A presentation from the 2014 National Postal Forum by Gary Seitz, Executive VP of C.TRAC, on understanding Undeliverable Mail as Addressed and solutions to manage it.

1. 2014 National Postal Forum
Washington DC
Gary A. Seitz

2.  Industry Challenge - UAA
◦ What is UAA mail?
◦ How serious is it?
 What are common causes of UAA?
 Where to start
 How do CASS & NCOA affect UAA?
◦ More than processing your files
 Some Solutions

3. UAA mail is all mail that cannot be delivered to the name and
address specified on the mailpiece, and must be forwarded,
returned or properly treated as waste as authorized for the
class of mail and ancillary service endorsement on the
mailpiece.
Mail may be considered UAA because:
 The individual, family or business has moved
 The address is incomplete, incorrect or illegible
 The addressee is unknown or deceased
 The addressee refuses or fails to claim the mail
 The necessary postage has not been paid

4. Undeliverable as Addressed (UAA) Mail
Return mail volume is not decreasing, even though mail volume is decreasing
2012 2013
Mail Volume 160 billion 158 billion
UAA Volume 6.76 billion
(4.23%)
6.78 billion
(4.28%)
First Class UAA 2.54 billion 2.44 billion
Standard UAA 4.01 billion 4.13 billion

5. -
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
2010 2011 2012 2013
Forwarded
Returned
Waste

6. 3,700
3,800
3,900
4,000
4,100
4,200
4,300
4,400
2010 2011 2012 2013
Waste
Total UAA
Standard Class

7.  Wasted costs
◦ Industry estimate $3 per piece in operational costs
(Postage, Print, Handling, Research, Re-Mailing)
 Lost / Delayed Revenue
 Impact to Clients
◦ Reduced Customer Satisfaction
◦ Lost Marketing Opportunities
◦ Lost Customers

8. 100,000 addresses
Over 90 days…
 1.2% (1,200) will move and need COA processing
 .5% ( 500) will likely be UAA due to a foreign or
“no forwarding” moves
 2.8% (2,800) will contain invalid or incomplete
addresses
 Total: 4,500 pieces may never reach their intended
audience
 A mailing list will deteriorate 2% in 90-days

9.  24 of 100 mail pieces contain Address Errors
 5 of 100 mail pieces are Undeliverable As
Addressed (UAA)
◦ First-Class UAA Mail 3.7%
◦ Standard Class UAA Mail 5.1%

10.  Movers 75% of UAA mail
◦ 2.6% of all First Class Mail
◦ Includes failure to update files
◦ Failure to utilize NCOA Nixie information
 Vacant addresses 6% of UAA mail
 Missing Secondary addresses 5% of UAA
 Invalid Name & Address information

11.  Each year, 17% of Americans move or change
their mailing address
 Approximately 19% of all businesses move
 USPS® processes over 45 million permanent
Change of Address (COA) orders each year

12.  Data Entry of Names & Addresses
 Name formats
 Physical addresses – using CASS
 Move Update – using NCOA
At Point
of Entry!

13.  Correct
◦ Consider implementing a solution at point of capture
◦ Work with your mail preparer to identify records that do
not CASS/DPV
 Complete
◦ Break into reason why
◦ Take action
 Current
◦ Pre-mailing – NCOALink
◦ Post-mailing – Ancillary service endorsements & ACS

14. Check your database
• First and Last names
• No “mixed” data fields!
• No Titles in name
• No Names in the Address
• No Company Names in the Address
• Name fields are used for postal matching

15. Check your database
• Enough space (30 to 50)
• Secondary address information
• Proper Address elements
• Proper Abbreviations
Publication 28
Pickup a copy at the USPS booth or down load from
https://www.usps.com/business/address-management-pubs.htm

16.  CASS + DPV
◦ CASS Correct address, assigns Zip+4
◦ DPV Validates that USPS delivers to street
number, Complete address, including
secondary address information
 CASS assigns error codes
 Not all CASS systems are the same
◦ Parsing logic varies
◦ Coding variances from 80% to 90% on same file

19. Standard processes with CASS:
• SUITELINK – adds suites to business addresses
• LACS – converts rural addresses – 1-yr delivery window
Optional processes:
• VACANT – vacant in last 90-days
• APARTMENT APPEND - adds missing secondary address on
residential and improves VACANT and NCOA matching
Mailers frequently fail to update their
databases with this info ~ leading to
increased UAA mail

20. • RUN-ON 145SOUTHMILLS ST
• EXTRA DIGITS/CHARACTERS 10000 EUCLID AVE
• PRE-DIRECTIONALS 17 SO WATT CT
• SUFFIX ABBREVIATION 492 JACKSON BL
• MISPLACED SECONDARY 47 A CEDAR RD
• ALPHA/NUMERICS 5!7 M0SS ST

21. • Utilize NCOA (National Change of Address)
• 18-month or 48-month
• Individuals, Families & Businesses that filed COA
• Tight match criteria on NAME and ADDRESS
• NIXIES = close matches
• Are you updating?

