USPS CASS Features

CASS stands for the Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS). It's a certification tool created and used by the USPS to ensure the accuracy of validation and standardization software that taps into the USPS database.

The Private Geo Addressing API is CASS certified. The Private Geo Addressing API meets the accuracy standards of the USPS.

Delivery Point Validation (DPV)

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.

Note:

DPV® is only available for U.S. addresses.

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 Lane 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 mailboxes.

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 manufactured addresses that reside in a false positive table. For each negative response that occurs in a DPV® query, a query is made to the false positive table. A match to this table will stop DPV® processing.

Below table lists Custom Preference Key and Values for Delivery Point Validation:

Table 1.
Custom Preference Key	Custom Preference Value
FIND_DPV	false\true (default=false)

Below table lists Output fields names for Delivery Point Validation:

Table 2.
Output Field Name	Description
DPV_CONFIRM	Indicates if a match occurred for DPV data. Indicates whether the address is confirmed to be a deliverable address by USPS Delivery Point Validation (DPV). N - Nothing confirmed. Y - Everything confirmed (ZIP+4, primary and secondary) S - ZIP+4 and primary (house number) confirmed. D - ZIP+4 and primary (house number) confirmed and a default match (HI_RISE_DFLT = Y), secondary did not confirm. Blank - Non-matched input address to USPS ZIP+4 data, or DPV data not loaded.
DPV_VACANT	Y - The address is vacant. N - The address is not vacant. Blank - DPV not loaded or DPV did not confirm (so vacancy is irrelevant).
DPV_NO_STAT	Y - The address is valid for CDS pre-processing. N - The address is not valid for CDS pre-processing. Blank - DPV not loaded or DPV did not confirm.
DPV_CMRA	Indicates a private business that acts as a mail-receiving agent for specific clients. Y - Address found in CMRA table. N - Address not found in CMRA table. Blank - Address not presented to hash table.
DPV_FALSE_POS	DPV false-positive indicator.
DPV_SHUTDOWN	Y - Address found in false-positive table. N - Address not found in false-positive table. Blank - Address not presented to hash table or DPV data not loaded.
DPV_DROP	A Drop is a delivery point that receives mail in a single receptacle or at a single drop site that services multiple dwellings or businesses or primary or secondary addresses. Y - Address has Drop status N - not Drop Blank - Address not presented to hash table or DPV
DPV_FOOTNOTE1	Information about the matched DPV records. See footnote table
DPV_FOOTNOTE2	Information about the matched DPV records. See footnote table
DPV_FOOTNOTE3	Information about the matched DPV records. See footnote table
DPV_FOOTNOTE4	Information about the matched DPV records. See footnote table
DPV_FOOTNOTE5	Information about the matched DPV records. See footnote table
DPV_NDD_FOUND	Indicates whether this address was found in the Non-Delivery Days (NDD) table. Y - Address found in the table. N - Address not found in the table. Blank - Address not presented to the table.
DPV_NDD_DAYS	Values of days that mail is not delivered.
DPV_NSR	NOSTAT Reason Code. If Address is a NoStat, this indicates the reason: 01 - DA - Internal Drop Address. These are addresses that do not receive mail delivery directly from the USPS, but are delivered to a drop address that services them. 02 - CDS - The delivery is new construction and delivery has not been established or it is on a Rural/CDS/HCR where the delivery point is unoccupied for more than 90 days. 04 - CMZ - College/Military Zone, and Other types. These are ZIP+4 records USPS has incorporated into the data. 05 - Regular - The address is no longer a possible delivery, the address is on an R777 route, or the PO Box has never been rented or has been declared unrentable, or the No Stat reason is not one of the other reasons. 06 - Secondary Required - The address requires secondary information.
DPV_NSL	Indicates whether this address was found in the No Secure Location (NSL) table. One of the following codes is stored: Y — Address found in the table. N — Address not found in the table. Blank — Address not presented to the table.
DPV_DNA	indicates whether this address was found in the Door Not Accessible (DNA) Table. One of the following codes is stored: Y — Address found in the table. N — Address not found in the table. Blank — Address not presented to the table.
DPV_THROWBACK	Indicates whether this address was found in the Throwback Table. One of the following codes is stored: Y — Address was found in the table. N — Address was not found in the table. Blank — Address was not presented to the table.
DPV_PBSA	indicates whether this address was found in the PBSA table. One of the following codes is stored: Y — Found in the DPV PBSA Table. N — Not found in the DPV PBSA Table. Blank — Not presented.
DPV_ENHANCED	Enhanced DPV Return Codes. Enhanced DPV return codes accommodate an industry request for additional address information. Provide them as an option for those mailers wanting the additional delineation of reasons for DPV Status. Y - Address was DPV confirmed for primary and secondary numbers necessary to determine a valid delivery point. D - Address was DPV confirmed for the primary number only. Secondary information was missing. S - Address was DPV confirmed for the primary number only, the secondary number information was present but not confirmed or a single trailing alpha on a primary number was dropped to make a DPV match and secondary information required. N - Primary number failed to DPV confirm. R - Address confirmed but assigned to phantom route R777 and R779 and USPS delivery is not provided. Blank - Address not presented to DPV.

