A delivery notation in a business letter tells the reader how the document reached them. It's a single line, easy to overlook, and consistently formatted wrong. Most writers skip it entirely or confuse it with the "via" line, which records the transmission channel but sits in a different position and serves a slightly different purpose. The delivery notation is its own element, with its own placement rules and conventions.
What a delivery notation actually does
A delivery notation confirms the transmission method for the record. It creates a paper trail that matters in legal correspondence, contract disputes, and regulated industries. If you send a letter by registered mail, courier, or hand delivery, the notation stamps that fact onto the document itself. The recipient's copy and your retained copy both carry the same information. Neither party can later claim the method was different.
It also helps whoever handles incoming mail route the letter correctly. A notation reading HAND DELIVERED or SENT BY REGISTERED MAIL tells a mail room that no envelope tracking is needed. That's a small operational convenience, but it adds up in large organisations that process hundreds of pieces of correspondence daily.
Where to place the delivery notation
The delivery notation goes below the date line and above the inside address. Block format places every element flush with the left margin, so the notation sits there too. Leave one clear line of space above it and one below it, separating it visually from both the date and the recipient block.
The format looks like this, working from the top of the letter down:
- Date line
- [one blank line]
- Delivery notation
- [one blank line]
- Inside address
- [one blank line]
- Salutation
Some style guides place the delivery notation above the date line, treating it as a pre-header instruction. Both positions exist in practice. The below-date placement is more common in formal business correspondence because the date anchors the document first, then the notation explains how the dated document was transmitted.
How to word it
Keep the wording short and factual. Delivery notations are not sentences. They don't need verbs. Write them in all capitals or in bold, depending on the house style of your organisation.
Common forms include:
- HAND DELIVERED
- SENT BY REGISTERED MAIL
- SENT BY CERTIFIED MAIL
- DELIVERED BY COURIER
- SENT BY EXPRESS MAIL
- TRANSMITTED BY FACSIMILE
Don't add qualifiers like "as previously discussed" or "per your request." The notation records a fact. Anything else belongs in the letter body.
When you send the same letter through two channels, say by email and by registered post, list both methods on separate lines. Some legal and compliance contexts require this dual-transmission approach, and the notation is where you document it.
Delivery notation vs "via" line: the distinction
Writers frequently merge these two elements. The "via" line traditionally appears in the address block itself, immediately after the recipient's name or organisation, and it names the carrier rather than the transmission method. A delivery notation is a standalone block element that names the transmission method and appears above the inside address.
In practice, many organisations use one or the other, not both. If your house style uses a "via" line, you don't need a separate delivery notation for routine correspondence. The notation becomes necessary when the transmission method carries legal or regulatory weight and must be prominent on the document face.
For a full breakdown of envelope-level elements, the guidance on writing the recipient address on a business envelope covers how postal information is distributed across both the letter and its envelope.
When you need one and when you don't
Routine internal memos don't need a delivery notation. Neither does a standard follow-up letter sent by first-class post with no tracking. The notation earns its place when any of these conditions apply:
The delivery method has legal consequences. Termination letters, notices of default, breach of contract communications, and statutory compliance letters all benefit from a documented transmission method. Courts and regulators frequently ask how notice was given, and the notation on the face of the letter is one piece of that evidence.
The letter is time-sensitive. Registered or certified mail creates a delivery timestamp. Noting that method on the letter itself ties the document to its delivery record.
The letter is sent by a non-standard method. Hand delivery, courier, or facsimile all deviate from ordinary post. A notation tells the recipient immediately that this correspondence was treated differently.
Formatting details worth checking
Three formatting choices cause most of the inconsistency in delivery notations.
First, capitalisation. All-caps is conventional and widely used in legal correspondence. Mixed-case bold is common in corporate communications. Pick one and apply it consistently across your document suite. Switching between them in the same organisation's letters looks like a formatting error even when it isn't.
Second, punctuation. Don't add a colon or period after the notation. HAND DELIVERED: is wrong. HAND DELIVERED is correct. The notation is a label, not a sentence or a heading.
Third, alignment. In block format, the notation aligns left with everything else. In modified block format, where the date and closing sit to the right, the delivery notation still aligns left because it's part of the address block zone, not the signature zone.
If you're building a standard letter template that incorporates delivery notations, it's worth locking the alignment into the template itself rather than relying on writers to format it by hand each time. A reusable business document template in Word can carry the notation as a placeholder field, which enforces consistent placement without requiring anyone to remember where it goes.
A note on electronic delivery
Email creates its own delivery record through read receipts and server logs, so a formal delivery notation on an email is uncommon. But when you transmit a formal letter as a PDF attachment, and that letter is the legal document rather than the email itself, a delivery notation on the PDF is appropriate. Use "TRANSMITTED BY EMAIL" or "DELIVERED ELECTRONICALLY" and include the transmission date in the letter body rather than in the notation itself, since the notation should stay short.
The letter format rules that govern paper correspondence apply to PDF letters too. A PDF is just a printed letter that never touched a printer. Format it accordingly.