Address Position Requirements
All address blocks must be 4 inches wide and 2.375 inches tall.
In addition, there are several other items to look for:
- Your address area MUST be white or a very light pastel color for the post office machines to read it.
- There can be NO graphics behind the address block area
- Your delivery address must be the lowest address on the piece. This means your return address must be near the top of the piece or on the back flap if it is an envelope.
The location of your address block will depend on the type of piece you are sending:
The address block must be at least 5/8 of an inch from the bottom of the envelope or mailer and no more than 2 3/4 of an inch from the bottom of your envelope or mailer. In addition, you need 1/2 inch of white space on either side of the address block (with the barcode 3 inches wide, this makes up the 4 inches of horizontal space).
click here for example (traditional postcard size)
click here for oversized postcard example
For more tips on Postcards, click HERE
The address block must be at least 5/8 of an inch from the bottom of the envelope or mailer and no more than 2 3/4 of an inch from the bottom of your envelope or mailer. In addition, you need 1/2 inch of white space on either side of the address block. The area marked "OCR Read Area" on the diagram below shows where you can put the address block.
click here for example
Flats
The post office is acquiring new equipment to speed up the processing of flat mail. Therefore, they are also changing where they want the address block on your flat mailpieces. These changes will go into effect in March, 2009. However, we highly recommend you implement them now as our post office (South Suburban) already has the new flats sequencing system in place. By designing your piece to their requirements, you will speed up the processing of your mail.
Besides the address block location, here are some tips for flat mail:
- The address area should be white or a very light pastel color.
- When determining which side should be used for the address block, keep the spine (if there is one) on the right hand side.
- Your return address should be in the top left corner. (Return addresses are required on all pieces)
- The indicia should be in the top right corner.
- There should be no additional address information in any other area of the piece on the address side (such as location of a reunion, etc.). Although the post office is trying to regulate the address area, because of some hand addressed pieces in the mail stream, it is possible for the machine to pick up an address outside the specified address area and mail to that address.
- A minimum 8 pt font must be used (Rescigno's Mailing Solutions uses a 10 pt Arial font whenever possible.)
- ALL CAPS is preferred in addressing your piece. (Rescigno's Mailing Solutions will convert your addresses for the mailing. You do not need to do anything different to your data.)
- Arial, or another sans serif font is preferred (Rescigno's Mailing Solutions utilizes the Arial font)
- A limited number of script type fonts will work. These are:
Rescigno's Mailing Solutions has the capability to utlize both these fonts on your flat mailers.
The address block will be in the top half of the piece, preferably starting 1 inch below the top of the piece.
Because the machines read from right to left, there is some space on the left side for additional information, logos, etc.
The address block will be in the top, right quadrant.
The other 4 quadrants can be used for additional information, artwork, etc. Do NOT put any other address information in these areas.
click here for example
