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Demystifying UAA Mail Where did it come from?How can we fix it?

National Postal ForumMay 17 – 20, 2015

Gary Seitz, Executive Vice President, C.TRAC

Jim Wilson, Manager, Address Management, USPS®

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Industry challenge – Undeliverable-As-Addressed (UAA) mail

• What is UAA mail?

• How serious is it?

What are common causes of UAA?

How do I fix my UAA problems?

• How do CASS™ & NCOALink® affect UAA?

• More than processing your files

What are some other solutions?

Agenda

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How does the USPS® define “UAA Mail”

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 movedThe address is incomplete, incorrect or illegibleThe addressee is unknown or deceasedThe addressee refuses or fails to claim the mailThe necessary postage has not been paid

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Forward22.7¢ / pc.1.011 Billion pieces$229.6 Million

Waste 6.1¢ / pc.4.140 Billion pieces$253.4 Million

New Address

Return 52.5¢ / pc.1.465 Billion pieces$769.8 Million

Original Address

Mailer

2014 Christensen UAA Report

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Even though mail volume is decreasing UAA volume remains a significant problemUAA volume declined this past year

Get updated UAA information on RIBBS:https://ribbs.usps.gov/index.cfm?page=uaamail

2012 2013 2014

Total Mail Volume 160 billion 158 billion (-1.2%)

155 billion (-3.2%)

UAA Volume As % of Mail Change

6.76 billion (4.23%)

6.78 billion (4.28%)

(+.003%)

6.61 billion (4.26%)(-2.5%)

First-Class UAA Mail 2.54 billion 2.44 billion 2.38 billion

Standard UAA Mail 4.01 billion 4.13 billion 4.03 billion

Industry ProblemUndeliverable-As-Addressed (UAA) Mail

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2012 2013 2014 -

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

4,500

ForwardedReturnedWaste

Bill

ions

of

piec

esIndustry ProblemUndeliverable-As-Addressed (UAA) Mail

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24 of 100 mailpieces contain address errors

4 of 100 mailpieces are Undeliverable-As-Addressed (UAA)

• First-Class Mail UAA 3.6%

• Standard Mail UAA 5.0%

UAA Mail

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UAA Mail Wasted costs

• Industry estimate $1 - $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

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Reasons Why Mail Is Undeliverable

Customer No Longer Receives Mail at Address: 75.8%• Requires Forwarding: 29.1%• Forwardable, Not Eligible: 19.2%• Not Forwardable: 27.5%

Address Element(s) Incorrect:

12.4%

Other Reasons:

11.8%• Vacant 7.7%• No Mail Receptacle 2.9%• Refused 0.9%• Other 0.3%

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A “conservative” estimate is that each year, 2.2 billion mailpieces are delivered without complete address information • Requires carrier’s personal knowledge• Additional $160 million USPS® cost

An additional 1.2 billion mailpieces lack complete address information and have to be returned or disposed• Additional $185 million USPS cost

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Other UAA Characteristics

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How to Fix UAA Problems

Correct• Implementing a solution at point of capture• Apply CASS™ & LACSLink® updates to your file• Identify records that do not CASS/DPV for correction

Complete• SuiteLink®

• Apartment append

Current• Pre-mailing – NCOALink®

• Post-mailing – Ancillary Service Endorsements & ACS™

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Check your database

First and Last names

No “mixed” data fields!

• No business titles in name

• No names in the address

• No company names in the address

Name fields are used for postal matching

Name Formats

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Address FormatsCheck your databaseEnough space (30 to 50 characters)

Secondary address information

Proper address elements

Proper abbreviations

Publication 28

Pick up a copy at the USPS® booth or download from

http://pe.usps.gov/cpim/ftp/pubs/Pub28/pub28.pdf

CASS™

Address Element Correction

LACSLink®

DPV® – Vacant Table

DPV®

NCOALink®

Tools-of-the-Trade You Should Be Using To Improve Address Quality!

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ACS® Full-Service, OneCode, Traditional

CASS + DPV®

• CASS Correct address, assigns ZIP+4 IF…..• 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

CASS™ - Coding Accuracy Support System

Use The Right Tools – CASS™/DPV®

First-line tool to standardize addresses and determine correct Postal codes• Verify or correct street name elements• ZIP Code™, ZIP + 4® code, Carrier Route

CASS/DPV validates the specific accuracy of street numbers and apartment or suite numbers

• Prevent entry of incomplete addresses at point-of-capture and update with the correct address

• Identify addresses in a mailing list with known deficiencies that may affect deliverability

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Use The Right Tools – CASS™/DPV®

CASS/DPV Vacant Table Access the Vacant Table to reduce UAA Mail sent to vacant addresses accounts 7.7% of all UAA

• Second most common reason for UAA mail Identify addresses that may be vacant before you mail! Ask your CASS vendor about how to incorporate the

Vacant Table in your address hygiene processing.

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Use The Right Tools – CASS™/LACSLink®

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LACSLink updates addresses changed due to local community address conversions or 9-1-1 implementation

Approximately 400,000 rural route/box numbers changed each year since 1994

Also used for street name changes or address renumbering

Use The Right Tools – CASS™/LACSLink®

Example of 9-1-1 address conversionOriginal: RR 2 Box 1948

Somecity US 01234-6789Converted: 1 Bryant LN

Somecity US 01234-9876

Original: 35 QUEEN ST CHRISTIANSTED VI 00820-4899

Converted: 2212 QUEEN CROSS STCHRISTIANSTED VI 00820-4899

USPS® policy is to deliver mail bearing original address for one year following address conversion.

