Forums > General > General Forum

1 2 View All

mazbook1

Nov 12, 2009, 8:17 PM

Post #1 of 33 (10330 views)

Shortcut

How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

Due to Rolly's question on the "shipping" thread, I decided to write what I write to nearly every gringo I have had need to correspond with in México when I ask them for their exact Mexican address so that whatever I'm sending them actually gets there. I'm sure many of you who have lived here for years know all this, but the new folks don't, and they need to know. I've been surprised too that some who have lived here longer than I have don't have any real idea how to correctly write their Mexican address.

Let's start with one that's very basic and almost as simple as it gets: I'll use my Mazatlán home address as an example, then expand on it for other locations.

David Bodwell
calle* Oaxaco no.** 911
colonia*** Sánchez Celis C.P. 82120
Mazatlán, Sinaloa****

*calle (c.) or avenida (av.) or calzada (calz.) or whatever. If in doubt use calle.
**many areas don't have house numbers but they do have street names. In this case the house no. is just s/n - sin/numero. Or it could possibly be "esq.(uina) de Oaxaca y Campeche" – the corner of Oaxaca and Campeche, esq. is the common abbreviation of esquina – corner. Of course the no. could be just #.
***colonia (col.) or fraccionamiento (fracc.) or infonavit or fovisste or whatever…OR, if you live in a village outside of the main town/city of the municipio, just the name of the village, but regardless, this is followed by the codigo postal (C.P.). For folks living in the "historic centers" of many cities, their colonia may be just el centro. This is probably the single most important line in a Mexican address, as the same street name may pop up in several different colonias or the same street may pass through many different colonias, and, it being México, the building numbering system WILL change every time the street crosses a colonia boundary into a different colonia.
****This is the municipio – county name (or, in the case of D.F. the delegación name, del. Lomas de Chapultepec, for example) followed by the state name (or just D.F. in the case of the distrito federal). NOTE: Many, many businesses (in particular) write D.F. addresses as:
del. Lomas de Chapultepec
México, D.F.

This is a redundant, but acceptable style, since D.F. is no longer officially called la ciudad de México, as the ciudad de México (Mexico City) has far, far, outgrown its original boundries into surrounding states and municipios, and is no longer a specific, political entity.

Now we'll look at how a resident of Ajijic would write his address (all names and numbers are just made up except for the colonia and codigo postal).

Joe Gringo
c. Madero #451 int. #24
Ajijic Centro C.P. 45920
Chapala, Jalisco

This says that Joe Gringo lives an apartment house (or condominium) in the colonia el centro de Ajijic, in the municipio of Chapala, and the state of Jalisco. The int. stands for interno – internal, and this is his apartment number (could also be dept. – departmento).

Now let's look at a business address:

Mazatlán Book & Coffee Company
calz. Camarón Sábalo no. 610
centro comercial Galerías loc. No. 11
fracc. El Dorado C.P. 82110
Mazatlán, Sinaloa

This says that my bookstore is on calzada Camarón Sábalo at number 610. That happens to be a building with a number of offices and/or shops, and mine is local – suite number 11. This address is located in the fraccionamiento – subdivision of El Dorado where the codigo postal is 82110 in the municipio de Mazatlán in the state of Sinaloa.

In Mexico City, this might look like this:

The Bookstore
calz. Benito Juárez #610
centro commercial Vasconcelos piso #3 – here piso is the floor of the building where the bookstore is located.
col. Ampliación Las Aguilas C.P. 01759
del. Álvaro Obregón, D.F. (or
Distrito Federal or México, D.F.)

Naturally, if you are giving your mailing address to someone in el otro lado, you would put the country, México as the last line on all of these addresses.

Maybe you wanted to send something to me, in care of, Editorial Mazatlán. Then you would write:

David Bodwell
a/c Editorial Mazatlán

I really hope this helps some folks who have trouble with getting mail in México. Correos de México has improved immensely over the years I've lived here and is now pretty trustworthy. I never fail to have a letter or package delivered anywhere in México within 10 days or less when I can write the person's address correctly…MEXICAN STYLE.

