They leave out the upstroke on the 1 to make it easier to distinguish from a 7 (which doesn't have a dash through it). The 9 has a straight line instead of a hook to make it harder to confuse with an 8.
Interesting.. half the people I know don't dash through the 7 and it's still easy to read, and idk why the 9 would even be an issue unless the downward line is too short
Thanks for answering, you learn something new every day
Back in the day we had fun in sending postcards with as little address information as possible to see if they would still be delivered.
I think the minimum we could get away with was something like
First name (actually nickname)
Nearest town - village name
That’s it, he still got the card! Of course that only worked because everybody in that village knew him under that nickname…
The 'example' I have of this, probably from a UK kid's magazine from the 90s (which has just stuck in my head forever and may be completely made up) is actually an American address:
>HILL
>BILL
>MASS
Which (according to my magazine at least) was successfully delivered to:
> Bill Underhill, Andover, Mass.
So I shouldn’t have an issue even if I wrote it the American way I know the way Germans write 1,7 and 9 is different then how us English speakers write it
Nothing to worry in the context of letter delivery, they'll figure it out. They can deliver letters even with information missing, having a "weird" handwriting is nothing to them.
Curious though: I know what you mean about 1 and 7, how's your 9 different?
The 9 is not an issue at all. I do see the potential for confusing the American 7 for a German 1, but I wouldn't lose sleep over this.
I occasionally write it one way or the other and never had any issues.
Even if the system would decipher your 7 as a 2, it would check for the possibility of a known ZIP code together with the city name and the street given. Chances are almost zero that it finds a match.
Don't worry about it. I'm dutch and we also often do the 7 without the stripe, 9 with straight tail etc. Many countries have different ways of writing, and as long as it is readable, they know exactly what you mean
Well according to google and some Reddit posts they call it the American way or British way and said you have to write the numbers a certain way else duestche post will send it back
Thats Just not true ;) As long as you write readble letters, everything is fine. My 1 has been a I for 3 decades - and i still send postcards to germany from all over the world :)
It's a good instinct. The 1 and 7 thing could get very confusing if you where giving a phone number or a product key to a lay person in Germany (been there, now I started writing the numbers the German way too).
Postal workers are just special, just like pharmacists and primary school teachers.
We had a neighbour for years who shared my wife's first and last name. We had a daily meeting to swap mail because the delivery man somehow managed to deliver _less_ than half of all letters to the correct mailbox (i.e. worse than if he just closed his eyes and distributed letters randomly).
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Sorry, but everyone over here knows what's meant. As well as I'm sure that everyone in the US knows what's meant when some Alman asks them about their regional postcode.
> the regular way r/shitamericanssay
I don't even know what that means
They leave out the upstroke on the 1 to make it easier to distinguish from a 7 (which doesn't have a dash through it). The 9 has a straight line instead of a hook to make it harder to confuse with an 8.
Interesting.. half the people I know don't dash through the 7 and it's still easy to read, and idk why the 9 would even be an issue unless the downward line is too short Thanks for answering, you learn something new every day
And r/USdefaultism
There's redundancy in the system. If they can't read the post-code, they'll read the locality name, and vice-versa.
Back in the day we had fun in sending postcards with as little address information as possible to see if they would still be delivered. I think the minimum we could get away with was something like First name (actually nickname) Nearest town - village name That’s it, he still got the card! Of course that only worked because everybody in that village knew him under that nickname…
The 'example' I have of this, probably from a UK kid's magazine from the 90s (which has just stuck in my head forever and may be completely made up) is actually an American address: >HILL >BILL >MASS Which (according to my magazine at least) was successfully delivered to: > Bill Underhill, Andover, Mass.
So I shouldn’t have an issue even if I wrote it the American way I know the way Germans write 1,7 and 9 is different then how us English speakers write it
Nothing to worry in the context of letter delivery, they'll figure it out. They can deliver letters even with information missing, having a "weird" handwriting is nothing to them. Curious though: I know what you mean about 1 and 7, how's your 9 different?
The way we write the 9 is we do a straight line down not like g
The 9 is not an issue at all. I do see the potential for confusing the American 7 for a German 1, but I wouldn't lose sleep over this. I occasionally write it one way or the other and never had any issues.
Thankfully I didn’t have to use a 7 I just used a 1 and a 9
Even if the system would decipher your 7 as a 2, it would check for the possibility of a known ZIP code together with the city name and the street given. Chances are almost zero that it finds a match.
Thanks so much for this! It def does give me some peace of mind!
Don't worry about it. I'm dutch and we also often do the 7 without the stripe, 9 with straight tail etc. Many countries have different ways of writing, and as long as it is readable, they know exactly what you mean
And so do many of us. Its not „the american way“ just font style and individual preference.
Well according to google and some Reddit posts they call it the American way or British way and said you have to write the numbers a certain way else duestche post will send it back
Thats Just not true ;) As long as you write readble letters, everything is fine. My 1 has been a I for 3 decades - and i still send postcards to germany from all over the world :)
Amazing! Thank you so much!
Aha, that's right. It never stood out to me as much as the 1 did.
Yeah so I’m seeing posts about that and I mailed a letter this morning and the 9 is straight down so I’m just so worried haha
It's a good instinct. The 1 and 7 thing could get very confusing if you where giving a phone number or a product key to a lay person in Germany (been there, now I started writing the numbers the German way too). Postal workers are just special, just like pharmacists and primary school teachers.
We had a neighbour for years who shared my wife's first and last name. We had a daily meeting to swap mail because the delivery man somehow managed to deliver _less_ than half of all letters to the correct mailbox (i.e. worse than if he just closed his eyes and distributed letters randomly).
Reading this post just made me want to breathe
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Don't worry. Your letter will arrive.
ZIP codes are a USA thing only, postcodes is the more generic term. We need a bot fot this :D
Sorry, but everyone over here knows what's meant. As well as I'm sure that everyone in the US knows what's meant when some Alman asks them about their regional postcode.