Postal Mail Tips
· Check with your post office for the postal rate to Russia. Be sure to include proper postage for the weight of your letter. If you are sending numerous letters you may want to stock up on the proper postage denominations so you can avoid extra trips the post office. · Address your envelope correctly. Your return address goes in the upper left corner. The postage goes in the upper right corner. The destination address is in the center and should include the name of the destination Country. | Postal Address Formats & Samples | English Address: RUSSIA 153007 Ivanovo General Gorbatov st, 2-15 Sviridova, Galina
| Russian Address: РОССИЯ 153007 Иваново ул.Генерала 2-15 Свиридова, Галина | English Address: Ukraine 68002 Ilyichevsk Ap.16, 14, Danchenko st. Sumtsova, Elena | Ukrainian Address: Украина 68002 Ильичевск. Одесская обл. Ул.данченко, 14, кв.16 Сумцова, Eлена |
· Send your letter by air. Contact your postal service for how to do this. Use an ink stamp, ‘Par Avon’ adhesive sticker or write ‘Air Mail’ on the envelope. · Send your letter by Registered Mail to ensure delivery. Although this will add to the cost of each mailing it will improve the odds of a successful delivery. · List the contents on the envelope in the lower left corner. Example: ‘Contents: Personal Letter & Photos’. This might protect your letter from Postal inspection. · Large 8” by 10” envelopes work well to send larger material such as travel brochures on your home town, city and state. · Include a Return Addressed Envelope or an addressed sticker she can place her own envelope. This will enable you to be certain her reply is addressed to you correctly. · Check with your post office to see if you can purchase return postage for your envelope. This is especially useful if you want to make it easier and more likely for a reply. · Don’t include money in your letter even a small amount. This will only temp inspectors to intercept your future letters. This practice will reduce the chances of your letters actually being delivered. · If you have not received a reply in 4 weeks consider resending your letter. It’s possible that she did not receive your letter. It’s also possible that she did not reply intentionally. · You don’t have to wait for a reply to send another letter. If your primary correspondence is being done through the mail you will have a very long cycle between letters if you wait for a reply before composing a new letter to send. If you send your lady a new letter every week, she will receive a letter from you every week and you will probably receive a reply from her every week. It will take some time and coordination with her to build up to this frequency and rhythm. · Try to include a picture or two in every letter. This will make your correspondence more personal and interesting. This will give you a way to show her and share with her some of special events or experiences you write about in your letters. · If you live in an interesting area she will be curious to learn more about your city and local attractions. Purchase some postcards that depict your city and surrounding area. Pick up some tourist brochures from an airport or hotel that advertise local attractions. You can send these collectively in an envelope if you want her to receive them all at once. If you live in a popular tourist area there may be some picture books that you can purchase and send to her that will help her to see what it would be like to live where you do. Check with your local Visitors Bureau and have them send her some promotional material. · If she has a personal computer at home you can send her a floppy disk or CD disk of pictures you have taken for her. Don’t do this exclusively since she may not be able to share them with her friends and family outside her home. If you are important to her she will want to talk about you and show off your pictures. Make it easy for her to do this by sending her some selected printed pictures as well. · Be creative and think of new things to insert into your envelopes besides a letter and pictures. Visit a stationary store for ideas on what you do. · Send a Greeting Card occasionally. Use Greeting Cards as a way to spice up your regular mailings with something special or different. Use Romantic Greeting Cards carefully . . . you don’t want to appear foolish by sending a strongly worded ‘I Will Love You Forever’ card early in your correspondence, especially if you haven’t met yet. Consider sending a blank card where you can write your own message. A simple message letting her know that you are thinking of her will help you create a stronger bond.
Visit these chapters for more information about Correspondence:  Previous Section | Table of Contents | Next Section 
| 
