Survey: Addressing Envelopes

[c9]

Here's a quick survey for you. It's a cheap poor-Cam's version, you have to actually comment. Therefore I expect all sorts of witticisms.

You see this address on an envelope:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
860 - 50 Queen St N
Kitchener ON
N2H 6P4

Please identify the street number(s) and/or suite number(s), as you see them.

I will comment with the truth, and why I'm asking. But if I type it right here, you'll all read it and then your answers will be biased already knowing the setup.

Update: So apparently Americans are insane. This confirms my previous beliefs. :)*

Upperdate: halimattfax points me to a page that shows that I'm correct**. Those pages are my favourite! http://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/b03-e.asp

* some, anyway.

** at least within Canada.

Comments

[c9.livejournal.com]

Suite 860, Street number 50.

Why is this an issue? I ordered some hardware and the shipment was delayed because they couldn't figure that out. Am I crazy? I thought that would be easy to figure out, I see it all the time. A coworker got lost trying to visit the Winnipeg office last year because of the same issue. Crazy.

I just got new business cards, and the address writeup I used was that style too. I hope this doesn't mean months of frustration.

[thespos]

Why not just do

50 Queen St N, Suite 860

just to avoid confusion?

I have already commented below - because this is the convention I have always seen, if the suite or apartment number is not separated out.

I lived at 4640-101 Broad Street at one point; the building was 4640, and the apartment number was 101.

Maybe it's a difference between Canada and the U.S. in handling these things.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Exactly, it's a regional thing. Obviously the longer method is more clear, but I was curious about the different approaches.

[gueny.livejournal.com]

I've worked with addressing in counties for tax mapping and e911 all over the US, and I don't ever recall seeing this convention. Although, I've seen some real good ones so I don't doubt that they exist. One of the things I do in my job is consult on the "proper" way to assign addresses. Things like multiple addresses per house, range directionality conflicts, and even and odd number conflicts are common... (I know... now you wish you were me)

When you stop and think about it, I think the 'American' way makes more sense, because you first need to know the street address before you can find the unit number... but unfortunately Canada is lost for my talents :P

[mightycodking.livejournal.com]

This is exactly what I used to use;

302-4728 Arbor Drive

They always got stuff to me but I did get asked not to do it anymore once.

[mightycodking.livejournal.com]

To clarify, this meant Apartment 302 of 4728 Arbor Drive.

[primary-suspect.livejournal.com]

Yeah I saw that as Suite 860 and Street #50. But as some other people said, for the address impaired, it might just be easier to write it long-form.