DEAR ABBY: I am a postal worker. With wedding and graduation seasons fast approaching, please pass along some suggestions to your readers:
Before addressing envelopes, please make sure your address books are up to date. We do everything in our power to make sure all mail gets to where it is supposed to be, but you'd be shocked how often it's addressed to someone who moved many years ago -- or worse, is deceased.
Be sure to include the recipient's last name and try not to use nicknames. If the address is off by a little bit, a last name on the envelope is sometimes helpful. You might think everyone knows Uncle Bob as "Moose." But as carriers, unless we know the recipient personally, we only know his or her proper name.
And don't forget to include your return address on the envelope so if it can't be delivered, you'll know the recipient didn't receive it. That way, you won't think that "Aunt Ann" didn't want to attend or have her think she wasn't invited.
And last but not least, be sure to have proper postage on the envelope! Often, due to the size or thickness of an invitation, extra postage is needed. I hope this will help your readers. -- MICHIGAN MAIL CARRIER
DEAR MAIL CARRIER: So do I!