[AccessD] Zip+4?

In my system the CASS portion fills in the zip 4 as it returns the addresses.  To my knowledge the 
CASS system database from the USPS has a zip 4 for EVERY valid address in the CASS system.  IOW, if 
it passes CASS, it comes back with a valid zip4.

John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com


William Hindman wrote:
> JC
> 
> ...to my utter chagrin, I already know far too much about CASS and NCOA 
> ...the client uses a mailing house that validates his data against the US 
> post office's data and rejects anything that doesn't match ...there is an 
> additional service which we used once for address correction based upon NCOA 
> data but basically what we got was a list of rejections without any data on 
> WHY they were rejected ...with a paltry few actual updates ...he now does 
> this on a quarterly basis against his entire address list.
> 
> ...but that is only the reason the +4 has become a problem, not a solution 
> to it ...as I noted, the problem is that most zips are still 5 digit but the 
> number of +4 zips is increasing rapidly and the US postal service is now 
> rejecting addresses that it, in its indomitable wisdom, thinks should have 
> the +4 ...but I know of no way to know this before the data is actually 
> rejected by them ...thus I can't force an initial +4 data entry because in 
> most cases it doesn't yet exist ...so I'm dependent upon the data entry 
> people actually entering the +4 data entry, when its available, in a 
> separate field AFTER they've used the Geo cbo to select the right geo record 
> ...and they just are not doing it consistently.
> 
> ...any ideas besides colbyizing them all would be appreciated :)
> 
> William
> 
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "jwcolby" <jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 12:50 PM
> To: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving" 
> <accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] Zip+4?
> 
>> William,
>>
>> Correctly handling the postal services requirements is a non-trivial task. 
>> The process is called
>> CASS and NCOA.  CASS stands for Coding Accuracy Support System.
>>
>> http://www.nextmark.com/glossary/definition.jsp?glossaryTermId=a0800000000EqQrAAK
>>
>> What is essentially does is to verify the addresses against USPS supplied 
>> database (which changes
>> quarterly), and if a given address passes CASS it means that the address 
>> represents an actual
>> deliverable address.
>>
>> NCOA stands for National Change of Address, and it has its own 
>> requirements but in general the USPS
>> wants all addresses CASSed and NCOAed no more than 90 days before use to 
>> qualify for bulk mail
>> discounts and such.
>>
>> NCOA states that a specific person moved (no longer lives at the previous 
>> address) and may / may not
>> supply the current address.  NCOA is a much more nebulous thing than CASS 
>> simply because people may
>> or may not live at an address at all, may have moved and not filed a COA, 
>> may have lived there but
>> moved years ago etc.
>>
>> I am heavily involved in CASS / NCOA, and in fact I am able to provide 
>> such processing if desired.
>>
>> John W. Colby
>> www.ColbyConsulting.com
>>
>>
>> William Hindman wrote:
>>> Group
>>>
>>> I use a separate tblGeo table to manage
>>> city/state/post/country/region/timezone/dst/lat/long data with an fk join 
>>> on
>>> tblOrgAddress.
>>> This is presented as an enforced combo with any new org address entry, 
>>> thus
>>> ensuring that only valid entries are allowed for that data.
>>> When US zip codes were only 5 digits, this worked quite well ...but the
>>> growing number of +4 zips is beginning to grow out of control ...adding 
>>> the
>>> +4 means an additional 10k entries per US post code are possible ...which
>>> would drive the db to its knees.
>>>
>>> So I've separated out the +4 and isolated them in the tblOrgAddress to 
>>> limit
>>> the impact on lookups and just concatenate them when I assemble 
>>> addresses.
>>> This is of course time and code intensive in its own right but limited to
>>> only those times when a full mailing address is required.
>>>
>>> The problem comes in requiring data entry people to enter the +4 separate
>>> from the post code ...it just isn't getting done ...and the client is now
>>> seeing address rejections from the postal service bulk mailing because 
>>> the
>>> +4 is missing.
>>>
>>> Question is, does anyone have a better way of handling the zip+4 issue?
>>>
>>> William
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>