(This post was edited by mazbook1 on Nov 12, 2009, 8:18 PM)

MazDee

Nov 12, 2009, 9:20 PM

Post #2 of 33 (10297 views)

Shortcut

Re: [mazbook1] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

Gee, David, that seems so complicated but really is helpful, especially for big city addresses. I am glad I live in centro Mazatlán, with the centro CP (postal code) because even if "centro" is not on the address, it is quite apparent. The thing I have noticed is that in that shippers from the US using a computer program CAN'T put the CP right after the address. It appears after the city/state just as it does in the US. But, the PO here figures it out. I was told to list my address this way:
Dee
Angel Flores ***
Centro 82000
Mazatlán, Sin
MX
But the mail I get from the US, like bank statements and my (oh, yeah) tax form from the IRS look like this:
Dee
Angel Flores ***
Mazatlan, Sin 82000
MX
And they get here, every time.

Your shop, located in a different part of town and in a mall with multiple businesses, is much more complicated.

I read a story a while ago about street names in México City. I think there are several hundred streets named Benito Juarez and other such popular names there. Your advice about using the proper form will be absolutely necessary there!

morgaine7

Nov 12, 2009, 9:41 PM

Post #3 of 33 (10285 views)

Shortcut

Re: [mazbook1] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

Great timing for this thread, because today is el día del cartero (mail carrier's day), at least in La Paz.

Kate

Papirex

Nov 12, 2009, 10:18 PM

Post #4 of 33 (10278 views)

Shortcut

Re: [mazbook1] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

David, that is a very informative and comprehensive explanation for non residents, or newcomers of why writing the correct address as required in México is usually so important down here. We happen to live on Calle Dos in Cuernavaca. It is located in one colonia, the house numbers here are not sequential, and odd and even numbers are used on both sides of the street.

There is another Calle here named Calle 2, it uses the numeral 2 and not the spelling for Dos. The names of both Calles are pronounced the same when spoken. Calle 2 is not continuous, but it does stretch from the northern part of this city to the southern part, and it passes through several colonias with several different postal codes.

I have had to forcefully explain my correct address to Telmex, the Transito office for my drivers license and car registration, and to INM for my visa renewals, etc. I don't live on Calle 2, I live on Calle Dos. The clerks almost always like to take a shortcut and type my address incorrectly as Calle 2.

You are right about the American system of addressing not being good for writing a Mexican address on three lines. I have had to get inventive to write my Mexican address on three lines instead of four lines when ordering things from The US to be shipped to me here.

If someone is not familiar with the numbering system for suites, apartments, or a piso, it is best to just write an address exactly the way that the recipient writes it, if it takes four or more lines, so be it.

Rex
"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo

mazbook1

Nov 12, 2009, 11:11 PM

Post #5 of 33 (10271 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Papirex] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

Thanks, Rex. It's not just non-residents who need to know. I had to develop my explanations for different gringo residents, so that I could assure they got whatever I was sending them. It was unbelievable at first to me how strangely different folks would write their Mexican addresses.

I can't claim it's perfect, but since I quit shipping to folks who wouldn't or couldn't give me at least some reasonable approximation of their Mexican address so that I can write it out the Mexican way, I have never had Correos de México lose a package of mine and my customers report they get stuff quicker than ever before.

Dee, my business address isn't just complicated because I'm in a centro comercial with other businesses, it's mostly because Camarón Sábalo runs through at least FIVE (maybe even six!) different fraccionamientos…and each one has a different numbering system, even though the street name AND the codigo postal remains the same! That can confuse even a diligent postman.

And yes, it IS timely. Please don't forget that propina for your mailman. Even if you didn't see him today, keep it right handy so you can hand it to him when he does come by. These guys try really hard to get gringo mail to the correct recipients, even when the address is screwed up.

Hound Dog

Nov 13, 2009, 6:28 AM

Post #6 of 33 (10235 views)

Shortcut

Re: [mazbook1] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

Well, thimgs are not the same everywhere in Mexico. Surprise, surprise.

In Ajijic there aren´t really any colonias and that drove Aeromexico crazy when we established a frequent flyer account with them as they insisted we had to have a colonia if we lived in Mexico. They finally relented when we told them we lived in a hick town.

