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What Do Ya Mean I Got ... Bad Addresses

What is a Bad Address?
How do Bad Addresses Affect My Mailing
What are the causes of Bad Addresses
How can I fix Bad Addresses?
How can ABS Presort help?
ABS Bad Address Code Explanations



What is a "bad address"?
It is an address the USPS considers unusable for presorted mail. That means it cannot be part of a discounted bulk mailing. Virtually every mailing we receive has bad addresses. Even the address lists provided by professional list companies have up to 10% bad addresses (it's even built into their contracts).

A "bad address" does not always mean it is undeliverable. The terminology just indicates that the address cannot be included as part of a presorted, postage discounted, First or Standard Class mailing. Often the Zip Code will get a bad address to the proper area, and USPS personnel and letter carriers can find it's real destination.



How do Bad Addresses affect my mailing?
A Bad Address cannot be included in any First Class or Standard A presorted or postage discounted mail project. If you supply us with material or data that contains bad addresses you have four immediate options:
  1. We can remove the bad address from the mailing list.
  2. Along with removing the bad address from the mailing list, we can add postage to the offending item to bring it up to full First Class postage and the USPS will then attempt to deliver it.
  3. We can have our experienced Data Entry people try and correct each bad address one at a time.
  4. Return the data base or bad addresses to you, so you can clean it up and send it back to us fixed.



What are the causes of Bad Addresses?
We can't cover every situation, but here are a few common errors we see leading to bad addresses:
  • The ZIP Code is missing or incorrect.
  • Misspelled street name that the USPS software can't decipher. (is Hhnry // should be(sb) Henry)
  • Incorrect street range. (is 12345 //sb 2345)
  • Improper or missing suffix. The data has Street when it should be Road. If no suffix is given and there is a Court and Avenue in the same Zip Code - the software cannot make a decision.
  • The streeet name does not exist in the ZIP Code given.
  • The address does not include a required directional as in N. Main St
  • The address is lacking an important bit of info - APT, Building, Suite, Unit, etc.



How can I fix my Bad Addresses?
ABout the only way you can fix bad addresses without sophisticated software we have at ABS is to compare the bad address to the original source. If it matches, then you must call the person or company and request the correct address.



How can ABS help with my Bad Address problem?
With ABS software, the technology allows us to attempt fixes by suggesting correct addresses (like a spell checker). Our operators can choose from selections, refer to the orginal data or remove the bad address.




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