22. • NCOA Nixie codes
• Close match ~ but new address not provided
• First Class: May be forwarded or may be returned
• Standard Class: Treated as Waste
• Some sample Nixie codes returned with NCOA
04 Street address with secondary
05 New address cannot be provided
09 Highrise default
19 New Address Not Zip+4 or DPV ~ or “Temp Move”

23.  “So what happened…?
 NCOA requires an exact match
◦ NAME and ADDRESS
◦ Only Zip+4 complete addresses matched
◦ NIXIES “close” matches
 Over 35% of movers never tell the USPS
 ACS uses a “looser” match and mail is returned

24. Ron McKnight to Ronald McKnight
Ron McKnight to Ron & Mary McKnight
Ron McKnight to Ron A McKnight
Ron McKnight to Mr & Mrs Ron McKnight
Ron McKnight to Mary & Ron McKnight
Ron McKnight to Mr & Mrs McKnight
Ron McKnight to R McKnight
Ron McKnight to Ron McKnight, Jr
Ron McKnight to Ms. Ron McKnight
Betty Reed to Elizabeth Reed
Betty Reed to Betty Reed-Smith
Match ~ New Address
Match ~ New Address
Nixie – Middle Name Test
Match ~ New Address
No Match
No Match
No Match
No Match
Nixie – Gender Test
Match ~ New Address
No Match

25. • Used to request new address and instructions
on handling UAA mail
• Proper placement on piece required
• Manual and automated notice options (ACS)
• Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB) offers low cost
alternatives

26. Why use them?
 First class mail
◦ Forwarded for 12-months, and you never know it
◦ After 12-months, returned as “UAA”
◦ Valuable or confidential info: forward or return?
 Standard class mail
◦ Might be forwarded, returned but usually waste
◦ You never know it

27. JOHN DOE
10 ELM AVE
ANYTOWN OR 97654-3218
Return
Address
Change
Endorsements
keywords
Endorsement >
Service Requested
Ancillary Service Endorsements
Followed by…
• On-piece mailing instructions
• Same handling for all classes of mail
• Differing fees

28. ENDORSEMENT FIRST CLASS STANDARD MAIL
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Forwarding and Return
New notice provided
Forward or Return –
No charge to Fwd
Address Correction fee
Forward or Return – No
charge to Fwd
Addr Corr or Wgt Fee
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
No Forwarding, only Return
New address or UAA reason
No Charge First Class Mail price
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
No Forwarding or Return
New address or UAA reason
Address Correction fee Address Correction fee
FORWARDING SERVICE REQUESTED
Forwarding and Return
New address only with Return
No Charge Forward no charge
Return Weighted fee
ELECTRONIC SERVICE REQUESTED
Service type code in IMb determines
General rules. Services and prices
vary by class

29.  AEC & AECII® Service
◦ AEC provides a crucial “last resort” approach to stubborn
addresses
◦ USPS® service to help correct addresses that CASS Certified™
software cannot fix
 AECII expands AEC processing
◦ Leverages Delivery Force knowledge™ for addresses that AEC
cannot correct

30.  Industry Challenge - UAA
 What are common causes of UAA?
 How do CASS & NCOA affect UAA?
 Hidden Cost of UAA
 Solutions
Address
Quality
Is
Essential!

31. Resources
USPS – Address Quality
https://www.usps.com/business/address-quality-services.htm
USPS – Addressing
https://ribbs.usps.gov/index.cfm?page=addressing
Publication 28 – USPS Addressing Standards
Pick up a copy at the USPS Booth or download from
https://www.usps.com/business/address-management-pubs.htm?

32. Questions and Answers
Gary A Seitz
Executive Vice President
C.TRAC
(440) 572-1000 x140
GSeitz@ctrac.com