eli5: when entering an address online, why is there a second line to put your apartment number if every single time you do, it “corrects” it by moving it back to the first line?
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The second line isn’t for putting a suite or apartment number on. Its for putting specific instructions to the mail carrier for situations in which the just sending something to an address might not be good enough to get it to the intended recipient.
For example, if you don’t know someone’s address but you know the address of a close friend or relative you can write “C/O<friend/relative name>” on the second address line. That tells the mail carrier that its ok to deliver the letter to the friend/relative even though the intended recipient doesn’t get mail at that address.
This might not seem important because in the modern world mail carriers generally have no idea who lives at an address and just deliver the mail as its addressed. But *in theory* they are supposed to return mail if they know for a fact that the intended recipient does not receive mail at the address – which was something that was far more common in the past when mail carriers generally had personal knowledge of the people they were delivering mail to.
Another use is to give specific instructions. Say someone is renting a guest house that is detached from the main house at the address. If you don’t want the tenant’s landlord to receive the mail, you could write instructions like “At the guesthouse behind the main house” on the second and the mail carrier will deliver it directly to the guest house if its possible to actually get to that house. If not they’re supposed to hold it at the post office and deliver a notice to the main address for the intended recipient to go pick it up.
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