Mail-addressing – Still Stabbin

Puerto Rico And Virgin Islands

Puerto Rico General Information

https://www.fit.edu/policies/data-integrity/data-integrity-manual/puerto-rico-and-virgin-islands/

The word “CALLE” (Street) or “AVENIDA” (Avenue) is commonly placed before the street name or street number. Note: Do not translate or substitute the word “CALLE” with the suffix “ST”. This translation or substitution makes the address undeliverable.

Do not abbreviate street names. Always write the word “CALLE” (Street), “AVE” (Avenue), etc., on the mail piece before the street name unless the street name is equivalent to the word “CALLE.” When the following words are used (in singular or plural), there is no need to write the word “CALLE” before the street name:

[PASEO] [PLAZA] [PASAJE] [CARR] [PARQUE] [VEREDA] [VISTA] [VIA]
[CALLEJON] [PATIO] [BLVD] [CAMINO]

585 AVE FD ROOSEVELT
105 CAMINO AMAZONA
1025 PARQUE DEL REY
1212 VIA ANGELICA

Numbered Streets

Numbered streets must always contain the word “CALLE” to avoid misinterpretation of the delivery information between the numbered street and the house number(s).

A17 CALLE 1
13 CALLE 191

House Numbers

Always place the house number before the street name. When the house number is alphanumeric, do not use a hyphen to separate the letter from the number.

Incorrect Form | Correct Form
CALLE 125 | C-19
A-17 CALLE AMAPOLA | A17 CALLE AMAPOLA
B-40 CALLE 1 C19 CALLE 125 | B40 CALLE 1

Hyphens in the address range are sometimes necessary. When addresses contain block numbers and house numbers, use a hyphen to separate the block number from the house number. Identifiers commonly used to separate these elements (including “Bloque,” “Numero,” “Casa,” “Lote,” “#,” etc.) need to be eliminated.

Incorrect Form | Correct Form
CALLE 19 BLQ 199 CASA 31 | 199-31 CALLE 19
CALLE 117 BlOQUE 23 Num. 18 | 23-18 CALLE 117

Urbanizations

An urbanization denotes an area, sector, or residential development within a geographic area. In addition to being a descriptive word, it precedes the name of that area. This descriptor, commonly used in Puerto Rican urban areas, is an important part of the addressing format as it describes the location of a given street.

In Puerto Rico, repeated street names and address number ranges can be found within the same ZIP Code. (For example: CALLE 1, CALLE 2). These streets can have the same house number ranges (For example: 1-99). In these cases, the urbanization name is the only element that correctly identifies the location of a particular address.

MR OSIRIS GONZALEZ
URB ROYAL OAK
123 CALLE 1
BAYAMON PR 00961-0123

Because the urbanization name can be the most important part of the delivery address, the name is standardized. In most instances, use the abbreviated urbanization identifier “URB” followed by the urbanization name.

Incorrect Form | Correct Form
URBANIZATION GOLDEN GATE | URB GOLDEN GATE

Generally, urbanization names are not repeated within 5-digit zones and, in most cases, are served by the same carrier route. Therefore, a list of urbanization names serves as 5-digit ZIP Code verification.

Certain words identify names as urbanizations. Words like “EXTENSION,” “REPARTO,” “ALTURAS,” “ESTANCIAS,” “QUINTAS,” etc., are used instead of “URB.” When these words are present, there is no need to place the abbreviation “URB” before the name of the urbanization.

The following is a list of the most common cases in which the word “URB” is not used. Always use the appropriate abbreviation.

Word Abbreviation / Word Abbreviation
Altura ALT
Alturas ALTS
Colinas COLINAS
Estancias EST
Extension EXT
Jardines JARD
Mansiones MANS
Parque PARQ
Quintas QTAS
Reparto REPTO
Sector SECT
Terraza TERR
Villa VILLA
Villas VILLA

Cities And Towns

Certain areas of the San Juan metropolitan area carry special names such as “Condado,” “Barrio Obrero,” “Rio Piedras,” Miramar,” etc. These are not valid last line (city) entries. “San Juan” should be used in all of these cases. Post Office Box Always use the words “PO BOX” to identify post office boxes. Do not use Spanish words.

PO BOX 1195
Post Office box addresses are often written with the words “CALLER,” “CALL BOX,” “GPO BOX,” “PO BOXS-,” “APTDO,” “APARTADO,” “APT,” “BOX,” and “BUZON.”

All of these words should be changed to “PO BOX”.
This is the only authorized format.
When the station name appears on the mail piece, it should be placed above the delivery line as follows:
OLD SAN JUAN STA
PO BOX 9021190
SAN JUAN PR 00902-1190

Private Mailbox Addresses

Private companies offering mailbox rental services to individuals or businesses may require a box number for final sorting. Print this number, called a “Mail Stop Code” (MSC), above the recipient line or the attention line. The words “POST OFFICE BOX” or “PO BOX” and the private mailbox number cannot be used on the delivery address line. Note: Only the U.S. Postal Service is entitled to provide delivery to a PO box.

MSC 1587
ABC COMPANY
12 E MAIN AVE STE 209
KRYTON TN 38188-0002

MSC 1587
ABC COMPANY
PO BOX 7530
KRYTON TN 38188-7530

The delivery address line shown is the standardized address of the private company.

