Mechanization of automatic mail processing systems has continuously been pr
omoted throughout the world. With regard to the latest development, this pa
per begins with a general view of the mail systems particularly for Asia an
d Europe. Although a question concerning the mechanization varies depends o
n each country, the major object;ive is to process the address information
into details by machine to the extent that it can reach. Moreover, the rece
nt trend is that the range of mail to be processed by machine is widening a
nd mechanization is progressing on a large scale.