After one year mail with original address may be returned to sender.

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CASS™ & DPV® report

Error reporting from CASS™

• 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

What’s wrong?

Address Element Correction

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Return To Sender

Insufficient Information

Have Addresses That Just Won’t Match?

Address Element Correction (AEC) may be the solution! • Send any addresses that can’t be matched using

CASS™/DPV® to USPS® for correction

AEC• Advanced address-matching based on USPS-

developed algorithms Typically resolves approximately 30% of

addresses Costs $21 per 1,000 records processed

AEC II® • Unresolved AEC addresses sent to local delivery

office for Delivery Force Knowledge™ resolution 32¢ charge for corrected or resolved addresses

2015

AEC II® with Delivery Force Knowledge™

Check out the AEC Calculator on RIBBS®

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A pre-mailing Move Update method leveraging USPS® provided data

Data delivery from USPS to certified licensees

Four levels of usage for certified licensees:

• End User Mailer (18 months of data updated monthly)

• Limited Service Provider (18 months of data updated weekly)

• Mail Processing Equipment(18 months of data updated weekly)

• Full-Service Provider (48 months of data updated weekly)

NCOALink® Service

ACS™ Service

ACS is a post-mailing address correction service that allows mailers to receive change-of-address (COA) information and other reasons for non-delivery electronically

ACS is available for use with all classes of mail

Can and in most cases must be combined with Ancillary Service Endorsements, such as

• Address Service Requested

• Change Service Requested

• Return Service Requested

ACS supports the Secure Destruction program

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If we can’t cut the volume, we can cut the cost!

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Secured Destruction

Reduces USPS® costs of returning First-Class UAA mail• $0.43 per piece to return

$0.11 to waste

Potential to reduce mailer costs associated with handling and destroying returned mail

Ask yourself: Do you really need the mailpiece back?You can trust the USPS® to securely destroy your mailpieces.

Leverage Additional Resources – Hidden Moves

Some people don’t provide a forwarding address It’s not required by law They forget, don’t care or don’t want to be found

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Leverage Additional Resources

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Uses Social Security Administration data

Identify the deceased

Focus on reaching the people who are receptive to

receiving your message

Flag those on the “Do Not Mail” Database

Leverage Additional Resources

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A Proprietary Change of Address service compiles moves from magazines,

utilities, etc.

Locate people who haven’t filed their move with USPS®

Complete residential addresses to reach more people on your target list

Append Apartment Numbers

Geocode

Improves the effectiveness of your direct marketing campaigns with more targeted campaign lists.

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Mail Costs

Take a step back…what are the obvious costs?• Printing, paper and labor• Postage• Any return service and address correction fees

All ju$t mailing-related co$t$!

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NATIONAL CUSTOMER SUPPORT CENTER225 N HUMPHREYS BLVD STE 501MEMPHIS TN 38188-1001

CASS™

Geocoding

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NATIONAL CUSTOMER SUPPORT CENTER225 N HUMPHREYS BLVD STE 501MEMPHIS TN 38188-1001

DPV®

Geocoding

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NATIONAL CUSTOMER SUPPORT CENTER225 N HUMPHREYS BLVD STE 501MEMPHIS TN 38188-1001

LACSLink®

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NATIONAL CUSTOMER SUPPORT CENTER225 N HUMPHREYS BLVD STE 501MEMPHIS TN 38188-1001

DPV® Vacant

Deceased

Suppression

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NATIONAL CUSTOMER SUPPORT CENTER225 N HUMPHREYS BLVD STE 501MEMPHIS TN 38188-1001 AEC

Apartment

Append

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NATIONAL CUSTOMER SUPPORT CENTER225 N HUMPHREYS BLVD STE 501MEMPHIS TN 38188-1001 Full-Service ACS™

NCOALink®

Deceased

Suppression

PCOA

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Summary

Be aware of the impact of undeliverable records

Know the quality of the records you are mailing

Correct undeliverable records to reduce costs incurred by returned mail or pieces that get thrown out by the carrier

Improve customer service — ensure recipients actually get their mail in a timely manner

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Reducing Your UAA is Achievable!

It is important to everyone in the mailing industry to make effective delivery of all mail a goal and reduce the volume and cost of UAA!

Your United States Postal Service® provides many products and services to assist you in reducing undeliverable-as-addressed mail

Become familiar with commercial address hygiene products and service solutions that are available

• Visit the Exhibit Hall to learn more

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For More Informationribbs.usps.gov

National Customer Support Center

1-800-238-3150

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MondayColleges and University Addressing: Issues and Opportunities

Jim Wilson / Richard Boudrero – Beginner – Period 7, 11 am

Keeping It Simple: ACS™ Services – It’s All in the Service Type IDKai Fisher – Intermediate – Period 7, 11 am

Growing a Great Address Quality FoundationEd Wanta / Wanda Senne –Beginner – Period 9, 2:45 pm

Your Software is Talking, Are You Listening?Angela Lawson / Chris Lien – Intermediate – Period 10, 4 pm

SundayDemystifying UAA – Where did it come from? How can we fix it?

Jim Wilson / Gary Seitz – Beginner – Period 6, 4 pm

USPS® Co-Presentations Schedule

TuesdayLeveraging the NCSC RIBBS Site – Understanding What’s Available to You

Ed Wanta – Delivery Solutions Theater, 1:30 pm

Wednesday360o Perspective of Address Element Correction (AEC)/AEC II®

Angela Lawson / Dan O’Brien – All Levels – Period 16, 8 am

Thank You!

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