Undeliverable As Addressed (UAA) mail poses a significant financial burden, costing the USPS an estimated $1.39 billion annually and businesses over $20 billion. Beyond direct mailing costs, UAA impacts deliverability rates, response rates, customer satisfaction, retention, and can even contribute to fraud risks. This is where Address Change Service (ACS™) steps in as a critical component of the USPS’s efforts to enhance address quality and reduce UAA.
What is ACS™?
ACS™ is a post-mailing process that is part of the USPS’s Address Correction Services. It is designed to provide electronic notification of Undeliverable As Addressed (UAA) mail, including reasons related to Changes of Address (COA) and other non-COA issues, often referred to as NIXIEs. ACS™ also serves as a method to meet the Move Update requirement for certain mailers and mailings, which mandates that each address and occupant name be updated within 95 days before the mailing date for Standard Mail® and Discounted First-Class Mail®.
The Positive Impact of ACS™:
Implementing ACS™ can bring substantial benefits to mailers:
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- Obtain additional COA addresses (approximately 20% more than other methods).
- Receive Vacant information sooner.
- Get information on undeliverable pieces quickly.
- Receive information electronically, eliminating the need for manual data entry and its associated errors.
- ACS™ complements NCOALink® processing, working together to achieve higher address quality.
While NCOALink® is a pre-mailing process primarily for permanent COA data, ACS™ operates post-mailing, providing data on permanent and temporary COAs, as well as crucial Non-COA (NIXIE) results that NCOALink® cannot. ACS™’s matching logic, particularly from manual carrier input, can capture an additional 20% of new addresses, including foreign and problematic new addresses that NCOALink® might miss.
By leveraging ACS™, businesses can significantly improve their mailing efficiency, reduce wasted resources, and maintain more accurate customer databases, leading to better deliverability and overall operational savings.
Combining the use of ACS™ with other address quality tools and data, mailers can actually reduce costs while simultaneously reducing the risk of fraud and privacy violations.
For more information about ACS™ Processing and Results, request a copy of Adam Collinson’s most recent presentation to the Central Illinois PCC: “ACS™ 101 – The Basics of ACS™ Processing and Results.”
