The addressee of a letter is indicated by the attention line on the envelope. The United States Postal Service indicates that the attention line should always appear first in the address instructions. It may read “John H. Doe,” for example.

When mailing mail to a dwelling, the street address follows the attention line. The final line contains the city, state, and zip code. Following the attention line in a business letter is a line containing the company’s name, followed by the identical address information on the next two lines. It is unnecessary to use the real word “attention.”