Can I use Apt and Suite interchangeably for my address?

June 7, 2006 12:35 PM

Can I use Apt and Suite interchangeably for my address?

I remember reading somewhere long ago that "Apt" and "Suite" can be used interchangeably in an address.

So these 2 would be the same thing:
123 Anywhere St.
Apt 100
Someplace, NY 12345

123 Anywhere St.
Suite 100
Someplace, NY 12345

Is that true?

posted by JPigford to home & garden (20 comments total)

I think so.
posted by matkline at 12:37 PM on June 7, 2006

In terms of will-it-get-delivered? Yes.
posted by nomisxid at 12:38 PM on June 7, 2006

Doesn't make a difference. As long as the number is right. I know because my address should be "Apt" but I use "Suite" and I've never had a problem.
posted by junesix at 12:38 PM on June 7, 2006

The pound sign is my default:

123 Anywhere St. #100
Someplace, NY 12345

Whenever I see "Suite" I think it's pretentious.
posted by Rash at 1:15 PM on June 7, 2006

The USPS has a single standardized address for you which will be in the form of:

123 ANYWHERE ST APT 100
SOMEPLACE NY 12345-6789

with the apartment on the same line as the street name, everything in caps, a ZIP+4 code, and no punctuation. So neither of what you have suggested are standardized addresses. USPS doesn't care, they'll just try to deliver it whether you use Ste, Apt, or simply #. Just don't try to pass off a PMB as one of those, that makes them mad. Here are the Addressing Standards in the Domestic Mail Manual.
posted by grouse at 1:18 PM on June 7, 2006

Another possible concern is with credit card addresses. If what you enter doesn't match what's in your account, you might get your purchase rejected. I think they only validate the numbers though, so just switching "apt" to "suite" should be safe.
posted by smackfu at 1:27 PM on June 7, 2006

From experience, you can do all sorts of crazy things with your address and the mailman usually figures it out.

Adding to what grouse said, try out the post office's internal software will accept by trying out the zip code/address standardization web page at the post office web site.

For example, I just typed my address with "floor 20" instead of "apt 20", (I live in a two story building) and it auto-corrected it on the next page.
posted by IvyMike at 1:27 PM on June 7, 2006

Rash , I assume the OP may be running a business out of his home, thus "Suite" would be the more professional sounding choice.

Like Junesix, I have done this in the past when I had a little home-based thing going on - no problems.
posted by peep at 1:30 PM on June 7, 2006

You can also write

100-123 Anywhere St.
Someplace, NY 12345

which is a useful format for mail merging lots of letters where you want everything to be the same number of rows.
posted by tiamat at 1:33 PM on June 7, 2006

In the UK, you can send letters to "101 AA1 1AA" -- ie. nothing more than the house number and postcode -- and they will get there, meaning you can get crazy creative with the bit inbetween if you want. I imagine zip+4 works similarly... but maybe not.
posted by reklaw at 1:34 PM on June 7, 2006

In terms of making a difference betwene APT and SUITE, I'd wager that this only matters if and when you live/work in a building with internal mail delivery/boxes, that had both apartments and suites, in which case there MIGHT be a problem, but I'd imagine this is very rare.
posted by tiamat at 1:37 PM on June 7, 2006

I make up stuff all the time. I've used #, apt, suite, space, unit, condo, area, room, etc. I'm in the US.
posted by striker at 1:58 PM on June 7, 2006

To elaborate on smackfu's comment, CC address validation has multiple levels. The Authorize.net account I have here for a client allows multiple levels of distinction, including allowing for success if the street address does not match but the zip does. They even discourage this level of picky:

The desired response code in most cases is Y (the street address and the first 5 digits of the ZIP code match perfectly). Select this response code for rejecting transactions only after very careful consideration, as legitimate matches may be rejected when Y is selected.

So odds are you wouldn't come up against this issue.
posted by phearlez at 2:21 PM on June 7, 2006

I always think of Suite as an office, and Apt. as a home.

So if you gave me directions to Suite 100, and I came to an apartment building, I'd be wondering if I got the wrong street number or something.
posted by madajb at 2:28 PM on June 7, 2006

In Australia a lot of people write them like tiamat's example, except with a forward slash. Which led to some confusion when my American family couldn't figure out how my house address was "1/4 Moorgate Street." It's even funnier when your house address spans a couple of numbers; you get things like "4/9-23 Cleveland Street" and stuff like that.
posted by web-goddess at 2:40 PM on June 7, 2006

You could probably address it "Penthouse #100" or "Castle #100" if you wanted.

This thread reminded me of an interesting project in which the author sent herself letters she addressed in increasingly cryptic ways (one had a crossword puzzle that needed to be solved to determine the address): 120 out of 130 letters were delivered.
posted by sfkiddo at 3:23 PM on June 7, 2006

When someone finds out about it you look like a tool, though, for pretending to be a hotshot.

Use #, No., Number, or whatever.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 4:09 PM on June 7, 2006

I opted to use "Apt." rather than "Suite" on my business card because I thought it would look lame to those clients (many) who know that I work from home. "No." sounds like a good compromise, and for some reason it seems quaint to me.
posted by lackutrol at 4:37 PM on June 7, 2006

I imagine zip+4 works similarly... but maybe not.

Theoretically it would; ZIP+4 can be very specific. I think mine is the houses on my block on my side of the street.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:18 PM on June 7, 2006

I've used suite and # before with no problems getting stuff to my apartment, but "Room" might work for you?

One quick and easy solution though - try it out. Mail yourself something using Suite, #, etc and see how it goes. Or just talk to your mailman to make sure he knows that Suite 100 is Apt. 100, though like everyone else says, I think you'll be fine.

Using suite and # is useful even if you don't have a home-based business. For example, I'm on several association and magazine mailing lists with my home address (so that I still get everything if I switch jobs), even though the publishers wanted "business" addresses. I'm not sure what would happen if I had said "Apt." though. Maybe I'm just overcautious.
posted by ml98tu at 6:23 AM on June 8, 2006