DPV FOOTNOTES field could contain any combination of the following codes:

Table 3.
Code	Description
AA	ZIP4 matched
A1	ZIP4 did not match
BB	HSA_DPV confirmed entire address
CC	HSA_DPV confirmed address by dropping secondary info
F1	Military Match
G1	General Delivery Match
N1	HSA_DPV confirmed a highrise or box type address w/o secondary info
M1	Primary number missing from address
M3	Could not confirm address
P1	Box type address missing box number
P3	Box number invalid
RR	HSC_DPV confirmed address
R1	HSC_DPV confirmed a highrise or box type address w/o secondary info
U1	Unique ZIP Code Match.
R7	R777 Phantom Route Matching. Physical addresses that are assigned to a phantom are not eligible for street delivery.
TA	Input address primary number matched to DPV by dropping trailing alpha character.

Locatable Address Conversion System (LACS)

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 45 New Address: 1292 North Ridgeland Drive
Street Renamed and Renumbered: Old Address: 23 Main Street New Address: 45 West First Avenue
PO Box Renumbered: Old Address: PO Box 453 New Address: PO Box 10435

LACS^Link is required for CASS processing.

Below table lists Custom Preference Key and Values for Locatable Address Conversion System:

Table 4.
Custom Preference Key	Custom Preference Value
FIND_LACSLINK	false\true (default=false)

Below table lists Output fields names for Locatable Address Conversion System:

Table 5.
Output Field Name	Description
LACS_FLAG	Indicates if the address is marked for conversion. L - Address marked for LACS conversion. Blank - Address not marked for LACS conversion.
LACSLINK_RETCODE	LACS^Link return code. A - Matched LACS^Link record. 00 - LACS^Link match NOT found. 09 - Matched to highrise default, but no LACS^Link conversion. 14 - Found LACS^Link match, but no LACS^Link conversion. 92 - Secondary information (unit number) removed to make a LACS^Link match. Blank - Not processed through LACS^Link.
LACSLINK_SHUTDOWN	Y - False-positive occurred and LACSLink library shutdown. N - LACSLink library has not shutdown or not loaded.
LACSLINK_IND	LACS^Link indicator. Y - Matched LACS^Link record. N - LACS^Link match NOT found. F - False-positive LACS^Link record. S - Secondary information (unit number) removed to make a LACS^Link match. Blank - Not processed through LACS^Link.

SuiteLink

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

Below table lists Custom Preference Key and Values for SuiteLink:

Table 6.
Custom Preference Key	Custom Preference Value
FIND_SUITELINK	false\true (default=false)

As an example, when entering the following address with SuiteLink enabled in CASS mode:

DRAKE BEAM
2502 N ROCKY POINT DR
TAMPA, FL 33607
Returns the following:
DRAKE BEAM
2502 N ROCKY POINT DR STE 890
TAMPA FL 33607-5994
"SUITELINK_RET_CODE": "A"

Table 7.
Output Field Name	Description
SUITELINK_RET_CODE	A — Business name matched. 00 — Business name not matched.

Residential Delivery Indicator (RDI)

For U.S. addresses only, Residential Delivery Indicator (RDI™) processing can help you determine the best cost for shipping your packages. RDI™ processing identifies whether an address is a business or a residential address. This difference is important because some delivery services charge a higher price for delivery to a residential address than they do to a business address.

Below table lists Output fields names for Residential Delivery Indicator:

Table 8.
Output Field Name	Description
RDI_RETCODE	USPS Residential Delivery Indicator (RDI) return codes: Y = Residence N = Business Blank = Not processed through RDI

USPS Data Set Installation

To use the USPS DPV, LACS or RDI data it is required to be the same data vintage as geocoding or address validation reference data sets. For geocoding, these data sets are packaged as a separate data that can be downloaded from the Precisely Data Experience. When using the Geo Addressing Private API’s (SDK) or Spectrum Geocoding these data sets can be download as SPD format and added with the geocoding reference data sets.

Additional USPS CASS Information

For more details on USPS CASS see https://postalpro.usps.com/certifications/cass