Traditional mail is becoming less common as other forms of communication, such as email, increase in popularity. Despite this, there's still a place for conventional mailing letters and packages. The correct format of an address is vital to delivering the post to the right person within a reasonable time frame and helps avoid any potential delays. In this article, we outline exactly how to write an address, explain what an address is, describe the correct formatting and give a few examples of how to write an address in the correct format and provide some additional tips.

An address provides the required information to locate a building, whether it's a home, a plot of land or an industrial structure. The postal carrier uses this data combination in a particular order and includes information like political boundaries, street names, property numbers, business names and postal codes as geographical references. Though there's a variety of reasons to use an address, the primary function of an address is to guide the routeing of mail.

1. Place the recipient's name on the first line.
2. On the next line, you write their house number followed by the street name. If the property has a house or building name, write this on one line under the recipient's name, then write the street name on the next line.
3. On the line after the street name, you write the town or city with no abbreviations. It's customary but unnecessary to use capital (uppercase) letters so that the handwriting is more clear.
4. On the next line, put the province and postcode, again in capital letters, to ensure clarity. You can abbreviate the county, but it's not required.