Optimize Your Mailing Process With a Free Demo
- Home
- USPS
AES System USPS Address quality is the key to automation compatibility, barcode accuracy, presort accuracy, carrier route coding, and postage payment accuracy. It is also the key to the timely and consistent processing of the mail.
Use of complete and correct address information can result in reduced cost for mailers (through elimination of undeliverable mail) and The Postal Service® (through reduced handling of undeliverable mail and processing more mail on automated equipment). Postal Service™ automated processing equipment does not have the ability to interpret incomplete or incorrect addressing information. Therefore an improperly addressed mail piece will likely be misdirected and require postal employees to “guess” at its eventual destination — almost like dialing a wrong number on the telephone.
Anyone who uses The USPS Address Quality should consider the need for accurate addresses when planning a mailing or purchasing system with which to gather information about their clients. AES System USPS Systems should allow easy updates and corrections to address data and provide an online interface for some sort of evaluation and quality improvement process. If address information is accurately verified before any mail piece is actually produced, mailers could reap huge benefits while contributing to stable postage rates. Detecting and addressing problems after a mail is produced can be very costly. It has been estimated that mailers lose over two billion dollars annually on the cost of materials, labor, and postage associated with undeliverable-as-addressed mail.
Through the combined efforts of the Postal Service and the mailing industry, many products are now available that give mailers options in the quality improvement process. These products also open the door to postage discounts and faster processing.
The Postal Service has established minimum standards for USPS Address quality for certain categories of postage rates. These standards include move update requirements for Presorted and Automation rate First-Class Mail® and requirements for updating various postal codes including 5-digit ZIP Code™, ZIP+4™, barcode, and carrier route.
Select Service
Mail Automation Mailing Software
The fastest, most economical and reliable Postal Service™ is USPS® mail automation. From July, 1996 and ongoing through today, the USPS strategy to improve service and stabilize postage rates has been automation of mailprocessing and postage collection relying on USPS CASS Certified™ mailing software.
Address Enhancement’s all-inclusive mailroom management mailing software provides all the tools necessary to qualify for USPS mail automation benefits including huge postage discounts, elimination of return mail and simplified mailroom management.
USPS mail automation eliminates time-consuming and error-prone manual mail processing, resulting in optimum reliability, maximum speed and significant postage discounts. USPS mail automation postage discounts can save 20-60%, depending on class and number of presort mail pieces.
Mailers must validate addresses using USPS CASS Certified address matching software to qualify for mail automation benefits. DPV delivery point confirmation is the last word in address reliability. CASS address matching software assures complete and accurate addresses while DPV software assures deliverability.
The USPS provides postage discounts for First-Class™ or Marketing Mail® only if the mailer certifies that each name and address has been processed through an approved Move Update option.
Address Enhancement Software licensing offers NCOA® change-of-address data through EZ24x7 NCOA®. EZ24x7 NCOA® service reduces undeliverable as addressed mail matching each name and address against the NCOA® change-of-address data returning the recipient’s new address, as well as the original.
Mail*LIST guides you through the mailing process, starting with your address file and ending with printed bar-coded mail-pieces in trays or sacks ready to take to the Post Office™. Mail*LIST meets all USPS mail automation requirements generating the USPS Qualification Report, Postage Statement and bar-coded tray and sack labels.
USPS bulk-mail is often called presort mail. USPS Mail Automation is considered bulk-mail when properly prepared and presented to the U.S. Postal Service® in sufficient quantity to qualify for USPS postage discounts.
The Postal Service® offers huge mail automation postage discounts because you do some of the work that otherwise would have to be done by the Post Office™. Mailers make an investment in time and technology, reducing Postal Service™ costs, which are passed on to you through postage discounts.
Savings potential of 20-60% depends on class and number of presort mail pieces. See EZ24x7 Postage Discount ROI. The minimum number of pieces to qualify for USPS automation postage discounts is listed by class below.
AES USPS Mail Automation bulk-mail software is a single all-inclusive product that fully qualifies mailers for significant bulk-mail automation postage discounts.
In order to qualify for bulk automation rates, you must:
Move Update Compliance First-Class™ and Marketing Mail® discounts require that names and addresses have been processed through an approved Move Update method.
EZ24x7 NCOALink Instant Service satisfies the Move Update requirement by applying changes found in the NCOA® national database. For more information on the NCOA® processing please reach out to one of our representative.
USPS Standard and First-Class Mail® mailings that have not performed change-of-address processing are not eligible for presorted (automation, non-automation and carrier route) discount rates and must be mailed at a price that does not require change-of-address processing e.g. First-Class single-piece rate.
The goal is to reduce the number of mailpieces that require forwarding or return due to change-of-address. Mailers who claim presorted or automation rates for First-Class or Standard Mail must certify that they have updated their addresses within 95 days of the mailing. This requirement is known as Move Update compliance.
Move Update requirement and compliance can be found in DMM® section 233.3.5.
The USPS Move Update standard requires periodic matching of a mailer’s addresses with customer-filed change-of-address orders received and maintained by the Postal Service™. The mailer then is required to update the address on the mailpiece for any addressee with a USPS change-of-address match in the NCOA® national database.
The Postal Service has developed and deployed a process to measure a sample of the mailing and determine that the mailer has met the Move Update requirement by evaluating the effectiveness of a customer’s change-of-address processing and Move Update compliance.
The addresses in the verification sample are compared to the NCOA® national database to determine change-of-address accuracy. The process determines the number of pieces within the sample that should have been updated with a change-of-address match in the NCOA® national database and the number of pieces that were not updated matching to a NCOA® national database record.
First-Class or Standard Mail mailings that fail to meet the Move Update requirement will be assessed as follows:
For example: A mailing with a score of 60% and more than 5 pieces that were not updated will be assessed additional postage of $.07 per piece for 10% of the pieces in the mailing. The 10% is the difference between the not-updated percentage (40%) and the tolerance (30%). If the mailing consisted of 100,000 pieces, 10,000 of the pieces would be charged $0.07 per piece = $700.00. AES SYSTEMS.
Explore smarter mailing solutions! Begin your free demo now to optimize your mail workflow and save money.