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Mail Services
Employees are sorting and separating mail at the mail services

Address Information

General Information

Address for Speed and Accuracy

In today's world, machines handle most of the mail that the United States Postal Service (USPS) delivers. This makes it very important to optimize the addressing of your envelopes for a machine to read. This allows the USPS to sort the mail faster and get your letter to it's destination quicker.

  • Print or type addresses with black ink. Place the address horizontally in the center of the envelope and keep each line of the address flush left.
  • Use capital and lowercase letters. Omit periods, commas, and apostrophes to separate the city, state and ZIP Codes, because optical scanners and bar code sorters work better when they don't have to read punctuation.
  • Use standard abbreviations, such as ST for street and DR for drive. Always provide apartment and suite numbers, adjacent to or above the street address line — never below.
  • Always use correct ZIP Codes or the correct ZIP+4, if known. (You can check this on usps.com.)
  • When using an attention line, place it on top of the address block.
  • Leave a 1/8 inch area in the lower right-hand corner of the envelope blank, because that's where the optical scanner sprays the bar code.
  • Always include a return address on all letters and packages.

How To Change Your Address

Inter Campus Moves

  • Faculty/Staff members should immediately notify the Office of Human Resources when their campus address changes.
  • Students should immediately notify the Registrar's Office of any address changes.
  • All forwarding of mail is the responsibility of the recipient's previous department/residence hall.

Off Campus Moves

  • The United States Post Office will not accept a "change of address form" for people who leave the University.
  • If you wish to have your mail forwarded, you must notify your department of your new address.
  • Certain items cannot be forwarded. It is important to provide your new address to all those you correspond with.
  • Only First Class Mail and Standard Mail with an "endorsement" (Return Service Requested) are forwarded. All other mail is treated as waste.

Address Formats

University Address Format

Off Campus Students Address Format

Important:
Do not use "Illinois State University" in the address.
Do not use"61790" as the zip code. The 61790 zip code is used only for University business mail.
If any of these items are included in the address, the mailed item will be delayed or returned to sender.

The following is the proper address format for students living in apartments:
Student Name
Street Address and apartment #
City State Zip Code

Bloomington Zip Codes - 61701, 61702, 61704, 61705
Normal Zip Code - 61761

Department/Mail Code List

check the mail code for each department by their name.

Mail Codes

Residence Hall Address Format

Watterson Houses