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Postal Explorer > Publication 28 - Postal Addressing Standards > 3 Business Addressing Standards > 32 Scope of Standardization
The Business Address Standards are being adopted by postal units and are
required in all internal Postal Service processing systems - including the
NCOA System and ACS. Postal Service licensees, direct marketing service
bureaus, and business-to-business mailers are encouraged to incorporate
these standards as a means to achieve improved merge/purge results, higher
list quality, and Postal Service deliverability.
There are additional benefits to be achieved through improved
business-to-business address quality and a standardized address format,
such as increasing potential deliverability of mail once processed and more
consistency in address information stored in customer files and directories.
The emphasis has been to clarify business-to-business addressing
techniques and provide guidelines and tools that deal with the many unusual
addressing conventions in business-to-business list processing. A strong
focus has been on providing the Postal Service with a uniform approach to
matching these addresses through its customer products and automated
equipment.
Business-to-business addressing standards are tailored to provide guidance
on the most efficient means to output a business address onto a mailpiece. It
is necessary to begin with list compilation, list maintenance, or list
management to ensure that the content of the address is both accurate and
complete. A variety of AIS products and services are available to assist in
these processes, which have worked well for consumer lists. The
business-to-business standards are intended to greatly enhance the use of
these products by providing a uniform format for business address
information.
Prior to this effort of developing specific guidelines and tables for
standardization of business-to-business addresses, the application of the
Postal Service AIS address improvement products and services was not
always an effective means to correct business-to-business addresses -
simply because of poor match rates. With the Postal Service incorporating
the tables and guidelines that have emerged from this process, the AIS
services are much improved for business-to-business applications. In the
future, once a business-to-business address has been matched against AIS
files, the address list should be corrected accordingly. Business-to-business
addresses that have been standardized will contain all the necessary address
elements required for Postal Service delivery as well as the most correct firm
name and contract information as required for marketing purposes.
Once files are updated, it is important to establish list management
procedures to ensure timely updates and maintain accuracy. It is highly
recommended that new addresses go through a verification and
standardization process to obtain the correct ZIP+4 and delivery point codes
prior to adding them to your master address list.
Once an address has gone through a standardization process, look at the
output of the address as it appears on the mailpiece, insert, or address label.
A standardized address should also be "machine readable" so that it can be
processed on high-speed optical character readers (OCRs). Publication 25,
Designing Business Letter Mail, contains specifications for properly
formatting and printing delivery address information on letter mail. Following
these readability guidelines for letter mail that has not been prebarcoded
helps to ensure successful OCR processing. Some important elements
affecting machine readability are contained in Appendix A of this document.
For complete information, however, we recommend that you obtain a copy of
Publication 25 from your local Post Office. If your mailpiece will be submitted
for automation rates (other rates may also apply), the requirements in the
DMM must be met.
It is recommended that delivery address information be stored in a minimum
of 30 bytes or spaces in your computer system. The most optimum
recommendation is 64 bytes or spaces to be compatible with the Postal
Service National ZIP+4 database.
The Postal Service defines a complete address as one that has all the
address elements necessary to allow an exact match with the current Postal
Service ZIP+4 and City State files to obtain the finest level of ZIP+4 and
delivery point codes for the delivery address. A complete address may be
required on mail at some automation rates. See the DMM for more detailed
information.
A standardized address is one that is fully spelled out, abbreviated by using
the Postal Service standard abbreviations shown in this publication or as
shown in the ZIP+4 files.
The final benefit to be achieved through business-to-business address
standardization is deliverability of a mailpiece. Addresses that are complete
and have matched the Postal Service files and/or directories have a better
chance of being properly delivered. Printing complete information on a
mailpiece and eliminating extraneous information that can confuse Postal
Service delivery personnel or be misread by Postal Service equipment
improves the ability to provide timely delivery. The industry and the Postal
Service will continue to work together to explore ways to improve the
processing and delivery of mail in a timely, cost-effective manner.
Business-to-business address standardization is a very positive step towards
improved address quality and a cost-effective operation both for the
business-to-business mailer and the Postal Service.
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