Responsiblity for Reducing UAA Mail Returns to Sender

by Ted Seward

In 1997, the United States Postal Service instituted Move Update requirements for mailers claiming presort discounts — requirements that were potentially quite strict. By way of response, the mailing industry generally took notice in much the same fashion that holiday shoppers worry about their credit card balances: if industry concern were a classic film, its title would be "I'll Cry Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow" took several years to arrive, but it has done so with a vengeance. As of March 2003, in an effort to reduce the overflowing, burdensome quantities of Undeliverable As Addressed mail, the USPS® has assigned its Revenue Assurance Teams to enforce the edict. And, there are now plans to expand that requirement to Standard Mail®.

The gist of their charge: All addresses appearing on mailpieces claiming First-Class™, Presorted or Automation rates must be updated, with said updates required 90 days prior to a mailing (still only a proposed rule — not implemented yet), as opposed to the previous 180-day regulation. Fines for non-compliance will be stiff — five- figures stiff, in some cases. Although some companies that have been fined already are voicing complaints, the USPS response has been consistent: the rule is what it is. Further, the agency hints that retroactive fines may even be levied for past acts of non-compliance.

But there is quite a bit of good news to go with what some companies and mail houses might perceive as a potentially significant postal hassle. When the amount of UAA mail is reduced, overall mailing costs will go down. Every year undeliverable letters, parcels and mailpieces cost the industry an estimated $1.8 billion according to the United States Postal Service — and while USPS initially picks up that check up front, costs are inevitably passed across the table to mailers in the form of rate hikes like the recent and proposed hikes. The USPS is currently under significant pressure to increase revenues. Forwarding mail boosts the average First-Class mail expense by 20.9 cents. When mail must be returned to sender, an additional average of 58.6 cents is added. Universal Move Update compliance, then, will in the long run help keep USPS from going back to the well (we consumers being "the well") and save us all money.

Additionally, the more mailers comply with Move Update regulations, the more successful a given mailing will be. Current regulations state that every piece of mail must be processed until a final delivery has been completed. But whether your undeliverable mail is reaching your intended recipients in a timely and accurate manner — if at all — is cause for both debate and concern. Properly followed, Move Update rules mean less waste and more effective mailings.

The final piece of good news is that complying with Move Update is easier than one might think. Three USPS- approved methods exist for address-correcting mailing lists — NCOALink ™, Address Change Service, and Ancillary Service Endorsements — and a host of USPS-licensed mail presort software packages can do much of the heavy lifting in ensuring compliance with any or all of them.

NCOALink, with its ability to access move records dating back 48 months, provides optimal protection. Software is available to process lists without any special pre-formatting or pre-processing, as well as allowing users to combine multiple disparate lists in order to maximize savings and convenience. Often these systems are pre-configured to send and retrieve files electronically from your vendor, saving time and money. There are two flavors of NCOALink: NCOALink Full Service Provider (FSP) offers 48 months of data, while NCOALink Limited Service Providers (LSP) provides 18 months of data.

Address Change Service provides change of address information on the back-end of a mailing; the updated data is returned to the mailer electronically by secure Web site download, cartridge, or CD-ROM. This method may seem easy, but that ease has a price: ACS requires no contract or upfront costs, but a set fee is charged for each address notification, and matching software is required to complete the update. Mailers using ACS must also first apply to USPS for the privilege. In addition, ACS requires the use of specific endorsements (e.g., "Change Service Requested") and a special "ACS Keyline code" at the top of the mailpiece address block.

The third USPS Move Update option is Ancillary Service Endorsements. Users of Service Endorsements like Address Service and Return Service Requested must update their databases with "move" information received from USPS. Software solutions exist to make this an effortless task. While mailers may see this as a good alternative it can leave them vulnerable to client compliance — and by itself the Ancillary Service Endorsement doesn't meet the requirement. Mailers must be able to demonstrate that prior mailings using this method have been corrected to the list. It seems obvious that the postal service would potentially eliminate this method and it is one of the proposed rule changes due to the manual nature for compliance and the ability to backtrack compliance.

Which way to go? The decision hangs entirely on each mailer's unique needs, budget, and client desires. Some customers may prefer NCOALink, which could help justify that expense. They may already be using Ancillary Service Endorsements and have a process in place to incorporate new address information into their databases. No matter which of these methods is chosen, a wise precaution is to establish a paper trail — processing receipts, for instance, or other documentation. When the USPS Revenue Assurance Teams come calling, forewarned is forearmed.

There is, of course, the alternative option of updating address lists manually, but this method is not only time-consuming but also the most expensive. In a typical Direct Mail scenario, about a dollar is spent on sending an undeliverable mailpiece, followed by the potentially very long wait for the wrongly addressed mail to bounce back. Then, if a new address has not been attached, the piece must be resent: try, try again. If the manual option were the only option, the postal police would be very busy, and since it is not really approved except when used in conjunction with the Ancillary Service Endorsement, it could be heading to the same potential fate.

The moral of the story: with USPS-licensed software options available today, there's really no excuse for First-Class mailers to not comply with Move Update regulations. The time for ignoring this task is past.

"Tomorrow" is today.

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