Understanding Address Quality: Top 10 Q&A

1) Q: I am using a Secure Destruction STID, the IMb is still readable, why am I getting pieces physically returned.

A: It depends – there are multiple reasons. 1) the barcode became unreadable. 2) Pieces that need to go to a CFS site for UAA processing and are determined to be Return To Sender are physically returned. This is because these location do not have Secure Destruction. And to ensure transfer and processing to a Secure Destruction (SD) sight would be costly. Mailers should expect 2% of their SD UAA mail to still get physically returned for one of these (and other) reasons.

2) Q: I run NCOALink® right at the time of mailing, why do I see Changes of Address (COA’s) that are month’s old getting applied to some pieces – does it mean there is something wrong with my NCOALink® processing?

A: It depends, there could be an issue in your NCOALink®- but there are also a LOT of valid reasons for this. First, NCOALink® uses very tight matching logic – the USPS does not want any false COA matches in NCOALink®. Second, there are several scenarios why NCOALink® can make a match, but not provide the new address. Processes used while actually handling the mail do not have the same restrictions – so, they are able to match. And, like a half dozen other scenarios – which is why Best Practices is to use NCOALink® and ACS.

3) Q:How did you know that? This comes after I get an image of a return piece and I comment how the yellow label indicates the type of move, method of detection, the move effective date, and more.

A: There is a lot of information on the labels – you just need to know how to decode it. On PostalPro, on the ACS page, the USPS has images of the primary types of Yellow Labels and what all the data means.

4) Q:If the address is DPV =Y I should mail the piece.

A: It depends on other data about the address. There are addresses that DPV = Y but are not addresses that the USPS delivers to. The UAA rate on those addresses is like 10x greater than the average address.

5) Q: “So, the address Delivery Point Validates with a DPV = ….”

A: Stop – DPV is not Delivery Point Validation. When DPV came out the USPS was adamant that it stood for nothing. Eventually, I determined why. The better way to think about DPV is Destination Point Validation.

6) Q: If DPV Vacant flags the address as vacant should we suppress the mail?

A: It depends – as there are several scenarios where the DPV Vacant flag should be ignored as it does not apply / will not impact pieces sent to the person you are attempting to contact. Is there other data to indicate the person just moved in? Is the piece for the person that moved out, but there is a COA and still in the forwarding timeframe? Or, …

7) Q: If the NoStats flag is set we should suppress the piece as delivery has not been established yet to that address.

A: No, or rather it depends. There are multiple scenarios for an address being flagged as a NoStat – which just means the USPS does not delivery (directly) to that address. Yes, one reason is that delivery has not been established yet. Another is that it is a gated community and the USPS Drops the mail at a central location (the gate house) and others handle finale delivery to the residents. You need to look at other codes and data to determine which NoStats reasons applies to determine if best to suppress, mail, or mail with extra security (which can come into play based on what you are mailing).

8) Q: Once an address validates, why to I have to re-process it so often.

A: Ignoring Changes of Address that come in all the time, changes to the addresses are also occurring all the time. New construction, demolition and other factors require the USPS to constantly make changes to maintain optimal delivery efficiencies. In a typical months, over 100K delivery points are added resulting in over 40K new ZIP+4’s, over 400K changes to assigned carrier routes, over 6k changes to City, State, ZIP information, over 72K changes to assigned ZIP+4’s, and almost 19 million changes to delivery sequence information.

9) Q: The USPS forwards mail for 12 months – right?

A: It depends on the class of mail, the type of endorsement / STID used on the piece, the method of detection, and even the type of address (and location of the new address). In one scenario, for one type of address and specific location of the new address, pieces are only forwarded for 30 days. There are ways to detect these addresses to check more frequently for COA’s.

10) Q: How do I fix my bad addresses?

A:That is a HUGE “it depends”. To really do a good job, you need to first understand the root causes of your bad addresses. Not all mailers will have the same issues / magnitude of issues. I remember a client where I identified an unusual pattern in the bad addresses that tied back to an address entry issue. We looked at ways to address the issue at data entry. And, for those, with a custom correction process, over 95% then validated and of those, 8% where now able to match to a Change of Address. But, when I looked at other client’s data to see who else had this issue – I found very few cases.

Finding the root cause can have an additional benefit – in that it identifies how the bad addresses are getting into your system. So, you can address the issue at the source to reduce the amount of new bad addresses coming into your system.

There are dozens of tools and processes that can be used. But their value and effectiveness depend on if you are having a specific issue. And, even if you determine a priority of opportunities A, B C, D,… – after implementing a solution for A the priority may have changed to C, D, B,… as far as what would be best to go after next.

Address quality processes are not a one size fits all and not a one and done. It is an iterative process. New tools and data become available all the time. Periodically, even new types of addresses are created. There have been a couple in the last decade.