Addresses

This page is part of our Editorial Style Guide, and it describes School of Pharmacy style for specifying mailing addresses and building addresses. Our style is based on a combination of guidance from UCSF Logistics, UCSF Office of Communications, USPS, FedEx, UPS, and the School of Pharmacy Office of Communications.

On this page

• Overview

• FedEx zip codes

Overview

The Office of Communications standardizes mailing addresses so that addresses are communicated with accuracy, brevity, and consistency. You might have encountered standardized addresses on our digital letterhead and on web pages under control by the Office of Communications:

1. for delivery and receipt of mail and packages.

2. for people when visiting in person.

Your standardized address can be used for either of these situations, mostly eliminating the need for having separate, slightly different addresses for people visiting versus mail and package delivery, as sometimes was the custom long ago for some locations. Only one exception remains: FedEx. See details below.

To request your standardized address

Submit a request at Website and Communications Support.

How we standardize addresses

The following factors involve our decisions when standardizing your address:

1. USPS prefers their standardized abbreviations whenever possible and no punctuation.

2. According to UCSF Logistics:

   1. The room number must be placed on the same line as the street address.

   2. The box number (e.g., MC:2240 or Box 2240) must never be in the street address line. It could be placed in any line above, even with the name.

   3. The box number must never be used as part of the ZIP+4, such as 94158-2240 or 94143-2240. The 4-digit suffix is generated by the United States Postal Service (USPS) to expedite their delivery. Our box numbers are solely internal and mean nothing to USPS.

   4. The street address line must always be directly above the city-state-zip-code line.

   5. Regarding zip codes: For all San Francisco campus locations:

      1. For deliveries by FedEx, use the geographic zip code based on the physical location. See FedEx zip codes below.

      2. For all other delivery carriers including UPS and USPS, use 94143 without any additional digits.

3. Additional School of Pharmacy style conventions: our rationale is to provide the information as concisely as possible while still remaining accurate and unambiguous to those unfamiliar with UCSF.

   1. Do not use #. e.g., use UCSF Box 0613 instead of UCSF Box #0613.

   2. Avoid “Room” in front of a room name or number.
      Say this: S960.
      Not this: Room S960 or Rm S960.
      But: if no letter code precedes the room number, use Rm.
      Say this: Rm 157.
      Not this: 157.

   3. Omit hyphens in room numbers.
      Say this: S960.
      Not this: S-960 or S 960.

   4. Use St instead of Street.

   5. Use Ave instead of Avenue.

   6. Use Blvd instead of Boulevard.

   7. If using ZIP+4, use the hyphen.

   8. Omit all commas and periods and avoid using any other punctuation if mail is still deliverable without it. (Hyphen in ZIP+4 is okay, though.)

   9. Use building names in addition to building letter codes: e.g., use Medical Sciences in addition to S960 instead of S960 alone. Okay to abbreviate the building name if needed: Med Sci.

   10. Labels:

       1. Use a label to clarify the information following it, but only when needed to avoid ambiguity.

       2. Example: when a telephone number and fax number are listed adjacent to each other:

          1. Precede the telephone number with “tel:” followed by one space character. This must be a lowercase T.

          2. Precede the fax number with “fax:” followed by one space character. This must be a lowercase F.

       3. If only one telephone number is listed (with no fax number adjacent), omit the “tel:” label; we presume it’s a telephone number.

       4. It’s okay to use labels of your choice when required. Example: two telephone numbers:

          office: 415-555-5555

          lab: 415-555-5556

          Use all lowercase unless proper nouns are involved.

       5. Keep any labels in plain text—do not use bold or italic.

       6. Omit labels when clarification is unnecessary. Example: do not use “email:” or “address:” or “url:.” Rationale: you can tell it’s an email address or a mailing address or building address or url, so labeling it is unnecessary.

Your address might appear differently elsewhere

Your standardized address might not match your address in directory.ucsf.edu or other sources because they are unable to reflect these decisions due to various system and process failings.

More address info

• USPS: Two-Letter State and Possession Abbreviations

• See Major Campus Zip Codes and US Postal Service Mail on Contact Us

• Unified UCSF Zip Code

FedEx zip codes

The following table lists FedEx zip codes for some School of Pharmacy locations:

To determine the zip code for an address not listed here, visit usps.com, find the feature to verify a zip code or address, then enter your street address and leave the zip code field blank. After submitting the form, the USPS-verified address appears.

• If the ZIP+4 code is provided, use it.
• If not, or if multiple ZIP+4 codes are provided, stick with five digits.
• If the zip code returned is 94143, use an external zip code database such as United States Zip Codes or ZipMap to identify the zip code.