In San Cristóbal de Las Casas there are also no colonias but bariios. We live in Barrio El Cerrilo and that is important.

In both Ajijic and San Cristóbal the street number comes before the street name and the use of Calle or some such designation is optional.

Go figure.

(This post was edited by Hound Dog on Nov 13, 2009, 6:30 AM)

sanjuan

Nov 13, 2009, 7:14 AM

Post #7 of 33 (10221 views)

Shortcut

Re: [mazbook1] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

The postal code should be after the city and state and you should add Mexico at the last.

esperanza

Nov 13, 2009, 8:45 AM

Post #8 of 33 (10196 views)

Shortcut

Re: [mazbook1] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

My magazine subscription sent from the States has the address like this:

Calle XXXX #187
Col. Bosque Camel
Morelia 58290 Michoacán
México

Of course our colonia is Bosque Camelinas--but Camel was as much as would fit on their computer form. It tickles me to live in Colonia Camel (I always wonder--one hump or two?), and my mail gets here as it should.

I have always used the above format when giving my Mexican address, no matter where in Mexico I've lived. It's always worked for me without a problem.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

Peter

Nov 13, 2009, 9:30 AM

Post #9 of 33 (10187 views)

Shortcut

Re: [esperanza] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

One thing to add, as you have in your address, Esperanza, is to put MEXICO as large as possible or even in all capital letters at the bottom of the address.

By the time the US folks, whoever makes out the address, in their refusal to put the CP on the proper address line, then abbreviate Michoacán to MN my mail usually makes it to some place Minnesota or Michigan, or wherever the US zip code is similar to my código postal number before being returned stating it is undeliverable.

This doesn't always work because it really needs FIVE lines to include my colonia and MEXICO at the bottom. But the Mexican post office here is wonderful and my mail almost always makes it eventually, once it makes it out of the US.

I once received my mail from California Department of Motor Vehicles after they screwed-up my address, even when I had submitted the change of address to include my Morelia address exactly as it should have been written. Those idiots in California had left off my street address, left off the name of my city, the cp number, and sent it with just my name, colonia, and to Michoacán, Mexico. The post office here in Morelia knew just where to deliver my mail, and it made it right into my mailbox in near record time.

It is a good postal system here. The problem is always with those idiots in the US who can't figure out there is a much larger world outside their own little corner of it.

prmjcm

Nov 13, 2009, 9:33 AM

Post #10 of 33 (10185 views)

Shortcut

Re: [mazbook1] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

Dave thanks for the infomation, if things like electronic toothbrushes, books, or linens or clothing are shipped by international flat rate packages will there be customs charges on them, I know is varied list but any information would be helpful. Pat

Hound Dog

Nov 13, 2009, 3:09 PM

Post #11 of 33 (10133 views)

Shortcut

Re: [sanjuan] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

The postal code should be after the city and state and you should add Mexico at the last.

Actually, that is not correct.

The address should read:

#(whatever) Independencia (for example)
CP 45920 Ajijic, Jalisco
MEXICO

(This post was edited by Hound Dog on Nov 13, 2009, 3:11 PM)

La Isla

Nov 13, 2009, 3:32 PM

Post #12 of 33 (10122 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Peter] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

In Reply To

One thing to add, as you have in your address, Esperanza, is to put MEXICO as large as possible or even in all capital letters at the bottom of the address.

It is a good postal system here. The problem is always with those idiots in the US who can't figure out there is a much larger world outside their own little corner of it.

When I'm back in the States visiting my mother, I usually mail a big box of books to myself from the local post office. I always put MEXICO at the bottom of the address, but a couple of times I've been asked, "Are you sending that package to New Mexico?" I kid you not. Apparently, the idea of sending a package somewhere outside the country was a strange concept to that clerk.

Rolly

Nov 13, 2009, 3:35 PM

Post #13 of 33 (10119 views)

Shortcut

Re: [mazbook1] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

Personally, I plan to follow the instructions from Mazbook1. I think he has more experience with the post office than anyone else around these parts.

