Postal address verification

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Postal address verification (also known as address, address validation, address verification and CASS certification [1] ) is the process used to check the validity and deliverability of a physical mailing address. According to the United States Postal Service, an address is valid (or mailable) if it is CASS-certified, meaning that it exists within the comprehensive list of mailable addresses in their Address Management System. This is different from the credit card Address Verification System (AVS), which is the method used by credit card processors to authenticate ownership of a credit card by verifying that the account on the credit card matches the billing address on file. Credit card AVS does not determine deliverability of an address.

Contents

Standardization

Before an address can be certified as deliverable (CASS-certified), it must first be standardized. Standardization converts an address into a standard format by correcting the address, if possible, and adding missing information, such as a ZIP code, to produce a complete address containing a street address, city, state, and ZIP code.

The following methods are used to achieve the most accurate address possible:[ citation needed ]

Abbreviation

USPS approved abbreviations [2] are used whenever possible to clarify and shorten the address.

Spelling correction

Because a misspelling usually results in an undeliverable address, commonly misspelled words are corrected. These are typically city names and street names. Due to the large number of possible misspellings, not all of them can be accurately detected and corrected.

Uniform city names

Many cities have several different, commonly used names. Each ZIP Code in the Address Management System has one preferred city name and may have one or more acceptable city names.

CASS-certified software accepts as standard any "preferred" or "acceptable" city for a five-digit ZIP Code. Only a city that is "preferred" or "acceptable" is recognized as standard. These systems attempt to correct incorrect city names and any that cannot be corrected are rejected. [4]

Completion

An address must be complete in order to be valid. This means that it must have a street, city, state and ZIP code. Whenever possible, addresses that are incomplete have the missing information added.

If a valid ZIP code is provided but the city and state are missing, the city and state names are added.

If valid names for city and state are provided but the ZIP code is missing, the ZIP code is added.

Example: Dethaw Cotman Jr 2117 R Street SE corner 22st. Washington DC 20020

Delivery Point Validation

Delivery Point Validation (DPV) provides the highest level of address accuracy checking. In a DPV process, the address is checked against the USPS Address Management System (AMS) data file to ensure that it exists as an active delivery point. [6] The USPS does not offer DPV validation on their website however there are companies that offer services to perform DPV verification and are certified by the USPS see also CASS Certification. [7]

The standardized address is then compared against the entire list of valid addresses in the Address Management System to determine if it is a valid address. Address validity is based on many different factors, including address renumbering (via the USPS Locatable Address Conversion System) and address completeness. If an exact match is not found, an acceptable alternative is used (if available).

If the address is valid, it is assigned a ZIP+4 code something like this: 12344-5678, where the first five digits are the ZIP code and the trailing four digits are the delivery range. An address with a ZIP+4 code (or nine-digit ZIP code) is considered to be valid. In most cases, this means that the address is deliverable. However, if the USPS has the address listed as "VACANT", it is not delivered, even though the address is valid.

Benefits

Providers

The USPS offers address verification directly on their website. [9] Addresses are processed one at a time by typing the address into the provided fields. The USPS also licenses their services to third-party companies that provide the CASS certification in bulk. [10] [11] These third-party providers typically allow processing of address lists in CSV or Excel format. They may also provide an API allowing the use of address verification services from within a program or website.

In the UK, the Royal Mail [12] provides address verification directly on their site and also licence their data to third-party providers to allow address checking services to be provided to organizations wishing to capture accurate addresses in their ecommerce checkout and online forms.Unlike the US system, the PAF is not geospatially hierarchic, it specifies the hierarchy of post sorting offices. The PAF does not mandate a ‘street’ but can include a subordinate sorting office name; these typically occur in rural areas. There is a separate National Address Gazetteer that incorporates the hierarchy of geospatial location data for all buildings in England and Wales (Place Name Gazetteer for Scotland). The PAF should be used to locate a person (to send a bill), the Gazetteer when locating a property (using a satnav). Further information can be solicited from British Standard 7666. [13] [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Postal Service</span> Independent agency of the U.S. federal government

The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the United States, its insular areas, and its associated states. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the Constitution of the United States. As of 2023, the USPS has 525,469 career employees and 114,623 non-career employees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Postal code</span> Series of letters and digits for sorting mail

A postal code is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ZIP Code</span> Numeric postal code used in the US and its territories

A ZIP Code is a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service (USPS). The term ZIP was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently and quickly when senders use the code in the postal address.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Postcodes in the United Kingdom</span>

Postal codes used in the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown dependencies are known as postcodes. They are alphanumeric and were adopted nationally between 11 October 1959 and 1974, having been devised by the General Post Office . The system uses alphanumeric codes to designate geographic areas. A full postcode, also known as a "postcode unit", identifies a group of addresses or a major delivery point. It consists of an outward code and inward code. The outward code indicates the area and district, while the inward code specifies the sector and delivery point, typically encompassing about 15 addresses.

Canada Post Corporation, trading as Canada Post, is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Registered mail</span> Postal service

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POSTNET is a barcode symbology used by the United States Postal Service to assist in directing mail. The ZIP Code or ZIP+4 code is encoded in half- and full-height bars. Most often, the delivery point is added, usually being the last two digits of the address or PO box number.

