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Mail Preparation

Tips for Success

You will get the best possible service if you:

1. Direct your addressee’s to use your mail stop on all mail directed back to you, i.e. invoices, bills, payments, and other correspondence.
   
   50–150 mail pieces are received per day addressed only to Western Michigan University— no name, department, or mail stop. Each piece must be hand opened to determine the actual destination, if possible. This delays delivery up to three to four (3–4) days.
   
   
2. Place the sender's address in upper left corner and the recipient's address in middle of envelope
   
   
3. Use two letter state abbreviations
   
   
4. Eliminate all punctuation except the hyphen between ZIP Code + 4 codes
   e.g.: (49008-5342)
   
   
5. Use common abbreviations
   
   
6. Use ZIP + 4 codes (WMU Mail Stop Lookup | USPS +4 Lookup)
   
   
7. Insure that return envelopes/mailers/business reply include a complete department address with mail stop code
   
   
8. Use all capital letters in a sans serif font size 10–12.

Make sure the place where you want the mail delivered appears on the line immediately above the city, state and ZIP code line. U.S. Mail is read by a machine (an optical character reader) from the bottom to the top.


4601 CAMPUS DRIVE
1903 W MICHIGAN AVE
KALAMAZOO, MI 49008-MAIL STOP

Using the example above, if both the street addresses are in the address block, the mail piece will be delivered to the actual location listed just above the city, state, and zip code line. If the actual street address is listed on the line just above the city, state, zip line, the mail will be delivered to that street address.

(NOTE: UPS and other private mail carriers will not deliver mail to P.O. Box) Following these steps will help avoid delays in your outgoing U.S. mail.