My mail carrier (or perhaps it's a neighbor?) doesn’t like the European 1

I guess they thinks it’s a 7?

“I have delivered many letters here. Please ask your family(?) to write 4177 better.”

The irony is I can barely read the writing.

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I would report this clown.

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The 7 is even dashed, I wonder what does the mailman not understand about it, coming from a place that doesn’t use the long 1, my mail always reach me whenever a card is written in that

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The machine is reading it as a seven so its in the wrong spot of the dps. (The machine sorted mail) So if he is a city carrier he finds it after he has passed your house and has to come back. Or its ending up in another carriers mail and keeps getting rerouted back between two carriers.

You could try added the 4 more zip code numbers that tell the machine where in the dps it goes. But i had issues with that causing problems

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Perhaps he has never encountered the European 1s and 7s before, and would appreciate you telling him more about how people do things in other cultures. I know when i first joined Postcrossing I had trouble figuring out how to register some of the cards until I got used to the wide variety of ways people write. A little friendly heart to heart might turn him into a fan, not a foe.

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Then he should report the problem to his superiors and make them aware that the machines need to be trained better instead of expecting a whole continent to change their writing. :woman_shrugging: :joy:

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Bahahahhaah. Aggressive, but what a keeper. Great postal history piece!

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Wow and he wrote that directly on one of your envelopes?! I’d feel so violated…this is so aggressive I am sorry this happened to you

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The arrogance of it!

Arabic, Chinese and Russian mailmen uncomplainingly accept whole addresses written in a foreign alphabet… and here’s an American postman unable to decipher a single number that’s written slightly different than he learnt at school :confused:

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Wow it is hard for me to read the writing without the help from your translation. “Better” looks like butter to me… :sweat_smile:

I guess he is having a bad day or having problem reading numbers.

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… if he attended school at all.

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I’m speechless by his unprofessionality!

But this topic can be inspiring for maybe an international guide of numbers? NOT for the sake of people like him, but just so our postcards don’t get delayed by machines.

We agree that we can write as we want, but sometimes, using some precautions our postcards may arrive earlier at destinations or at least be spared an unnecessary delay. Like (if you have the possibility) writing Chinese addresses in Chinese for example or any other country with different alphabet.

Could we make a guide (or that already exists?) telling which numbers are used in which country? I never realised that a number one could be mistaken for a number seven. I’ll write different at my next postcards to the US. (Wondering now if some of my expired sent cards happened because of wrong interpretation of numbers :thinking:)

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There’s a wiki article on regional handwriting variation, it doesn’t give a graphic for every numeral but it does a good job of explaining differences.

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I only can read 1, haha
Anyways handwritinga of sender are perfect, no need to be Confused, 1 and 7 is distinguished by -(bar)

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I sometimes have a similar problem, although it’s not the mail carrier who loses his mind over it, but the people who live on 74 Street, with the same house number as mine. I’m on 14 Street. They’re tired of receiving my mail.

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wow, that’s pretty rude! Please do keep us updated if you have news on this, wether you report him officially or manage to tell him a word, I wonder how this situation can be fixed!

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RUDE!!! :face_with_raised_eyebrow: :astonished: :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

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I am very surprised, I thought that postal codes were read by machines…
Isn’t the mailman (and maybe the person who wrote that was a mailwoman, who knows :blush:) supposed to just read the address, not the city?

Anyway, that envelope would definitely have its place in a museum :blush: (even if I have no idea what this museum would be about)

Oh jepp, 7411 are complicated digits. On my international cards I use the I for 1, because this problem appears sometimes in the Forum, when a recipient cannot deciffer the ID.

Btw 7411 looks like some nasty colognian secret code. :wink:

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And if he worked in a call center, would he complain about different dialects and accents? :see_no_evil:

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