Possibly a stupid question: Capitalizing State Abbreviations?

theycallmelinz

I've finally convinced myself that my hand-writing is decent enough for me to personally hand address my invitations. I'm going to do cursive so I have a possibly dumb question, do I capitalize both letters of the state abbreviations? I know normally the answer is yes, but when I've been practicing writing addresses (so I don't waste precious envelopes) it looks SO much better and flow-ey (that's not a real word) when I write Al as opposed to AL. Is it a huge deal/am I going to look like an idiot if I don't write both letters capitalized?

Maggie0829

You should actually write out the full state name, not use the abbreviation.

theycallmelinz

According to @CMGragain 's post, the post office prefers us to use the abbreviation instead of the full word... or is that not the case?

Maggie0829

theycallmelinz said:

According to @CMGragain 's post, the post office prefers us to use the abbreviation instead of the full word... or is that not the case?

Well I was always taught that the state name should be spelled out on formal items.  As what the post office prefers I am not sure.  All I know is that I spelled out the state name on my invites and since they all got delivered I am guessing the post office didn't have an issue.

labro

I wrote out full names for states in my addresses and didn't have an issue with the post office. I don't see why they'd prefer abbreviation over the full word? I know the post office has had issues with people writing in cursive instead of print...but not using abbreviations?

runsonveggies

I think they mostly go by the zip code anyways so abbreviated or full state name shouldn't matter too much for the post office. I've sent stuff both ways and never gotten them sent back. As far as abbreviating, both should be uppercase technically but I doubt I'd notice if someone sent me something that said "Ks" instead of "KS".

lyndausvi

The PO does prefer 2 digit states. 

Jen4948

The post office prefers the two capital letter, no punctuation abbreviations for states on mailing envelopes. But spell out the state names on the invitations and inserts.