A Free Letter-Writing Starter
An addressing diagram plus a five-check list, with one short guide/licence page: three A4 pages in total, covering where the address goes and what to check before you post.
Most letters that go astray are addressed correctly. What sends them for manual handling is where the writing sits on the envelope, not what it says. And most letters that arrive safely are thrown away within the week, for reasons that have nothing to do with handwriting.
This is a reference for the first problem and a checklist for the second.
What this is
An addressing diagram plus a five-check list, with one short guide/licence page, three A4 pages in total. Free, and yours to use. When we refer to the two working pages, we mean the diagram and the checklist, not the download's total page count.
Page one says what the starter is, how to use it, and what it is not. It also carries the note about postal specifications varying by country.
Page two is the addressing diagram, drawn to the proportions of a C6 envelope: where the recipient block sits, where the sender and stamp go, and the strip along the bottom that belongs to the sorting machine. Slip it behind a light envelope and trace, or just read the positions off it.
Page three is the keeping test: five checks on whether a letter survives being read twice. Date, one specific detail, plainness, ink that has not gone through, and a full signature.
Print them, or write on the file in a compatible annotation app.
About the machine-readable strip
Postal specifications vary by country, and the diagram says so. The 15mm figure quoted on page two is Royal Mail's, from its published letter specification. The shape of the rule is the same in every system we could check: the bottom strip of the envelope face is where sorting equipment prints its own barcode, so handwriting there sends the envelope for manual handling, which adds days and, in some systems, a surcharge.
It is a reference drawn to C6 proportions, not a postal specification. For the binding requirements of a particular service, that service's own published specification is the authority.
What it is not
It is not envelope templates. It does not include cutting or folding patterns, and it does not claim to. If that is what you came for, the article on making an envelope from one square sheet is free and on this site.
It is not a guarantee of delivery, and it is not about handwriting. A plain hand saying something specific outlasts a beautiful one saying nothing.
Where it comes from
The two working pages are drawn from the same work as two guides already on this site: addressing an envelope and what makes a letter worth keeping. The articles argue the case; these two pages are the version you keep by the desk.
Free, for your own use. Print it and keep it. Please do not resell it or redistribute the pages.