Products, Services and Publications
Copyright © 2006 United States Postal Service
National Customer Support Center

Address Quality

The decisions you make about address quality directly affect your ability to reach valued customers. Cost-effective and timely delivery of every mailpiece depends on an accurate address containing complete and correct address elements, in other words, “total” address quality. Total address quality can only be achieved through a multi-step process to standardize, validate, and update your address database. The National Customer Support Center (NCSC) offers many different Address Quality products and services to help business mailers resolve addressing problems, keep postage budgets in line, and attain total address quality.

Standardize

·    Five-Digit ZIP – contains detailed street data for multi-coded cities

·    AMS API – a tool used in the development of address-matching software

·     CASS™ System – Evaluates address-matching software and improves the quality of ZIP+4, CRIS, and five-digit coding accuracy.

·    Carrier Route – contains data needed to apply carrier route codes to addresses

·    City State – contains comprehensive ZIP Code data including the city, county, and Post Office™ names associated with those ZIP Codes

·    Delivery Type – contains data that indicates the type of deliveries made within each 5-digit ZIP Code in the United States

·    DSF²™ System – helps mailers identify inaccurate or incomplete addresses

·    Z4Change – provides mailers with the data necessary to create an application to facilitate frequent and cost-effective processing of very large computerized mailing lists

·    Z4Info – Designed to give the mailer additional information to improve the quality of their mailing lists by assisting in reducing the amount of undeliverable-as-addressed mail.

·    ZIPMove – data created to assist address matching software in providing up-to-date, accurate ZIP + 4 codes

·    ZIP + 4^® Product  – data that can be the base reference to assign the correct ZIP + 4 code associated with a physical address

Validate

·    DPV™ System  – assists mailers in obtaining accurate delivery address information

·    LACS^Link™ Service – an automated method of obtaining new addresses after a 911 emergency system has been implemented

·    AEC & AECII  – corrects and standardizes address elements

Update

·   ACS™ Service – helps business mailers by providing a cost-effective and efficient method of obtaining change of address (COA) information

·   CDS – provides and updates delivery sequence address information by carrier route

·   EAS – processes and sequences address lists

·   NCOA^Link™ Service – a comprehensive program that aids mailers in identifying address changes before mail enters the mail stream

·   ANK^Link™ Product – enables NCOA^Link Limited Service Provider and End User Mailer licensees to optionally acquire an additional 30 months of change-of-address information

·   SUITE^Link™ Product – used to improve business addressing by adding known secondary (suite) numbers to allow delivery sequencing where it would otherwise not be possible

·   FASTforward^® System – contains more than 16 million permanent change-of-address records filed with the Postal Service by relocating customers who want their mail forwarded to their new address.