Formatting Address Stamps For Different Countries

When sending any mail to international pen pals, you'll have to use exceptionally different address stamps! In countries around the world, addresses are formatted in very different ways than here in the United States. A personalized stamp may certainly work fine for marking the return location, but make sure you've familiarized yourself with the receiving country's postage formatting standards.

Australia

Like most English-speaking countries, Australian street numbers appear before the name. Though unlike most of these countries, the name of the city does not appear. Australians instead use the "locality," which can be thought of as a suburb or town, to distinguish the street and delivery method. As a result, the Australian postal code is used only to designate routing information.

Canada

Our friendly neighbor to the north replicates our postal system, but with a few significant differences. If you're mailing to a Canadian post office box, only Canada Post will make the delivery. If you wanted to use a private carrier service instead, you'd have to include the recipient's physical address in addition to the P.O. box number. Canadians do not include periods or commas when punctuating their mail, unless you're writing in French. In those cases, use a comma to separate the house number and street name. Numbered streets and cardinal directions can be written in either English or French. The Canadian postal code is used the same way as ours, but with the inclusion of alphanumeric characters in the formatting. Last but not least, all parcels coming from outside the country should be labeled "CANADA" at the bottom of the package.

Hong Kong, China

Hong Kong has two official languages: Cantonese and English. Either of these can be used when sending domestic mail. When writing in English, begin with the smallest unit and end with the largest, for example: flat number, floor number, building name, street number, etc. When addressing mail in Chinese, it is the opposite, with largest starting first and descending from there. Traditional and simplified Chinese characters are both used. Additionally, Hong Kong does not use postal codes; some rural locations use a property identification code instead.

Japan

Japanese postal addresses, similar to Hong Kong, begin with the biggest geographical division, then progressively smaller subdivisions. This mail would require some large, elaborate stamps. There are also different honorific characters included, depending on if the recipient is a private individual or an institution or company.

The Netherlands

In the Netherlands, their postal code is used specifically to identify streets. It consists of four numbers, a space, and then two capital letters. P.O. boxes have their own unique postal codes for this reason. With this efficient system, all that's needed to deliver mail is the postal code and street number.

As you can see, address stamps can take on different shapes and forms depending on their country of origin. Unless you want your pen pal to receive delayed mail, do some research and make sure you've formatted your parcel to the proper international specifications.