When It Comes to Addressing, It's Time to Get Yourself Ready

The following is a perspective by postal commentator Gene Del Polito for Catalog Success.       

Usually when we talk about catalogs and postal rate cases, we tend to gloss over the many regulatory details that dictate how new rates will be implemented by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). In many cases, these regulations can have an even greater impact on catalogers than the rates themselves. Regulations can add costs to mail preparation and can detail a host of reasons for not qualifying mail for entry at the most desirable rates.

Some mailers are smart enough to read the rules the USPS proposes as its regulatory implementation plan. Unfortunately, many don't. For some inexplicable reason, they leave attending such details to their printers or other service providers.

Unfortunately, printers and service providers are like the tail on the dog. They can wag, but they can't make the dog move once its paws have been set on the ground. There is one set of regulations that should be giving some mailers the willies, and that is the regulations the USPS has planned governing mailer addressing practices.

By now, ever mailer should know that to qualify for the lowest possible automation rates, all adresses used in a mailing must be processed using CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) certified software. CASS software generally is prepared by for more general use over periods called cycles. The next critical CASS cycle as far as the R2006 rates are concerned is the August 2007 cycle, also called the CASS L cycle.

The timing of the release of this information to software providers is key. At least 90 days is needed to ensure the work will be done in time and with the quality it deserves. According to the current schedule, the CASS release is scheduled for May 1.

Unfortunately, the Postal Service has been signaling that it intends to implement the 2007 postal rate increases on May 6. That gives mailers preciousl little time to incorporate the necessary CASS cycle-L changes.

Today, the Postal Service allows mailers to use software to provide a Zip+4 code, if the address is valid within a range of addresses. When there is an empty point within this range, that means there is no deliverable address at that point.Undeliverable expense

As of August 1, all addresses much be deliverable at what is called the "primary" level, or house number. For multi-occupant buildings, the primary address consists of the base unit for that complex. Cycle L certification also will require that a ZIP + 4 code can only be assigned if the primary number can be validated against the Delivey Point Validation (DPV) file. If the primary address cannot be verified, no ZIP + 4 can be returned, then the vendor will be required to use only 5-Digit ZIP Code. Pieces that can't be coded with a ZIP+4 code will not be eligible for automation rates.

Also, Cycle L certification requires that all address databases be run against the the LACSLink (Locatable Address Conversion System). LACSlink is the file the Postal Service uses to convert rural addresses to city-style addresses and to update other address changes made by municipal authorities.

In July 2009, things get stricter. Again, your addresses must be run through the CASS process. All addresses will have to be DPV certified, and all addresses must be run against the LACSlink file. But here's the kicker. If your addresses are not up to snuff, you'll lose all postage discounts for those mail pieces which flunk address certification. Those pieces will be mailable only at the single-piece First-Class Mail rate.

It's time to get yourself ready. Virtually every mailing list today has some level of deficient addresses. Running those lists against the DPV and LACSlink files can help you rectify some of your addressing problems. In most instances, though, you'd be better off using the services of a full-service addressing service provider to flush away all of those addresses that could cause you discount eligibility problems. these problem addresses

process through other tools, using full service provider.

Your time for living with your addresses complying with any older scheme of things is rapidly running out. Keep in mind that taking care of your addressing issues today is more than a discount-eligibility exercise. Address improvement is an investment in your entire direct marketing activity. It will improve vastly your mail's deliverability within today's automation-driven mail processing environment, and that can do nothing more than lift your response and facilitate your data-mining operations.

In short, get on it. If you don't, the price you'll pay eventually will truly seem oppressive.