Residential Addresses

Puerto Rico’s common addressing style consists of various formats:

Four-line address:
Name: MRS MARIA SUAREZ
Urbanization Name: URB LAS GLADIOLAS
House Number and Street Name: 150 CALLE A
City, State, and ZIP+4: SAN JUAN PR 00926-3232
Three-line address:
Name: MR JUAN SANTIAGO
House Number and Street Name: 1234 CALLE AURORA
City, State, and ZIP+4: MAYAGUEZ PR 00680-1233
Exceptions:
Name: MR PEDRO RIOS
House Number and Urbanization Name: 1234 URB LOS OLMOS
City, State, and ZIP+4: PONCE PR 00731-1235

Note: Some areas in Puerto Rico do not have street names, and the house numbers are not repeated. The urbanization name substitutes the street name and becomes the primary identifier. On the other hand, there are public housing projects (“residenciales”) without street names in which apartment numbers are not repeated. In these cases, the name of the public housing project becomes the street name, and the apartment numbers become the primary number.

Name: MR PEDRO O VALENTIN
Apt. Number and Residenciales Name: 23 RES LLORENS TORRES
City, state, and ZIP+4: SAN JUAN PR 00924-1234

Rural Routes

The following addressing format is used for rural routes addresses: RR____ BOX____.

Do not use the words “RURAL,” “RUTA RURAL,” “RFD,” “BUZON,” or “BZN.”
A leading zero before the route number is not necessary.

Incorrect Form | Correct Form
Ruta Rural 3 Buzon 12000 | RR 3 BOX 1200
RR02 Box 9800 | RR 2 BOX 9800
RFD 1 Bzn 17-A | RR 1 BOX 17A

There should be no additional designations, such as sector names, on the delivery address line of rural addresses. Using sector names with route and box numbers can create potential matching difficulty. Mailers are required to use only one style of addressing. Eliminate unnecessary information.

Incorrect Form | Correct Form
RR 2 BOX 1980 SECTOR EL BRINCO | RR 2 BOX 1980

Highway Contract Routes

Highway contract route addresses are written on mail pieces as HC___ BOX___, which is basically the same format used for rural routes. Likewise, a leading zero before the route number is not necessary.

Incorrect Form — Correct Form
Ruta Estrella 1 Buzon 18
HC03 Bzn 1050 HC 1 BOX 18
HC 1 BOX 1050

As with rural route addresses, there should not be any additional designations such as names of sectors in the delivery address line of HC addresses. Use only one style of addressing, and eliminate unnecessary information. Apartment Buildings and Condominiums In these cases, there are two basic address formats:

Apartment buildings (condominiums) with a physical (street) address
Name: MR EMILIO ARROYO
Building Name: COND ASHFORD PALACE
Street Number and Name, Apt. Number: 1234 AVE ASHFORD APT 1A
City, state, and ZIP+4: SAN JUAN PR 00907-1234
Apartment buildings (condominiums) without a physical (street) address
Name: MRS NORA RIOS
Number, Building name, & Apt. Number: COND MIRAFLOR APT 104
City, state, and ZIP+4: SAN JUAN PR 00907-1335

Certain condominiums are located on un-named streets and may not have an assigned number. The name of the condominium substitutes the street name and the number one is used when no building number exists. When there are multiple buildings (or towers) with the same name, the building number becomes the primary number and is written as follows:

COND VERDE APT 1120 becomes 1 COND VERDE APT 1120
VISTA SUITES III APT 104 becomes 3 VISTA SUITES APT 104

Spanish Words

The following is a list of commonly used descriptive words that may appear in Puerto Rican addresses and their corresponding abbreviations:
Altura ALT
Alturas ALTS
Barriada BDA
Barrio BO
Carretera CARR
Condominio COND
Cooperativa COOP
Departamento DEPT
Edificio EDIF
Estancias EST
Extension EXT
Industrial IND
Jardines JARD
Mansiones MANS
Parcelas PARC
Quebrada QBDA
Reparto REPTO
Residencial RES
Sector SECT
Seccion SECC
Terraza TERR
Urbanizacion URB

Directionals

Directionals are not commonly used in Puerto Rican addresses because other descriptions, such as the urbanization name, identify geographic areas. The west (“oeste”) directional is the only one that differs between the English and Spanish language directionals. In ZIP+4 Product, the English equivalents are used.

Virgin Islands General Information

Address Formats

Virgin Island addresses follow the rules for Puerto Rican-style addresses, but the Virgin Islands do not use urbanizations or Spanish words. The valid last line for Charlotte Amalie is “ST THOMAS” and for Cruz Bay is “ST JOHN.” St. Croix has three main cities that are used as valid last lines: “CHRISTIANSTED,” “FREDERIKSTED,” and “KINGSHILL.” The correct abbreviation for the Virgin Islands is “VI.” Do not use “USVI,” “VIS,” “VI USA,” or “USA VI.”

MR JOHN STEWARD
123 MAIN ST
ST THOMAS VI 00802-1222

MR OTIS STERLING
2 MOUNT ROYALE EST
CHRISTIANSTED VI 00820-4470

MRS JOAN SMITH
RR 1 BOX 6601
KINGSHILL VI 00850-9802

Post Office Box Addresses

PO BOX 11419
ST THOMAS VI 00801-4419

PO BOX 131
CHRISTIANSTED VI 00821-0131