I pulled several products out of my pantry to check manufacturer's/vendor's address. Guess what? They all follow the instruction Maz gave. I have a receipt from the post office which also lists the office's address in that manner.

Rolly Pirate

mazbook1

Nov 13, 2009, 4:10 PM

Post #14 of 33 (10107 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Hound Dog] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

Hound Dog, The good guys at Correos de México, especially in heavily gringo areas, have gotten pretty good about deciphering improperly written addresses, but it still helps to have it written correctly.

Ajijic is a good example, since it is a small (one C.P.) village in the municipio of Chapala. Were there other villages in Jalisco that MIGHT be called just Ajijic, you would have many delays getting your mail.

Correos de México says that the colonia/village/fraccionamiento/or whatever should ALWAYS be followed by the codigo postal, the the municipio/delegación and then the state or distrito federal. It just saves them and your overworked cartero time and energy if you write it their way.

In your case they say that means name, street name+house number+any suite or apartment name and number, Ajijic Centro C.P. 45920, Chapala, Jalisco.

Hey all, I was just hoping to help some folks out who wouldn't know. If you think your way is correct, and you are getting your mail, it's no skin off my back however you want to write your Mexican address. I just suggest to newbies that the closer they can follow the Correos de México method, the better. How computer programs, particularly U.S. ones interpret or change the order is immaterial and hardly worth discussing, since we can't do anything about it. How many lines it takes is not worth discussing either. It takes as many as necessary. What you do to "trick" stupid computer programs is a totally different matter. Usually, when I order something from the U.S., I try to trick the program so I can get as close as possible, THEN in the company's "comment" box write out my Mexican address the correct way and tell them that THIS IS MY CORRECT SHIPPING/BILLING ADDRESS regardless of what their computer thinks.

I will have no further comment on the subject, but anyone is welcome to PM me on it.

Hound Dog

Nov 13, 2009, 4:43 PM

Post #15 of 33 (10095 views)

Shortcut

Re: [mazbook1] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

Hound Dog, The good guys at Correos de México, especially in heavily gringo areas, have gotten pretty good about deciphering improperly written addresses, but it still helps to have it written correctly.

Well, now Mazbook, I presume you mean such "heavily gringo areas" as San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas where Dawg maintains a residence at which he receives mail. Experts abound hereabouts. Tell me how many "gringos" (a racist word if there ever was one) reside in that town.

Sophistry is unbecoming.

(This post was edited by Hound Dog on Nov 13, 2009, 4:51 PM)

esperanza

Nov 13, 2009, 5:12 PM

Post #16 of 33 (10080 views)

Shortcut

Re: [La Isla] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

In Reply To

Yeah, no kidding.

Then there was the time that I was visiting a friend in Nebraska and mentioned to a salesperson that I lived in Mexico.

Says she, "Oh, I have a friend who lives in Albuquerque."

Says I, "Well, that is in NEW Mexico. Where I live is in OLD Mexico."

Says she, all astonished, "Well, I'm just going to have to go home and get out my science book and look that up."

She wasn't kidding, either.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

Peter

Nov 13, 2009, 5:40 PM

Post #17 of 33 (10065 views)

Shortcut

Re: [mazbook1] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

In Reply To

Hey all, I was just hoping to help some folks out who wouldn't know. If you think your way is correct, and you are getting your mail, it's no skin off my back...

The way you suggest is proper. It's how it's done here. The only thing I suggest, if you're mailing from the US is to put MEXICO at the bottom in as big of letter as possible, with international mail it is necessary to add the country. Putting it in as big of letters as possible is necessary to defeat gringo near-sightedness.

Just saying.

La Isla

Nov 13, 2009, 5:45 PM

Post #18 of 33 (10066 views)

Shortcut

Re: [esperanza] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

Come to think of it, that's happened to me a few times in the States. Never with friends or hardly any of my relatives (who are much too cool for that) but with a salesperson or someone I ended up chatting with on the bus. I guess these are people with only the fuzziest notion of what the world beyond U.S. borders is like, if they have any notion of it at all!

