Using USPS matching enhancements

Understanding Delivery Point Validation

Delivery Point Validation (DPV™) is a United States Postal Service (USPS®) technology that validates the accuracy of address information down to the individual mailing address. By using DPV to validate addresses, you can reduce undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail, thereby reducing postage costs and other business costs associated with inaccurate address information.

Without DPV, the address validation process only verifies that an individual address is within a range of valid addresses for the given street. For example, the USPS data indicates that the range of addresses on Maple Ln. is 500 to 1000. You attempt to validate an address of 610 Maple Ln. Without DPV, this address would appear to be valid because it is in the range of 500 to 1000. However, in reality the address 610 Maple Ln. does not exist: the house numbers in this section of the street are 608, 609, 613, and 616. With DPV processing, you would be alerted to the fact that 610 Maple Ln. does not exist and you could take action to correct the address.

DPV also provides unique address attributes to help produce more targeted mailing lists. For example, DPV can indicate if a location is vacant and can identify commercial mail receiving agencies (CMRAs) and private mail boxes (PMBs).

Although DPV can validate the accuracy of an existing address, you cannot use DPV to create address lists. For example, you can validate that 123 Elm Street Apartment 6 exists, but you cannot ask if there is an Apartment 7 at the same street address. To prevent the generation of address lists, the DPV database contains false positive records. False positive records are artificially generated invalid addresses which reside in the DPV database. A match to a false positive address disables any further queries to the DPV database, as required by the USPS.

If you have licensed the DPV processing option, you must install the DPV data and set DPV initialization properties for GeoStan to process your addresses through DPV. If you initialize DPV, GeoStan automatically attempts to resolve any multiple candidates for a match. For more information on DPV, see Appendix F: USPS Link products. DPV is required for CASS certification.

Understanding LACSLink

The USPS Locatable Address Conversion System (LACS) corrects addresses that have changed as a result of a rural route address converting to street-style address, a PO Box renumbering, or a street-style address changing. The following are examples of LACS^Link conversions:

Rural Route Converted to Street-Style Address:Old Address:RR 3 Box 45New Address:1292 North Ridgeland Dr
Street Renamed and Renumbered:Old Address:23 Main StNew Address:45 West First Ave
PO Box Renumbered:Old Address:PO Box 453New Address:PO Box 10435

LACS^Linkis required for CASS certification.

If you have licensed the LACS^Link processing option, you must install the LACS^Link data and set the LACS^Link initialization properties for GeoStan to process your address through LACS^Link. For more information on LACS^Link, see Appendix F: USPS Link products.

Understanding SuiteLink

The purpose of Suite^Link™ is to improve business addressing by adding known secondary (suite) numbers to allow delivery sequencing where it would otherwise not be possible. Suite^Link uses the input business name, street number location, and 9 digit ZIP+4 to return a unit type (i.e. "STE") and unit number for that business.

As an example, when entering the following address with Suite^Link enabled in CASS mode.

UT Animal Research910 Madison AveMemphis TN 38103

GeoStan returns the following:

UT Animal Research910 Madison Ave STE 823Memphis TN 38103

OrUT Animal Research910 Madison Ave #823Memphis TN 38103

If you have licensed the Suite^Link processing option, you must install the Suite^Link data and set the Suite^Link initialization properties for GeoStan to process your address through Suite^Link. For more information on Suite^Link, see Appendix F: USPS Link products overview.

For more information on Suite^Link enums and functions, see the following sections:

Enums for storing and retrieving data for C and page 279 for COBOL.
GsFindWithProps properties

Suite^Link is required for CASS certification.

Note: Singleline address processing is not supported with Suite^Link data.

Understanding Early Warning System (EWS)

The Early Warning System (EWS) provides up-to-date address information for new and recently changed addresses that have not yet been updated in the monthly USPS data updates. EWS prevents address records from miscoding due to a delay in postal data reaching the USPSaddress matching files.

The older the U.S. Postal Databases, the higher potential you have for miscoding addresses. When a valid address is miscoded because the address it matches to in the U.S. Postal Database is inexact, it will result in a broken address.

EWS data consists of records containing partial address information limited to the ZIP Code, street name, predirectional, postdirectional, and a suffix. For an address record to be EWS-eligible, it must be an address not present on the most recent monthly production U.S. Postal Database.

The USPS refreshes the EWS file on a weekly basis. You can download the EWS file from the USPS Web site at http://ribbs.usps.gov/files/CASS/https://postalpro.usps.com/cass/EWS.

Note: In order to use the USPS-supplied EWS file, GeoStan requires that the EWS file be named ews.txt and be located in the GeoStan data search path. The date of the EWS file must be the same month or newer than your GeoStan data files.

USPS ZIPMove

ZIPMove is a USPS data product which is used in USPS and CASS processing. It is a data file (us.gsz) that contains ZIP+4 codes that have been realigned and a change in city name and/or finance number has occurred. Specifically, ZIPMove allows a change in finance area because CASS searching does not allow a change of finance area unless:

The input city occurs in more than one finance area, or
ZIPMove data has the old address in it.

ZIPMove requires an exact match. When a match is made to the ZIPMove data, GS_IS_ALIAS returns "A13". Below are examples of matches to ZIPMove data.


Input Address	Output Address
15035 COMPARK BLVD ENGLEWOOD, CO 80112	15035 COMPARK BLVD PARKER, CO 80134-3281 GS_MATCH_CODE = SB00 GS_IS_ALIAS = A13
13200 GOOSE CREEK RD FARMINGTON, AR 72730	13200 GOOSE CREEK RD FAYETTEVILLE, AR 72704-0351 GS_MATCH_CODE = SB00 GS_IS_ALIAS = A13

Note: The USPS provides an unspecified amount of time for people to convert their addresses to the new location via ZIPMove, and then the record is removed from ZIPMove data, assuming people have corrected their address databases. If GS_IS_ALIAS returns "A13", be sure to update your address database.

USPS Line of Travel codes

GeoStan can return the enhanced USPS Line of Travel (eLOT) codes, which are based upon the ZIP + 4 and Carrier Route of an address and signify the approximate order that the postal carrier delivers the mail.

Note: Using eLOT codes may help you qualify for greater bulk mail discounts.

To assign eLOT Codes, you must input mailable addresses that GeoStan can standardize; ZIP and ZIP + 4 Codes are not sufficient.

To access the eLOT codes, which include a sequence number and code, the following enums exist for GsDataGet on output:


GS_LOT_NUM	4-digit eLOT number (5 including the NULL).
GS_LOT_CODE	Single character string (2 including the NULL) indicating the direction of carrier travel. A – Ascending D – Descending

The Us.gsl file contains the eLOT information and GeoStan automatically initializes the file if it is in the path. See GsFileStatus for information on verifying the loaded files.

The license file controls access to the Us.gsl file. If the license file does not have eLOT enabled, you cannot return eLOT values. To upgrade your license to use the eLOT data, contact your Precisely sales representative.