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r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s

Database Hygiene

There are three major concerns working with direct mail campaigns. Undeliverable, Duplicates, & Return as Addressed.

The real meaning of "Lost In The Mail"

Undeliverable mail is extremely costly and relates to the success of your future.

Wasted labor, wasted print and wasted postage will result in thousands of dollars being "lost in the mail". Duplicates, while costly, can also be embarrassing. 

"So it was Written, So let it be Said", that Over 44 million people and organizations move each year.

Return Address Corrections can cost thousands.

@ $.75 each for letter address corrections and when shipping ground & expedited packages, @ $5 - $10 per package, address corrections will kill your chances of increasing profits in your shipping department budgets.

I have analyzed packaging processes that have cost companies thousands of dollars, just because of addressing issues.

Maintaining the ultimate database can be done inexpensively with the help of three easy-to-use services offered by the US Postal Service.

Using any of these products will increase your profits.

CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System)
Standardizes your address database. There are CASS Certified Software packages available for a minimal cost, which will enhance your addressing performance. These software packages will match your database against the U.S.P.S. National database. It searches your data for "bad addresses" and mistakes such as failing to include the suite, floor or room number to the address line, or a City and State that don't match the Zip Code. 

Did you know that in a couple states, one being Wisconsin, that if you use a space between grid addresses CASS certified software will flag it as an error? This software will also look for missing suffixes, prefixes, directional's and will automatically correct basic errors.

If the software finds an error it can not correct, a code letter will show up on the report with an explanation of what must be done to manually correct it. (This can get a very labor intense and costly if you have a large volume of corrections). See ACS below for further help regarding this matter.)

For additional information, visit www.usps.com enter "CASS" in the search box.

NCOA (National Change of Address)
 The NCOA software looks for names & address changes which were submitted to the Postal Service by individuals and companies that have moved.  The paperwork is then forwarded to the Postal Services Memphis TN office to be entered into the National Database. (NCOA will also CASS certify your list).

NCOA and CASS are also solutions to the Move Update Rules, now strictly enforced by the Postal Service. Many customers use an Ancillary without updating their databases when they receive the new address corrections. 

If your organization has not complied with updating its addresses when using Ancillary Services, such as "Address Service Requested", they are headed for some costly trouble. As an example, the Postal Service could rescind your presort discounts for not complying, and you know what? I don't blame them. They give you what you've asked for and you sit on it. Shame on you, and unforgivable. No Absolution here.

 
For additional information, visit www.usps.com and enter "NCOA" in the search box.

ACS (Address Change Service)
 One of the least used products offered by the United States Postal Service yet Address Change Service is one of the best database hygiene products the Postal Service has to offer to the mailing and shipping industry. ACS can be a huge money saver, and used as an efficiency tool will increase your profits.

In a couple of recent analysis of large corporations, I found that these companies were receiving hundreds of hard copy address corrections back at $.75 each resulting in thousands of dollars in correction fees.  These correction notices were not taken seriously and the data was not updated, resulting in the next month's invoice being charged again for an additional $.75 correction fee. 

Surprising? Not really. 

 

We have found that it is not uncommon for companies to procrastinate in this area, because managers think that taking the time to update addresses is not important and a waste of time. They want their employees spending their time completing more important projects.

 

Think about that. 

By ignoring the issue, they kept sending the same invoices month after month after month to an address that would be charged another $.75 for the same address correction.  Big $ $ $ $ $ being wasted on something that could have been fixed simply and inexpensively.

 

Remember - No one gains anything from bad addressing.  The Postal Service is not making money by charging $.75 per correction. They don't want this kind of revenue and you don't want to pay these kinds of charges.  The Postal Service would like to work with your organization to integrate ACS, NCOA or other CASS Database Hygiene software into your database technology. 

 

When your organization becomes ACS compliant, fees for address corrections, returned by the Postal Service, will be reduced to $.21 each. Very importantly this information is then fed back to you electronically so it will reduce your labor. A reduction of $.54 each and a big reduction of time and labor can quickly add up. 

 

The two companies we spoke to above showed a combined savings of over $750,000 using ACS.

For additional information, visit www.usps.com and enter "ACS" in the search box or Call you local U.S.P.S. Account Representative..

Remember: ACS is only a bandage, it does not fix the problem. You should fix your data before you even print it. Your Print Distribution, Labor and Postage Savings will be much higher if fixed before Printing!

When you're paying for "Clicks" and especially "color clicks", it all adds up.

Does your organization face other issues in maintaining its client database?  Feel free to e-mail me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If You don't fix the Data

be ready to Keep

Spinning your Wheels

&

watch

your competition move forward

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mystery Mail will keep piling up

ACS

Address Change Service

will help

Reduce Costly Sorting Fees

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ACS  = 

 
P.s. Call us for a mail center analysis. We don't charge you if we don't find the cost savings. What can it hurt and it will also help ensure your don't get caught in the "Outsourcing" world. Efficient, processes, procedures, and knowledgeable employees, Do you have that? Call us for an appointment.

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