(This post was edited by La Isla on Nov 13, 2009, 5:48 PM)

morgaine7

Nov 13, 2009, 6:19 PM

Post #19 of 33 (10052 views)

Shortcut

Re: [esperanza] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

A fellow US citizen (former teacher, no less) asked me about my retirement location. It went thusly:
ME: La Paz. It's on the Sea of Cortez, near the southern end of Baja California.
HER: Oh! I thought you were moving to Mexico.
ME: It's in Mexico, you know, that little peninsula across from the west coast of mainland Mexico, below the US?
HER: Well then, why do they call it "California"?

<sigh>

Kate

sanjuan

Nov 14, 2009, 4:51 AM

Post #20 of 33 (10002 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Hound Dog] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

The purpose of a postal code, here in Mexico and everywhere else in the world, is to speed up sorting and delivery of the mail. The mail sorters read the address from the bottom up-from general to specific. That is why Mexico is at the bottom, then postal code, state, city, etc. If you put the postal code in the middle of the address it partly defeats the purpose of using the code. There are thousands of towns/cities in Mexico-too many to remember where they are (and a number of towns have the same name) but by looking at the postal code first rather than the town or state a sorter can quickly send in in the right direction.
At a Mexican post office if you look at a variety of mail you will see the postal code is put in various places in the address. If everyone put the postal code where it was designed to be used it would probably speed up sorting and delivery. The postal code at the end (before country) is the way it is intended to be used world wide. The Mexican post office should run an educational program to instruct people how to use the code properly
If possible the colonia should always be included.

In Reply To

Georgia

Nov 18, 2009, 6:27 AM

Post #21 of 33 (9859 views)

Shortcut

Re: [esperanza] Mexico v. New Mexico: geographidiots

Can't Post | Private Reply

When I inquired at our county clerk's office about how my daughter and future son in law should go about getting a marriage license in NY when they actually did live in NEW Mexico, the clerk told me they had to go to their consulate. When I repeated that it was NEW Mexico, not OLD Mexico her response was, "Since when is New Mexico part of the US. I know what you're trying to do." They're all out there running loose and they usually bump into me.

esperanza

Nov 18, 2009, 6:43 AM

Post #22 of 33 (9853 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Georgia] Mexico v. New Mexico: geographidiots

Can't Post | Private Reply

Jesús de Veracruz! That's just insane.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

Georgia

Nov 18, 2009, 7:33 AM

Post #23 of 33 (9841 views)

Shortcut

Re: [esperanza] Mexico v. New Mexico: geographidiots

Can't Post | Private Reply

Part of why I live here. People think that New York is the city. Nope, lots of country there with lots of geographically impaired people. I knew many people who had never ventured outside our county - which was small. Of course, in Mexico, I defy anyone to find a map that is correct, but at least we know that you need 3 opinions how to get somewhere and if two coincide, that might be the correct way. Given the school taxes I paid in upstate New York I expected a bit more.

Aaron+

Oct 21, 2011, 10:40 AM

Post #24 of 33 (5962 views)

Shortcut

Re: [sanjuan] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

I follow SanJuan´s preferred formating. Have recently noticed that mail we receive from government of Mexico sources include the C.R., the nearest local distribution office. So for my CP 97120 in Merida, the CR is the Chuburna p.o., with CR
is, if I recall correctly, 97201.

The Mexican post office standard I see, from March 2008, is at
http://www.correosdemexico.gob.mx/AcercaCorreos/NormatecaInterna/Documents/NormasInternas/Mn_p_estandarizacion_direc_post_C.pdf see particularly p. 19 for a graphic.

So the city or town address looks like,

CP 97120 MERIDA YUC CR 97201

although SEPOMEX also gives examples of , say,

97120 MERIDA YUC 97201

though the mail we get, as from the PROFECO magazine, specifies "CP" and "CR".

(For international mail to Mexico, the last line is simply MEXICO.)

Rolly

Oct 21, 2011, 11:51 AM

Post #25 of 33 (5936 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Aaron+] How to write your Mexican address…the Mexican way

Can't Post | Private Reply

My Telmex bill came this morning.

my name
street address
Lerdo, DGO, DG
C.P. 35150-CR-35151

Rolly Pirate

1 2 View All