Mail

One would think that there would not be many differences in postal norms between the two countries, but there are enough that the topic is deserving of its own category. See the following points.

• Addressing mail is a difference you'll have to conform to. While in Australia you have been used to writing the return address on the back of the envelope, in America you should write it on the top-left corner of the front of the envelope. It is necessary that you get used to doing this, as American mail-scanning machines only recognize this format.
• Mail in America is delivered from Monday through to Saturday.
• You can leave mail to be posted in your letter-box in America, and the mail-man will pick it up when he drops your mail.
• You can not choose to have no junk mail delivered in your letter-box as in Australia, and your American letter-box will be crammed full of junk mail.
• Post Offices in America are strictly for sending and receiving mail. You cannot pay bills, do banking, or buy retail items as in Australia.
• There are many other "mail houses" in American where you can do nearly everything you can normally do at a Post Office, and more. Examples are UPS stores, and Mail Boxes Etc. stores. Often these stores will provide other services, such as packaging parcels, sell similar retail items as Australian Post Offices, and even provide notary services.

Reader Feedback on this Topic

• Technically, you are correct that you cannot have the USPS just stop delivery of all junk mail. I'm not sure why this is, but I bet it has something to do with the revenue that's generated. With a little work, however, you can get off of a lot of the mailing lists. This site has some excellent suggestions on how to cut down on your junk mail: http://www.obviously.com/junkmail/. And here's a site from the Direct Marketing Service (basically a lobby group for the direct-mailing companies) talking about their Mail Prefrence Service: http://www.dmaconsumers.org/offmailinglist.html - Rob
• I’m sure it’s going to get annoying eventually, but I have actually found fishing through the ‘junk’ mail can yield some rewards, such as the many coupons for local takeaway stores, or for stores like Linens N Things or Bed Bath and Table. I used one to get 20% off the cost of buying drapes for our apartment, which worked out to be quite a saving. - Ruth

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