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Postal Addresses...Nr xxx or not?


PhilH

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I've just ordered a decoder for my soon to be delivered USA tank. I noticed that I always put my town, then 'Nr xxx' as the next line when filling out my address.

 

In these days of postal codes do I need to put this Nr xxx in?

 

a ) I realise that xxx is not a town

b ) I realise I need to get out more

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Belt and braces.

 

If you go out and get a taxi back, it's best to give the driver the target address, together with it's near xxx and you go past yyy hints or you may never get home.

 

Oh and back to your postal conundrum, don't worry too much,  as a) they'll deliver it somewhere else anyway or b) they'll sneak on all fours to the letterbox to post a "You weren't home when we tried to deliver" card ...

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Don't, it confuses the machines, which will hunt for a town caller "nr". Made worse if the "nr XXX" isn't the post town. A house number and a neatly written postcode is all that is actually needed.

 

Bill (ex Christmas temp)

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Interesting - seems we don't even have counties any more

 

Nope; only post towns. I know several people around the fringes of the West Midlands who have WV, WS, DY, CV or B postcodes who are very keen to put their county names in the address.  :mosking:

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I've just had Fed Ex manage to actually not deliver an urgent item at work because the address was marked as "10 somewhere street" rather than "UNIT 10 somewhere street."

No, I am not joking either.

 

So write it all down on the envelope, put down the colour of your front door, the name of your cat, whatever makes it harder for them to say "couldn't find it, guv"

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On the subject of people wanting to be part of a certain county there are still a lot of people in Milton Keynes who believe they're part of Buckinghamshire despite MK being a unitary authority. We have the slightly odd situation where we are a county and a town but not a city. We are part of the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire but in legal and administrative terms MK sailed out of Buckinghamshire quite a while ago.

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Nope; only post towns. I know several people around the fringes of the West Midlands who have WV, WS, DY, CV or B postcodes who are very keen to put their county names in the address.  :mosking:

Not just the Midlands. We are on the Yorkshire border, but the post town is Oldham Lancs, so we get people addressing themselves as Uppermill, Saddleworth, Yorkshire; I am surprised that they get any post!

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Don't, it confuses the machines, which will hunt for a town caller "nr". Made worse if the "nr XXX" isn't the post town. A house number and a neatly written postcode is all that is actually needed.

 

Bill (ex Christmas temp)

In most cases, but there are exceptions. I know of two properties in rural Oxfordshire which are on the same postcode but about 12 miles from each other by road and therefore on separate rounds.

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On the subject of people wanting to be part of a certain county there are still a lot of people in Milton Keynes who believe they're part of Buckinghamshire despite MK being a unitary authority. We have the slightly odd situation where we are a county and a town but not a city. We are part of the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire but in legal and administrative terms MK sailed out of Buckinghamshire quite a while ago.

Not a lot of people know that.

I know several organizations that still use Buckinghamshire in their description and address.

Taking Thrift Farm as an example an internet search comes up about 50/50 with Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire.

I suppose that being a county council run place it should move.

Funnily enough I have just filled in a form that asks me for state or province (Canadian) and it is quite happy to accept my county.

Bernard

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In most cases, but there are exceptions. I know of two properties in rural Oxfordshire which are on the same postcode but about 12 miles from each other by road and therefore on separate rounds.

 

When asked by the post office to add a return address on an item, I have been told that the property number plus the post code is quite adequate.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

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The house number plus postcode has worked reliably in every instance I have tried it. (Basically I am a lazy git, so when someone offers an address system of circa seven to eleven letters/numbers, well, I am going to try it out.)

 

... MK sailed out of Buckinghamshire quite a while ago.

A relative by marriage and former resident from a family long established in that area would insist on "MK sailed sank out of Buckinghamshire quite a while ago" mainly attributable in his view to the colossal deposit of concrete, over what once possessed a bucolic charm from time out of mind.

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I live in two counties, depending on what database the sender uses, and one of them can be in English or Welsh!

 

According to HMRC I seem to live near a place called Newcastle, which I'm sure most people would think means I live in North East England, rather than West Wales. They don't seem to be able to cope with the Emlyn bit on the end, although it doesn't stop the junk mail from them arriving here.

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If you want real confusion then I recommend visiting Japan. Addresses in Japan seem pretty random and seeing two near identical addresses may be nowhere near eachother.

 

Having lived in Japan for nearly 20 years I can confirm what jjb says is spot on. Local areas are broken down into blocks and buildings in that block are numbered in the order that they were built .... and as buildings are put up in a higgledy piggledy way it is very confusing trying to find somewhere.

 

To help friends find where you were living it was custom to produce a route map from your local station showing points of interest similar to the map drawn in Iceland. Somewhere I've still got copies of the maps I made.

 

Keith

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I recall an instruction being circulated at my former workplace more than 30 years ago, that the inclusion of Nr (near) in addresses of outgoing mail was to be discontinued at the request of Royal Mail.

 

John,

 

       Co. Durham

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According to HMRC I seem to live near a place called Newcastle, which I'm sure most people would think means I live in North East England, rather than West Wales. They don't seem to be able to cope with the Emlyn bit on the end, although it doesn't stop the junk mail from them arriving here.

 

 

Are you thinking of Newcastle-upon-Tyne by any chance?  Which also is not in a county!

 

Edit - there's a Lyme-y one too of course.

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Not just the Midlands. We are on the Yorkshire border, but the post town is Oldham Lancs, so we get people addressing themselves as Uppermill, Saddleworth, Yorkshire; I am surprised that they get any post!

Oh, yes! When we moved into Uppermill, in 1966, Saddleworth was very firmly in The West Riding of Yorkshire; the parliamentary constituency was Colne Valley.

However, even then, we were told to give our address as Uppermill, near Oldham, Lancs, as putting Yorkshire meant letters took an extra day, as they went via Wakefield.

On the other bit, don't get me started on 'Professional Yorkshiremen'! I suppose after 1974, they felt like they'd been exiled, and thankfully there are fewer of them than there were; but at a recent meeting of Saddleworth Historical Society which I attended, the speaker referred to enjoying his time in Lancashire, which caused a lot of murmuring in the audience!

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