NCOA and CASS Certification
NCOA
is a database maintained by the U.S. Postal Service of all individuals
and companies who completed a Change of Address form in the previous
four years.
Over 40 million Americans change their address each
year. Outdated address information or address information that was not
entered correctly, or is not in the correct USPS format are a major
cause of undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail.
This can lead to wasted resources and missed revenue when your mailings are not being received by your intended audience.
An
NCOA update can reduce undeliverable and duplicate mail pieces by
identifying incorrect addresses and correcting them prior to mailing.
National
Change of Address (NCOALink) is a secure dataset of approximately 160
million permanent change-of-address (COA) records consisting of the
names and addresses of individuals, families and businesses who have
filed a change-of-address with the USPS”. [USPS] The USPS offers
licenses for Interface Developers and Interface Distributors and all
NCOALink interfaces are USPS certified. There are six licenses available
including Full Service Providers (48 months) and Limited Service
Providers (18 months). To obtain bulk mail rates, NCOALink is required,
as it reduces the number of “undeliverable-as-addressed” mailpieces,
saving money and reducing the USPS’s processing of this type of mail.
The Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS)
CASS
certification is offered by the USPS to all mailers, service bureaus,
and software vendors that would like to evaluate the quality of their
address-matching software and improve the accuracy of their ZIP+4,
carrier route, and five-digit coding. When choosing a vendor to process
your mail, you want to make sure they are CASS certified. CASS
Certification must be renewed annually with the USPS to meet current
CASS Certification cycle requirements.
For more information on CASS Certification, visit the address management section of the USPS web site.
CASS software will correct and standardize addresses. It will also add
missing address information, such as ZIP codes, cities, and states to
ensure the address is complete. Any mailing claimed at an automation
rate must be produced from address lists properly matched and coded with
CASS-certified address matching methods.