Arnex-sur-Nyon, for example. A domestic letter would drop the country designation (CH, in this case)

"D" is the country code for Germany, and I believe they have a five digit postal code so it would be: D-12345, Town Name. The country name, which would follow on the next line should be written in the language of the country you are sending from, so Germany rather than Deutschland or Switzerland rather than Suisse, Schweiz, Svizzera or Svizra if you are sending from the US.

I think the UK is an exception to this, but I've never been able to figure out their system, if there is one.

[HansV]

I think the UK is an exception to this, but I've never been able to figure out their system, if there is one.

You must keep in mind that the UK Postal Code system is a venerable institution. Since King John granted the right to use postal codes in 1215, the system has developed continually over almost 800 years to cope with the changes in society. So it's not suprising that it has become rather convoluted over time...

[Don Wells]

Thank you for that Bowlie; and Hans, thank you for the trivia. 1215 you say. It took us a while here in Canada to catch up.

[HansV]

In case you hadn't guessed from the smileys, my "trivia" about UK postal codes were complete nonsense. See Postcodes in the United Kingdom.

[Don Wells]

In case you hadn't guessed from the smileys, my "trivia" about UK postal codes were complete nonsense. See Postcodes in the United Kingdom.

Is it possible that I have assigned an over abundance of trust in all things to Clever Clogs?

[HansV]

Is it possible that I have assigned an over abundance of trust in all things to Clever Clogs?

Obviously!

[Bowlie]

In case you hadn't guessed from the smileys, my "trivia" about UK postal codes were complete nonsense. See Postcodes in the United Kingdom.

Thanks Hans. This just confirms by belief that the Brits do not have an understandable system. I think I'll just have a lager and not worry about it too much.

[Jezza]

In case you hadn't guessed from the smileys, my "trivia" about UK postal codes were complete nonsense. See Postcodes in the United Kingdom.

I have been teaching at the University for 9 years now (Where have those years gone!) and in that time there are always one or two students you remember from the bright wannabe to the complete eccentric. An example of the latter was a gentleman called David.

David was an interesting character, he was homeless for many years living on the streets of London. A charity managed to save him and gave him a half way home which allowed him to find a job. David got a job working in a publishing house using a database to store the archiving and found a love of databases hence why he came on my course to learn more and to improve his knowledge with his natural intelligence and aptitude. One could call him obsessive....well in fact he was obsessive.

One lecture I was talking about datatypes and posed the subject using numbers, text and then a mixture of alphanumerics where post codes were the example. Should we mask the field? Should it be open text format? were some of my discussion topics. David went quiet in class (for once) and started tapping away at some project he was doing.

That night I received an email from him at about 2.00 am in the morning stating that he solved the "Post Code conundrum" I posed in class, not just for the UK.....but for the majority of countries in the world!!!

Awesome piece of research and it really did prove how blooming complicated the UK Post Code system is compared to other countries.

[HansV]

That night I received an email from him at about 2.00 am in the morning stating that he solved the "Post Code conundrum" I posed in class, not just for the UK.....but for the majority of countries in the world!!!

Wow!

[Jezza]

...but then it got worse, David went onto to do some side module in javascript to enhance a college based project he was doing.

I got an email from a (exasperated) javascript tutor asking me "What the had I been teaching him in my DB class" as he was now using his post code research that "he had picked up in Jerry's class" in a javascript form and was sending her emails at 2.00am in the morning.....I loved David's brain

[HansV]

Such people can be a nuisance but it'd be a pity to discourage them...