® Address Element Correction AEC and AECII Steve Dearing Manager, Address Quality Programs MTAC November 8,2007

Address Element Correction - AEC  An Address Quality service offered by the USPS that attempts to assign a ZIP+4® to addresses that fail standardization and validation through traditional CASS Certified™ address matching software.  AEC uses sophisticated address hygiene algorithms developed by USPS that go beyond typical capability of commercial address-matching software  AEC attempts to ‘improve’ addresses that currently Do Not Delivery Point Validate (DPV) What Exactly is AEC?

Address Element Correction - AEC  Corrects Incomplete and Incorrect Addresses  Street Names  Misspellings and ‘Representations’  Missing or Incorrect Directionals  Missing or Incorrect Suffixes  Transposed Numbers, Missing Digits, and Alpha– Numeric ‘Look a Likes’  City Names and ZIP Codes  Address Conversions (LACS) What Does AEC Do?

Address Element Correction - AEC  Verify Customer Name or Occupancy Information  Provide New Fowarding Address Information  Correct Foreign Addressing  Correct Addressing  Add Missing Secondary Numbers  Correct Non-Addresses  Provide Corrections When No Last Line Information (City, State, ZIP Code’s) is Present AEC (and AECII) Does Not

Address Element Correction - AEC  In FY 2007 AEC Processed just over 20 Million Address Records for 1,528 Customers  FY 2007 AEC Resolved 9.2 Million – 46%*  Returned Corrections within 24 Hours on Avg. *Not a historical representation, increase based on large files with relatively minor changes. Historical Resolution Rate – 33% Does AEC Work?

Address Element Correction - AEC  Addresses Processed through AEC  Addresses Processed Through The AECES Historical File - AECII  Addresses Presented to Delivery Units for Correction through the Electronic Uncoded Address Resolution Service (eUARS) - AECII Address Element Correction Service Level 2 (AECII™) What About Records That AEC Can’t Fix? How Does AECII Work and What’s the Difference Between AEC and AECII?

Address Element Correction - AEC  Internal USPS Web Application that enables over 45,000 Delivery Unit users to Correct Incomplete and Incorrect Addresses - Including Mailer AECII Requests  In FY 2007 eUARS Corrected  2.3 Million Change of Addresses within 11 Days (avg)  2.8 Million AECII Records within 9 Days (avg) What is eUARS?

Address Element Correction - AEC How Does The Local Delivery Unit Fix the Address?  Carriers typically know their customer’s address and can identify correction necessary  AECII Leverages this “Delivery Force Knowledge™” to correct addresses using efficient simple search and click features  Address corrected to a valid delivery point with ZIP + 4® code appended  Indicator provided to identify when the address cannot be corrected

Address Element Correction - AEC What If The Address I Have is Actually a Correct Address but Still Doesn’t Match USPS Data?  Address will be returned marked “correct-as- shown” without charge  Where the mailing address is a PO box instead of a street address, record returned marked with “PO box indicator” without charge  PO box address not provided due to privacy

Address Element Correction - AEC How Well Does AECII Work?  FY 2007 AECII Processing Results  67% Address Corrected  14% Address Does Not Exist  5% Not A Proper Address Submission  5% PO Box Footnote ----  4% Historical File Corrections  3% Not Touched – Lost Opportunity  2% Other

Address Element Correction - AEC What Are the Costs for AEC and AECII Processing?  AEC processing costs are $15 per thousand records (required for AEC II processing)  AECII processing costs are.25¢ per correction  Nothing if resolved using historical file  Nothing if submitted address was correct  Nothing if address is returned indicated as PO box mailing address  Nothing if submitted address not corrected

Address Element Correction - AEC How Can I Estimate my Return on Investment from Using USPS ® AEC / AECII™ Services? AEC Calculator $$ ( AEC Calculator Available at )

Address Element Correction - AEC  ‘Scrub’ Your Addresses before sending to AEC  Uncommon or Invalid Characters %, - -)  Profanity  Send Addresses (Street Number and Street Name) with Valid City, State, and/or ZIP Codes  Do Not Send Street Addresses for PO Box Only Post Offices  Send Addresses that Do Not Delivery Point Validate to the Primary Address Level How Can I Increase My AEC ROI?

Address Element Correction - AEC Is There Anything New With AEC or AECII? Yes!!  Now Available – AEC Confidence Option  Uses Additional Routines to Determine that the AEC Candidate Correction is Distinct based on Match Weight  Instills Confidence that there are No Apparent Other Potential Candidate Corrections  Enables ‘Apply and Mail’ Potential  Available with AEC or AECII  Non-Confident AECII Request Records Are Sent to eUARS

Address Element Correction - AEC Is There Anything Else New With AEC or AECII? Yes!! There’s More!!  Now Available – AEC Vendor Processing  Enables Mailer with CAPS Account to Automate AEC and AECII Requests  Requires Vendor Processing Request Form  Requires Use of Header Record  Enables Submission of One or Many Files  Automated Processing  Automated Secured File Transfer Capable  Still Uses First In – First out Logic

Address Element Correction - AEC  Contact the National Customer Support Center at ask for the AEC Department  Set-Up RIBBS Account and CAPS Account*  Submit Processing Request Form  Send File (Up to 500,000 records)  Retrieve File from RIBBS or SFTP  Reap the Benefits of Improved Address Quality  *Required for Automated Vendor Processing How Do I Request AEC or AECII?

Address Element Correction - AEC Has Anyone Used AEC or AECII In the Past Year?

Address Element Correction - AEC Questions? Thank You!