Full stop (period) after abbreviation

[keenanbr]

I always thought that a full stop was required after an abbreviation (e.g. Rd. for Road). I have been asked to change our address on all company letters from 70 St. Stephen's Green to 70 St Stephen's Green. Which is correct?

 

[Stella740pl]

Don't know.
Was not in this country yet.
But I would think that since the companies were able to wire money directly to each other accounts, they probably could have done that for employees, too.
But I might be wrong.

 

[flapeyre]

I had direct deposit when I was with IBM, and I left there in 1990. So, yes, there was.

Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui!

 

[tsdragon]

taking an hour every payday

It took you an hour to make a 6-mile round-trip to pick up the paychecks? You weren't doing that much better than the postal service.

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[SantaMufasa]

My favourite postal-delivery-success story. My father received an envelope addressed to him simply as:

Mitch Hunt
Mormon Tabernacle
Salt Lake City, Utah

He received the letter two days from the postmark, at our home in Buhl, Idaho...235 miles (378 km) to the northwest !

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I can provide you with low-cost, remote Database Administration services: see our website and contact me via www.dasages.com]

 

[j0ckser]

don't try any of that stuff with the canadian postal service. if it isn't correctly and FULLY addressed, it is either returned (if so marked) or tossed into a black hole.

per ardua ad astra

 

[mmerlinn]

Stella

Note that this was 15 years ago. Direct deposits were GENERALLY not available at that time except for large companies. At any rate, direct deposits did not become an option for us until about 10 years ago. And even then we have never had an employee that took that option.

Personally, I would never work for a company that required direct deposits. I prefer being paid in either real money (impossible) or second best an IOU (read this as 'check') that I can take straight to the bank and cash for real money. When it comes to money, I want the real thing in my possession or stashed in a bank, etc, somewhere that has no connection to my work. Just plain old-fashioned there, and too old to care to change.

Tracy

It was a 12 mile round trip ("... to move less than 6 miles ...") and even in the best of circumstances an hour was optimistic. At times the round trip was over 2 hours, probably slower than using a bicycle.

Today the paychecks are cut 10 miles from here. Occasionally they have to be picked up, usually when payday falls on a Federal holiday or the day after a Federal holiday. When that happens, minimum round trip time is 75 minutes.

And the time isn't any different regardless whether I go by freeway or city streets or a combination thereof.






mmerlinn

"Political correctness is the BADGE of a COWARD!"

 

[flapeyre]

I don't even get pay stubs anymore. I get an e-mail telling me to log in to the payroll processor's secure Web site where I can view and/or print it out. They are kept available for 3 years (along with W-2's).

mmerlinn, it takes time for a paper check to get processed -- an ACH deposit is available to you the next day. Plus, nobody else can cash it. I've never had a problem with mine - ever.

Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui!

 

[rosieb]

Oh rats, I've just spotted this...

I believe, if you live in the UK, you will find that BS7666 does not allow full stops or other punctuation in addresses, so keenanbr'sexample should be 70 St Stephens Green.

Rosie
"Don't try to improve one thing by 100%, try to improve 100 things by 1%

 

[Stella740pl]

Personally, I would never work for a company that required direct deposits.
Required? I've never seen such a company. But I would be uncomfortable if they didn't offer that option, either.

When it comes to money, I want the real thing in my possession or stashed in a bank, etc, somewhere that has no connection to my work.
That's exactly what I get with direct deposit - money stashed in my bank; and that bank doesn't really have a connection to my work, I just give them the account number. They don't have a right to know how much money I have in there, or if I get money from other sources. etc. Never ever had a problem so far. In some cases, banks even offer you better perks if you direct-deposit your pay check there. (I live in USA for over 10 years, and as far as I remember, I was offered direct deposit. True, it took me a few months to think about it and take this option - but I've always done this since.)

If it took me 1 or 2 hours to pick up the check and take it to the bank, I would probably consider my real compensation to be actually up to 4 times my hourly pay a month less than it is, as time is money.

Just plain old-fashioned there, and too old to care to change.
You can, in a way, count me to that camp, too, as I came to USA from a country where, at the time I left it, we were paid with the real thing - cash. We didn't have to go pick it up, though, it came in for the whole department, and one person with a list had to distribute it, and we had to sign for it. (Yes, everyone could see other people's earnings.) In some places they had to pick it up through a small window from the cashier sitting in a separate room on the site. I didn't deposit it to the bank often; I kept it at home and lived from it. If I managed to save something over a few months, then I could have taken it to the bank.

Believe me, I wouldn't want to go back to that pay system.

 

[SilentAiche]

State employees in NC are forced to receive direct deposit. I like it, personally, - it's like having someone go to the bank, fill out the deposit slip, wait in line, etc..., ALL FOR FREE.

Heck, with direct deposit and ATM cards, I have little need to ever set foot in a bank. I'm okay with that.