The Postcode Address File (PAF) is a database that contains all known "delivery points" and postcodes in the United Kingdom. The PAF is a collection of over 29 million Royal Mail postal addresses and 1.8 million postcodes. It is available in a variety of formats including FTP download and compact disc, and was previously available as digital audio tape. As owner of the PAF, Royal Mail is required by section 116 of the Postal Services Act 2000 to maintain the data and make it available on reasonable terms. A charge is made for lookup services or wholesale supply of PAF data. Charges are regulated by Ofcom. It includes small user residential, small user organisation and large user organisation details. There have been requests as part of the Open Data campaign for the PAF to be released by the government free of charge.

In a postal system, a delivery point is a single mailbox or other place at which mail is delivered. It differs from a street address, in that each address may have several delivery points, such as an apartment, office department, or other room. Such buildings are often called multiple-dwelling units (MDUs) by the USPS.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Letter box</span> Receptacle for receiving incoming mail

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Address</span> Collection of information that describes the location of a building, apartment, or other structure

An address is a collection of information, presented in a mostly fixed format, used to give the location of a building, apartment, or other structure or a plot of land, generally using political boundaries and street names as references, along with other identifiers such as house or apartment numbers and organization name. Some addresses also contain special codes, such as a postal code, to make identification easier and aid in the routing of mail.

Address geocoding, or simply geocoding, is the process of taking a text-based description of a location, such as an address or the name of a place, and returning geographic coordinates, frequently latitude/longitude pair, to identify a location on the Earth's surface. Reverse geocoding, on the other hand, converts geographic coordinates to a description of a location, usually the name of a place or an addressable location. Geocoding relies on a computer representation of address points, the street / road network, together with postal and administrative boundaries.

The Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS) enables the United States Postal Service (USPS) to evaluate the accuracy of software that corrects and matches street addresses. CASS certification is offered to all mailers, service bureaus, and software vendors that would like the USPS to evaluate the quality of their address-matching software and improve the accuracy of their ZIP+4, carrier route, and five-digit coding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intelligent Mail barcode</span> Barcode for use on U.S. mail

The Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMb) is a 65-bar barcode for use on mail in the United States. The term "Intelligent Mail" refers to services offered by the United States Postal Service for domestic mail delivery. The IM barcode is intended to provide greater information and functionality than its predecessors POSTNET and PLANET. An Intelligent Mail barcode has also been referred to as a One Code Solution and a 4-State Customer Barcode, abbreviated 4CB, 4-CB or USPS4CB. The complete specification can be found in USPS Document USPS-B-3200. It effectively incorporates the routing ZIP Code and tracking information included in previously used postal barcode standards.

National Change of Address (NCOALink) is "a secure dataset of approximately 160 million permanent change-of-address (COA) records consisting of the names and addresses of individuals, families and businesses who have filed a change-of-address with the USPS". It is a postal address verification system maintained by the United States Postal Service, and access to it is licensed to service providers and made available to mailers. There are six licenses available including Full Service Providers and Limited Service Providers. The use of NCOALink is required in order to obtain bulk mail rates, as it minimizes the number of UAA mailpieces saving the mailer money and reducing the USPS's processing of this type of mail.

Address Management System (AMS) is the United States Postal Service master database of deliverable addresses. Address-checking tools using AMS provide address standardization, as well as city/state and ZIP Code lookup features.

Informed Delivery is a feature offered by the United States Postal Service (USPS) whereby consumers can digitally preview incoming mail and manage packages scheduled to arrive soon.

Semaphore Corporation was a company notable for being the first to provide public access to selected U.S. Postal Service databases, and for its early computer publications in the 1980s.

References

  1. "CASS Certification Requirements | A Mailer's Guide" (PDF). 2007–2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  2. "Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Publication 28 – Postal Addressing Standards" . Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  3. "USPS Publication 28, Appendix C1: Street Suffix Abbreviations" . Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  4. United States Postal Service Domestic Mail Manual 602 Addressing. Retrieved 21 September 2012
  5. United States Postal Service "ZIP Code Lookup" Look Up a ZIP Code. Retrieved 21 September 2012
  6. "2004 Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations Chapter 2 Postal Operations". USPS. Retrieved 9 September 2016. 2004 Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations Chapter 2 Postal Operations
  7. "CASS software certification program provides hardware and software developers, service bureaus, and commercial mailers a common measure by which to test the quality of address-matching software". USPS. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  8. "Welcome to Business Mail 101 | Postal Explorer". pe.usps.com.
  9. "ZIP Code™ Lookup | USPS". tools.usps.com.
  10. "Coding Accuracy Support System; Software Manufacturers". United States Postal Service. 5 January 2017. Archived from the original on 8 January 2017.
  11. "Certified Full-Service Vendor Detailed List | PostalPro". United States Postal Service. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  12. "Postcode and Address Finder | Royal Mail Group Ltd". www.royalmail.com. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  13. "| Search Results | Powered By Paf". www.poweredbypaf.com. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  14. SpatialData.gov.scot, Scottish Government (15 November 2023). "Place Name Gazetteer - Scotland". www.data.gov.uk.