Understanding Address Quality Management
Address Hygiene and Data Quality
This hub brings together GrayHair’s address quality management thinking, from foundational concepts and USPS tools to edge cases, business risk, and hands‑on training.
The content reflects real‑world thinking, based on decades of working with USPS standards, address data, and production mailing environments.
One principle guides everything here: Nothing is 100%.
Address quality is about managing probabilities, tradeoffs, and risk — not chasing perfection.
Featured Series: Ask Adam
Your Address Quality Questions, Answered
With Adam Collinson, Director of Address Intelligence, GrayHair Software
Concepts & Principles
Foundational ideas, models, and mental frameworks. Examples: accuracy vs. precision, why nothing is 100%, address characteristics.
Why Address Characteristics Matter
By Adam Collinson An address can validate. It can qualify for postage discounts. It can be marked “deliverable” for both mail and packages. And yet — it can still break your operations. More Than a Valid Address Many organizations assume that once an address is...
Nothing is 100% – PBSAs
By Adam Collinson There’s one rule I always go back to in address quality: nothing is 100%. For every pattern we learn, there’s an exception — and often, without exception, there are also exceptions to the exceptions. Let’s talk about one of the more nuanced...
Silos Are Bad For Address Quality
Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... By Adam Collinson Address quality impacts the entire enterprise, yet processes from various silos impact address quality in some way. Silos, while great for farmers, can be detrimental to Address Quality...
USPS Tools & Standards
Explains technical postal tools, services, and data sources (ACS™, NCOALink®, IMb™, etc.).
ACS™ Best Practices: How to Reduce UAA Mail
Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... By Adam Collinson Undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail is the classic double loss. You pay to print and send it; USPS pays to handle and process it. Best case, delivery is delayed and there are negative...
What Is Address Correction Service (ACS™)? A Beginner’s Guide
Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... By Adam Collinson If you’ve ever wondered, “What happens after I send a mailing and some pieces never reach their destination?” this is for you. Let’s break down ACS™, why it matters, and how it pairs with...
Navigating the “Flavors” and Data of USPS Address Change Service (ACS™)
Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... By Adam Collinson The Address Change Service (ACS™) offers several "flavors" or variations, each with distinct features, costs, and data delivery methods, designed to cater to different mailer needs....
Edge Cases & Advanced Challenges
Real-world complexities, exceptions, and scenarios where postal logic breaks.
How ACS™ impacts 5 Common Mail Delivery Problems
Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Mail that doesn’t reach its destination is more than a nuisance — it’s a drain on budgets, time, and customer trust. Fortunately, USPS’s Address Correction Service (ACS™) is designed to shed light on why...
Industry-Specific Address Regulations: Navigating Compliance Challenges
Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Address management is not a one-size-fits-all process. Different industries face unique regulatory requirements that dictate how addresses are collected, stored, and used. Non-compliance with these...
Business Risk & Cost
Explores the impact of UAA mail, operational risks, and cost structures.
There’s Something Worse Than a Postal Rate Increase: Undeliverable Mail
Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... For many mailers, the words "postal rate increase" can strike fear into their hearts. Rising postage costs directly impact budgets and can force difficult decisions about marketing campaigns and customer...
The Hidden Drain: Understanding Undeliverable Postal Mail
Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... By Adam Collinson Undeliverable mail, often considered an unavoidable aspect of marketing and transactional mail, represents a significant financial burden for both the United States Postal Service...
Webinars & Resources
Links to recorded sessions, CIPCC webinars, and expert videos.
Undeliverable is Unacceptable: The NCOA+ API is coming soon to change the game for postal operations
NCOALink® has some restrictions. Sometimes it knows when a person moved, the USPS has the new address, but because of the way NCOALink® works, it can’t give you the new address. One of the things that the USPS is looking to lauch is the NCOA+, an API that’s able to...
Undeliverable is Unacceptable: NCOA and ACS™ are not the same, but they complement each other
NCOA and ACS™ are not the same. NCOA only works on permanent change-of-address information. Depending on which level you’re working at, you can have data and information going back 48 months. ACS™ is a post-mailing solution. It will also give you change-of-address...
Undeliverable is Unacceptable: Discounts are only for standardized and verified addresses
You have to be able to standardize the address to get the maximum discounts. There’s a gray area as to whether you have to print the new standardized address on the mailpiece. You absolutely have to use the results from the standardization and the creation of the...
Training Courses
For information about GrayHair’s Address Quality Management training courses, get in touch today.
About Adam
Adam is one of the postal industry’s leading experts on all aspects of address hygiene and data quality services. For 20+ years, he has brought expert knowledge of how address quality management tools and processes can enhance the postal and business operations of some of the largest operations in the country.
As the industry’s “Address Quality Guru”, he is constantly involved in leading postal initiatives, associations, and work groups including being the MTAC Industry Focus Area Leader (Data, Technology, and Addressing) and AMEE Association Rep. He is also a key speaker at numerous venues such as PCC events, the National Postal Forum and Xplor.
When I entered the Address Quality world over 2.5 decades ago, I was surprised to learn that over 25% of mail submitted to the USPS was undeliverable as addressed, with more than 70% of these issues related to Change of Address. Shockingly, most of this mail still got delivered thanks to the extra efforts of USPS carriers and clerks.
When the address was “close enough,” there was a high probability that the piece would still get delivered consistently. Today, relying on that method is ill-advised and no longer as reliable.
-Adam Collinson, Director of Address Intelligence, GrayHair Software