My, er, 2 cents (hey, I WAS a state employee)

Tim

[blue]_______________________________________________________
"As a former farmer, I try to grow the best formers around."[/blue]

 

[Lunatic]

I work in the private sector and I'm required to use direct deposit unless there are extremely rare circumstances. At orientation the presenter didn't even bother to mention what they were because they were so impossibly rare.

I didn't like that at first, but given that my only form of transportation is public transit and there is no way I can get to the bank M-F so Saturday morning from 9am-noon with those 45 minute lines is the only time I can make it, and that most Saturday mornings I have obligations that prevent me from going to the bank if I wanted to, direct deposit has been a life saver.

Plus with my online access I can track everything (I print off my last 6 months of account activity every month).

Direct Deposit is definately worth it for me. Its very big-brotherish at first but hey, everybody who has access to direct deposit has access to the data anyway, and at least this way I don't have to wait in line for 45 minutes or worry about losing my check.

And my company still gives me a paper stub every pay period.

 

[ChrisHunt]

Direct deposit is the norm in the UK, though I think we have a different name for it which momentarily escapes me. Recently the government has started paying pensions in that way, much to the annoyance of Post Offices - to whom a queue of pensioners showing up every week to collect their money was an important source of business. It's bad news for muggers too.

Which kinda brings us back to the subject.

in the uk, it is possible [to identify any address] by number & postcode.

Actually that's not entirely true - it works for most addresses, but there are exceptions. Setting aside the obvious ones of addresses that don't have numbers, and numbered addresses that are subdivided into flats, there are also cases like these examples in Leicestershire:

3, Main Street, Barton In the Beans, NUNEATON, CV13 0DJ
3, Deacon Rise, Main Street, Barton In the Beans, NUNEATON, CV13 0DJ

7, Coston Road, Buckminster, GRANTHAM, NG33 5SF
7, The Crescent, Coston Road, Buckminster, GRANTHAM, NG33 5SF

2, Granville Gardens, Hall Lane, Ullesthorpe, LUTTERWORTH, LE17 5DD
2, Orchard Walk, Hall Lane, Ullesthorpe, LUTTERWORTH, LE17 5DD

Same number, same postcode, different houses. Oh what fun it is to work with UK addresses...

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[PaulTEG]

BACS, Bankers Automated Clearing Services?

Paul
------------------------------------
Spend an hour a week on CPAN, helps cure all known programming ailments ;-)

 

[KenCunningham]

Indeed BACS it is. Used it for several pay cycles for the last 10 years with nary a hitch.

I don't mind people who aren't what they seem. I just wish they'd make their mind up.

Alan Bennett.

 

[SantaMufasa]

in the uk, it is possible [to identify any address] by number & postcode...Actually that's not entirely true

Chris is absolutely correct about postal codes not uniquely identifying a specific addressee. UK's GPO asserts this about its postal codes:

...each separate code usually identifyies the address to within 80 properties (with an average of 14 properties per postal code), although large businesses may have a unique code.

So, a UK postal code gets one close to a unique delivery address, but certainly not close enough for the sake of doing away with specific street addresses as part of an envelope address.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I can provide you with low-cost, remote Database Administration services: see our website and contact me via www.dasages.com]

 

[Dagon]

What you normally find is that the postal code identifies the street on which you live. Thereafter, the only other piece of information required is the house number. Obviously, there may be more complicated situations like industrial estates or blocks of flats, which is why the GPO is being cautious.

 

[Stella740pl]

Obviously, there may be more complicated situations like industrial estates or blocks of flats...
...which are rather norm than exceptions in any big city.

USA's 4-digit code from ZIP+4, or 5+4 ZIP code identifies the location sometimes up to several apartments (flats) - but not each apartment uniquely. Say, in a big building floors 1 through 3 may have one 4-digit code, floors 4 through 6 would have a different one, and the whole building usually have an extra code meaning "Apartment number not known or incorrect".

The problem is, very few people actually put the 4-digit part on the envelope, or even know it. So it is identified by the post office the other way around, from the address, when sorting the mail.

 

[flapeyre]

The problem is, very few people actually put the 4-digit part on the envelope, or even know it. So it is identified by the post office the other way around, from the address, when sorting the mail.

However, the USPS does have optical scanning equipment which can even decipher handwritten addresses. Many (but not all) letters are thus scanned, and have the full 9-digit ZIP Code printed on the envelope (along with a bar code), to facilitate machine sorting. So, generally, you can get away with using the 5-digit ZIP code. The full ZIP+4 codes have been in use for 15 years, and they are still optional (except for bulk mailers and the like, who have to pre-sort things to get the discounted rate).

Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui!

 

[Stella740pl]

However, the USPS does have optical scanning equipment which can even decipher handwritten addresses.

It must be very good equipment/software, since it can read my husband's handwriting. I sometimes have to make an educated guess.

 

[flapeyre]

Mine, also. I should have been a doctor.

I joke that this is why I became a programmer - at least I can type everything and nobody else has to read my chicken-scratch handwriting.

I will add that I even purchased my last printer specifically looking for an envelope feed feature (so that my correspondence would at least get there on time).

Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui!